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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A book about what we stand to lose when governments control things. Heavy themes of loss, grief, and the fleeting nature of memory.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Grief
Minor: Sexual assault
an all consuming masterpiece of work from ogawa. incredibly beautiful prose and the most heartbreaking story i have read in a long time. imagine 1984 or fahrenheit 451 but instead what is controlled are memories themselves. what do we retain if we no longer remember something? is an object still the same if we don't recall what it is? how do we keep sentiments within us for things we are told are not allowed to exist? the concept of some losing memories unwillingly and others resisting but being captured is a beautiful metaphor for control under authoritarianism and ogawa has blown my mind with the beauty in which they can put a story like this into words.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
a solid 3 stars. i’ve read this a while ago so i’m a bit hazy on the details.
i had higher expectations of this book. the concept is so interesting and it genuinely made me ponder upon the place of our memories in our lives and how delicate they are.
really, what are we without or memories? does anything truly belong to us if our memories can be taken away?
but this book does not really focus on memories, not exactly. it claims to be about “forgetting” but most of the time, it’s really the meaning given to things disappearing rather than them actually forgetting. in fact, this was one of my biggest issues with the book: most of the time it reads off as they know and remember what certain things are but they just can’t conceptualize them. this is fine except, that defeats the purpose a little.
there is a lot of inconsistency with the concept: why does she refer to the “hat maker” as hat maker? why does the old man live in the ferry? but most importantly: if they can /kinda/ remember these things, why can’t they recreate them? it’s not like because a concept disappears, it can’t re-emerge. take perfumes for instance, wouldn’t humans just create something new to smell good? most of these objects are created to fulfill a need and those needs in question have, in fact, not disappeared.
all in all, i did like the book. it gave me so many interesting ideas about our memories, the meanings we give to things, etc. but i did think the concept was quite inconsistent at times and did not make sense.
(note: i will improve this review once i go through my notes, i think i can explain myself better)
i had higher expectations of this book. the concept is so interesting and it genuinely made me ponder upon the place of our memories in our lives and how delicate they are.
really, what are we without or memories? does anything truly belong to us if our memories can be taken away?
but this book does not really focus on memories, not exactly. it claims to be about “forgetting” but most of the time, it’s really the meaning given to things disappearing rather than them actually forgetting. in fact, this was one of my biggest issues with the book: most of the time it reads off as they know and remember what certain things are but they just can’t conceptualize them. this is fine except, that defeats the purpose a little.
there is a lot of inconsistency with the concept: why does she refer to the “hat maker” as hat maker? why does the old man live in the ferry? but most importantly: if they can /kinda/ remember these things, why can’t they recreate them? it’s not like because a concept disappears, it can’t re-emerge. take perfumes for instance, wouldn’t humans just create something new to smell good? most of these objects are created to fulfill a need and those needs in question have, in fact, not disappeared.
all in all, i did like the book. it gave me so many interesting ideas about our memories, the meanings we give to things, etc. but i did think the concept was quite inconsistent at times and did not make sense.
(note: i will improve this review once i go through my notes, i think i can explain myself better)