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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
4.75 ⭐️beautifully written, thought provoking. I just wish I got more of a concrete explanation as to what was happening.
dajcie mi moment na przemyślenie wszystkiego, bo na razie jestem oczarowana i zbombardowana emocjami
reflective
sad
medium-paced
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
i love a pretty cover... i picked this up because i've been reading about memory and perception recently — Recursion by Blake Crouch, Nothing But The Rain by Naomi Salman — and wanted to read about memory in a different context. this time, i guess it was surveillance under an authoritarian state (hello, 1984...). just like the Memory Police, this book itself was slow and unassuming at the beginning. it finally crept up on me in the last tens of pages. rating this based on how much i enjoyed + was engaged with this book though, and unfortunately, while i appreciate the premise and the overall plot, the writing was vague and tended to focus on details that i didn't care about.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the memory police has left me in this strange limbo-like state where im not entirely sure what to think or feel.
the wider message of the book - the discussion of the decline and disappearance of the self under authoritarianism is extremely profound. the loss of voice and thus agency - both authorial and physical (through the metatextual manuscript) is an extremely interesting way to frame questions that are so important in our social climate today.
the notion of without our memories, who are we? and the decline of society when collective consciousness and memory fails is explored beautifully and in a multifaceted way, and is starkly relevant in a culture that consumes and conveniently forgets political outrage on a near-daily schedule.
i think the manuscript, while offering a private exploration of a loss of agency and voice (in a male/female relationship) detracts from the wider sentiment of the text in regard to authoritarian rule and the loss of social consciousness and resistance to subtle infringements until its too late: that notion of ‘and when they came for me there was no one left’.
and i found the notion that even those who resist authoritarianism still suffer a little strange. r, while retaining his memories, is left with no one to share them. those who resist more boldly disappear entirely. and if this is ogawas denouncement that no-one wins under authoritative rule, then fine, but that isn’t made expressly clear.
i think my sentiment is that its a profound and challenging book, but could have been executed better. most of the direct challenge came in the last half of the book, and the ‘resolution’ was left a little too ambiguous in my opinion to discern overall message. this reads for a lot of reading between the lines and individual interpretation. but where dystopia is concerned and discussions of authoritarianism are had, i oft think its best to be direct and not leave room for the message to be lost
the wider message of the book - the discussion of the decline and disappearance of the self under authoritarianism is extremely profound. the loss of voice and thus agency - both authorial and physical (through the metatextual manuscript) is an extremely interesting way to frame questions that are so important in our social climate today.
the notion of without our memories, who are we? and the decline of society when collective consciousness and memory fails is explored beautifully and in a multifaceted way, and is starkly relevant in a culture that consumes and conveniently forgets political outrage on a near-daily schedule.
i think the manuscript, while offering a private exploration of a loss of agency and voice (in a male/female relationship) detracts from the wider sentiment of the text in regard to authoritarian rule and the loss of social consciousness and resistance to subtle infringements until its too late: that notion of ‘and when they came for me there was no one left’.
and i found the notion that even those who resist authoritarianism still suffer a little strange. r, while retaining his memories, is left with no one to share them. those who resist more boldly disappear entirely. and if this is ogawas denouncement that no-one wins under authoritative rule, then fine, but that isn’t made expressly clear.
i think my sentiment is that its a profound and challenging book, but could have been executed better. most of the direct challenge came in the last half of the book, and the ‘resolution’ was left a little too ambiguous in my opinion to discern overall message. this reads for a lot of reading between the lines and individual interpretation. but where dystopia is concerned and discussions of authoritarianism are had, i oft think its best to be direct and not leave room for the message to be lost