Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

La Policía de la Memoria by Yōko Ogawa

49 reviews

violentlyagitated's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

pigeonpersona's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Violence, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.5

i thought this was such a cool idea for a book and thought it was executed really well. i love any book with found family elements, especially when it involves an older person. the relationships formed and described were the backbone of this story imo. the only thing i struggled with was the ending. it wasn't exactly what i imagined or thought fit well with the story but it wasn't bad. also i really want the author to release a book that fully tells the story that the main character was writing. i loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

baileyt2424's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Grief, and Death of parent

joshoonet's review against another edition

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

4.0

• Different from anything I've read before for sure
• Has a very dreamlike atmosphere
• Mostly like it for the vibes and unique setting, plot is almost secondary
• There will be no answers
• Some beautiful descriptions

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia and Deportation

Moderate: Confinement and Death

Minor: Body horror, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

Confinement/Sexual Assault:

the protagonist writes a novel, in which a woman is locked in a clock tower and alluded to be taken advantage of; no graphic descriptions at all

Deportation:

when people don't forget things they're supposed to, they get taken away by the memory police and are never seen again.

Body Horror:

not sure if this qualifies? But at some point body parts start to "disappear" aka go numb and aren't associated with the body anymore; this causes some concern

mlewis's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

I have more complicated feelings about this than I expected to, as taken as I was with “The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain,” a short story of Ogawa’s published about a decade after this novel was.

The prose often felt flat to me, and I wonder whether it's because -- at the risk of sharing too much and in an odd venue -- I've spent the pandemic feeling an increasing sense of derealization. I think this novel was doing something that I didn't appreciate until too close to the end, a feeling reinforced by reading “How ‘The Memory Police’ Makes You See,” a great review by Jia Tolentino. I’m also still learning to read deeply, and may still struggle with the stylistic choice to give a narrator a diegetic voice that doesn’t resonate with me immediately.

I think it’s still a great testament to a book’s force that you know you’ll continue thinking about it and want to revisit it, even if you can’t speak glowingly of it right away. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body horror

chaos_animates's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Grief

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Rape

3eggomelet's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, and Police brutality

Minor: Body horror and Death of parent

matcha_reader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I was expecting more from this book. Great idea, poor execution - in my opinion. 
The writing is okay, very beautiful in the beginning actually. The first pages are what got me into this book in the first place. But then... the narrative gets painfully slow at some points and so many questions are left unanswered (personal preference, but I don't like it when too many plot points are left to my imagination, I want to know what happened!).
Also, the end seemed rushed, as though the author had no idea how to continue the story and decided to end it in the most most simple way. I feel like overall the book was a bit absurd and pointless, but interesting nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body horror and Infidelity

morimyths's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror