Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

La Policía de la Memoria by Yōko Ogawa

44 reviews

gkgkgk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Eating disorder and Blood

emmalouisereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

This book was really slow to begin with. I think I spent a lot of time thinking the disappearances would be caused in a way I’d assumed and I battled with not liking what was happening. 

Once I just gave up on my assumptions it became a much more mysterious and enjoyable read - enjoyable in the sense I struggled to put it down. 

This is an intensely haunting and sad story.  It’ll stay with me for a while.

Read for a book club. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Kidnapping, Rape, and Sexual assault

savvylit's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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? No

5.0

The atmosphere in The Memory Police is palpably unsettling. Not only are the members of the unnamed island community forced to rid themselves of "disappeared" items but they also lose all memory or concept of the items. For instance, the narrator recounts how at one point, all hats are disappeared. Later on, she notes a person wearing an odd object on their head while struggling to recognize it as a hat.

At its core, this novel is a terrifying parable about the extreme duress and gaslighting inherent in police states. The citizens of the island are constantly surveilled by the titular memory police. Folks who have retained memories of the disappeared items are forcibly taken away from the community to meet unknown fates. Such scenes are all too accurately reminiscent of the treatment of radicals during extreme fascist regimes. Perhaps that's the scariest aspect of this novel - the way that Ogawa's dystopian world closely mirrors our own reality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, Grief, Gaslighting, and Police brutality

leapyear_reader's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Stalking, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Dementia, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Infidelity, Murder, and Terminal illness

starstruk99's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Minor: Rape

kurisukurisu's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Animal death

Minor: Sexual assault

tiennguyen's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Confinement, Police brutality, and Death

Minor: Rape, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Kidnapping

himbomeena's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping

chadcloete's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

It's more of a slice of life kind of situation. Somewhat. It's hard to put it into words. But I really enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, and Death of parent

The memory police are very much like the Gestapo the things they do and the way things happen are strong reminders of the things I've read about

seasidess's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

It's a devastating story about people leaning on each other in the midst of tragedy. 

I read it in Portuguese and I thought the scenery description was great, also the main characters are very sweet and lovable. It's desolating how there's a complete lack of control to change what happens to that island and to them. Who's making that people starve to death and why? What happened to the rest of the world? How were they controlling everyone's mind? That's what frustrated me the most when reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Grief, and Ableism

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Rape