Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

10 reviews

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.

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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 vague

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Infidelity

avie_1's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Grief, Police brutality, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Death, Gaslighting, and Deportation

Minor: Death of parent

stllyltc's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

It is so odd and strange; there were those warm moments, but it felt like something in you was depriving you with the way disappearances had occurred. It's as if they were living in a twisted social experiment setting. The things you could control were no longer there because the feeling was no longer there and the memory of how it worked was no longer there. It's distorting to think of a world like this one. Nevertheless, it was interesting to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, and Death of parent

wayfarer_reads's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual violence

chloemaerossi's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment

sassyshark's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder, Gore, and Medical content

theayeaye's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found The Memory Police to be a masterclass in writing successful anticlimax. Before the last three chapters I would have rated this book just slightly fewer stars (maybe 3.75) but the ending brought together the threads of the Memory Police into a hauntingly tragic resolution. 

One caveat for potential readers, I think this book is better understood less as a novel and more of a meditation on some themes through a story. Go into this book with the same mindset as taking in a painting at a museum.

Ogawa's writing style (and Stephen Snyder's translation) is remarkably understated and accomplishes a really interesting technique to show the narrator's emotions and feelings in her actions while keeping some aspects hidden.

Like her romantic affections for R.

It works really well when one of the themes of the book is which emotions do we acknowledge and honour in ourselves and which do we dampen.

I also really enjoyed the juxtaposition of the main story with the text of the narrator's novel. I think it added a great deal to the book to see how she works through her experiences by writing about them.

I found the writing a really thought provoking meditation loss and grief, and the things we lose without noticing, and the things we lose and notice very deeply.

The build-up of sadness and grief grows and grows until the book's ending. (Spoilers ahead for the curious but I don't think it would ruin the book to know how it ends.)

The final chapters show the narrator succeeding in R's request for her to finish her novel – a remarkable achievement in the context of her losses, though the achievement comes through understated because of her changing state of mind. And ultimately, remembering how to write does not succeed in saving her, and she gives in to the end with a chilling finality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Grief, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment

angeld's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A very dreamy yet eerie tale on the topics of memory, loss, and identity. The slow pace fits perfectly with the somber tone, however I feel like some events lack motive and ended up confusing me. I am somewhat unsatisfied by the ending since I expected explanations for certain occurrences. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Abandonment

darbo's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

"I don't know. Maybe there's a place out there where people whose hearts aren't empty can go on living."

The book has a slow start, and it may feel slow all throughout for some due to its mundane, everyday tasks, but it picks up eventually and just leaves you baffled and shocked at every turn. Especially so the ending. I truly love this and wholeheartedly recommend this to any dystopia and Orwell fans out there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Abandonment, Blood, and Death