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inpagesimlost 's review for:
The Memory Police
by Yōko Ogawa
You can find this review and more on my blog In Pages Im Lost Book Blog
What can I say about this story. In an island where everything is slowly slowly disappearing and people forget, we are being taught what it means to be a human and care for your fellow neighbor.
Written some 30 years ago in Japan, this book explores the story of an island where its people go to sleep only to wake up to realize that something has disappeared. Roses, books, perfume and so many other things disappear and slip from people’s memories as the oppressive regime they live under, forces them to destroy these items. The Memory Police are there to arrest anyone who resists to destroy the disappeared items however most people comply as they find no reason to keep something they cant remember.
It is a very interesting premise of a book, it could be described as Orwellian almost. There are similarities with the Diary of Anne Frank as well, as an individual in the book is trying to hide one of those people that never forget, in a small box that can be accessed through a secret trapdoor. There are no references made to Anna Frank but the similarities are there. The oppressed running from the oppressor.
While it is a dystopian novel, it does a very good job in provoking to reader to think about his own reality. We still have counties in this world that have oppressive regimes, where freedom of speech is not legal, where everything you see or hear or even read are being controlled by the government. So it is really dystopia or is it a metaphor for the world that we live in?
I couldn’t stop about this small book long after I read it. It is beautiful, to the point and the endings was as beautiful as was harrowing.
What can I say about this story. In an island where everything is slowly slowly disappearing and people forget, we are being taught what it means to be a human and care for your fellow neighbor.
Written some 30 years ago in Japan, this book explores the story of an island where its people go to sleep only to wake up to realize that something has disappeared. Roses, books, perfume and so many other things disappear and slip from people’s memories as the oppressive regime they live under, forces them to destroy these items. The Memory Police are there to arrest anyone who resists to destroy the disappeared items however most people comply as they find no reason to keep something they cant remember.
It is a very interesting premise of a book, it could be described as Orwellian almost. There are similarities with the Diary of Anne Frank as well, as an individual in the book is trying to hide one of those people that never forget, in a small box that can be accessed through a secret trapdoor. There are no references made to Anna Frank but the similarities are there. The oppressed running from the oppressor.
While it is a dystopian novel, it does a very good job in provoking to reader to think about his own reality. We still have counties in this world that have oppressive regimes, where freedom of speech is not legal, where everything you see or hear or even read are being controlled by the government. So it is really dystopia or is it a metaphor for the world that we live in?
I couldn’t stop about this small book long after I read it. It is beautiful, to the point and the endings was as beautiful as was harrowing.