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avasbookmark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Minor: Rape
steph_phanie's review
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
carolined314's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
This is a novel-sized lament, and has some gorgeous writing. It simply didn't hold me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Grief
miaaa_lenaaa's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
D: if i read this before i went to bed i think i would have gently cried myself to sleep
‘No matter how careful we are, we all leave behind little bits of ourselves as we go about our lives.’
‘Nothing remained on the hillside except things that were quietly awaiting their ruin.’
‘"But how can you hold something that has disappeared?"’
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Police brutality, Death, and Blood
steveatwaywords's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This is my first Ogawa read, and it certainly will not be my last. Her work, Revenge is next, I think, especially after I recently read the short story "Welcome to the Museum of Torture."
First, do not enter this work thinking you know how books and stories work. Ogawa is going to teach us something new. The narrative success of it may be in question, but there is little doubt that the initial discomfiture and confusion readers experience (both in setting and in narrative pace) are a critical part of what she is up to. For these reasons, if we enter the work seeking a clean and simple "answer" to the mystery of social memory loss, like it's a thriller or detective novel, we will equally be disappointed. Let the novel work on its own terms.
When we do, we find a psychological and emotional dysphoria, an internal world broadcast outward into an external dystopia. Or is it the other way around? In any event, our narrator is herself a writer of novels about writing, memory, and language, themselves highly allegorical. So there is a meta-level to this novel, as well. Which is most significant as a tale to follow?
Along the way, we have plenty of near-nameless characters who test the premise: how should we respond to a world where, each-by-each, its objects are dismantled from both reality and memory? What is the purpose for knowing an objective truth which nevertheless is not shared by a community? How much forced deprivation can or should a people accept before responding? What degree of impoverishment can be normalized?
I've seen other reviews which place specific allegorical meanings to this novel (mental health metaphors, totalitarian economic policies, marriage, etc.), and I won't say they are wrong. But Ogawa's surreal narratives (or magically realistic ones) don't just echo Orwell or Murakami or even Dazai. But she here has tendrils of memory in all these writers while still taking us, inevitably, somewhere else altogether.
First, do not enter this work thinking you know how books and stories work. Ogawa is going to teach us something new. The narrative success of it may be in question, but there is little doubt that the initial discomfiture and confusion readers experience (both in setting and in narrative pace) are a critical part of what she is up to. For these reasons, if we enter the work seeking a clean and simple "answer" to the mystery of social memory loss, like it's a thriller or detective novel, we will equally be disappointed. Let the novel work on its own terms.
When we do, we find a psychological and emotional dysphoria, an internal world broadcast outward into an external dystopia. Or is it the other way around? In any event, our narrator is herself a writer of novels about writing, memory, and language, themselves highly allegorical. So there is a meta-level to this novel, as well. Which is most significant as a tale to follow?
Along the way, we have plenty of near-nameless characters who test the premise: how should we respond to a world where, each-by-each, its objects are dismantled from both reality and memory? What is the purpose for knowing an objective truth which nevertheless is not shared by a community? How much forced deprivation can or should a people accept before responding? What degree of impoverishment can be normalized?
I've seen other reviews which place specific allegorical meanings to this novel (mental health metaphors, totalitarian economic policies, marriage, etc.), and I won't say they are wrong. But Ogawa's surreal narratives (or magically realistic ones) don't just echo Orwell or Murakami or even Dazai. But she here has tendrils of memory in all these writers while still taking us, inevitably, somewhere else altogether.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Dysphoria, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Depending upon how you read the novel, it is easy to see it as a parallel to mental illness, emotional abuse or destitution, etc.amsswim's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I really liked this one, almost 5 stars from me. The world is very interesting, and it leaves me wanting more to understand how it all works. That is not the point though; the author leans into the human reaction to the circumstances and it is devastating. Would recommend to dystopian fans and emotional people looking to get into their feelings.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Body horror, Confinement, Dementia, Abandonment, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Sexual assault
Everything is very vagueprickly_plant's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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? It's complicated
2.75
A very melancholy read that explores the meaning of memory and grief. I wanted to add that this book contains content that might be difficult to read if you struggle with dissociation.
The writing style and the characters kept me reading (as well as the main character’s novel).
The writing style and the characters kept me reading (as well as the main character’s novel).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Grief, Police brutality, and Death
Minor: Animal death
yala's review
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Infidelity
vcriveros's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Really interesting concept, and quite well executed. The tension on the book is at some points almost unbearable; but I think it is mostly because of the expectations of the genre made me wait for things to go wrong at every turn. Great characters, and the narrative-within-the narrative was really clever. The ending was intriguing and left me thinking about all the implications of this universe
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Police brutality, Body horror, Death, Grief, Infidelity, and Panic attacks/disorders
nikki_dun's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Police brutality, and Blood
Minor: Grief