A review by blairmahoney
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa

4.0

My third from the International Booker Prize longlist, and it's made the shortlist as well, which doesn't surprise me. The novel was actually written back in 1994 but just translated into English last year, for its 25th anniversary. It's hit at the right time, with its combination of magical realism and dystopia feeling just right for a pandemic. The main character is a novelist on an island where things 'disappear' and the Memory Police of the title enforce the disappearances and deal with the people who fail to forget the items that have gone. There's a novel within the novel which works very well and the whole story is pregnant with symbolism. It's all about people being shut in and unable to leave, whether it's the island itself, the house, or their memories, so yeah: pandemic.