For our October read, Ariel and I picked up The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, translated from Japanese by Stephen Snyder. We love dystopian stories and this one offered us a unique perspective on memory, loss and living. Below is our quick discussion about the book. Ariel’s comments are in bold. Let’s take a look at the synopsis and then we will dive into our discussion.
On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island’s inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.
When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.
A surreal, provocative fable about the power of memory and the trauma of loss, The Memory Police is a stunning new work from one of the most exciting contemporary authors writing in any language.
Content Notes: Death, loss of memory
The Memory Police – Whole book Discussion
When I was young, I didn’t think much about memory and forgetting. As I got older, I started to notice how I would sometimes intentionally make memories and, when I would have a great day, I would want to document it in some manner. Our phones have made it easier to capture these moments, and I don’t generally worry about forgetting things, but recently, the more we rely on technology, the less things we start to keep in our minds. I hardly remember any cell phone numbers. My phone knows them for me. When you showed me this book, Ariel, I was automatically drawn to the loss of memory, forced loss of memory at that. I was interested to know how this would be executed. Why was this happening? And I am so glad we picked up this book and were able to peel some layers of the mystery! What drew you to this book?
I really appreciate any sort of dystopian book, especially ones that bring something new to the genre. Dystopia novels are a really cool way to see the world through the author’s eyes and what existential hopes and fears they may have in dire circumstances. What did you think of the pacing?
The story was slower than most books I have read but the more I read, the more intentional it seemed. When there is no way to know what will disappear next, everything is a bit surreal. We are in this waiting place, waiting for change to happen, not knowing what it will be. A lot of things were left to our imagination as the reader – what the people looked like, what their life looked like without the things that they had forgotten as well as the challenge of hiding the things that they were told to forget but had not forgotten. There is fear in the atmosphere that our main characters will be caught doing something which they should not be doing, and there is also a sort of rebellion to make life a little different. What did you think of the execution of the premise and the atmosphere in the book?
You know that feeling where you know you’ve forgotten something but you’re not quite sure what it is? There’s this quiet feeling of uncertainty of whether or not you should panic– was it a big thing I’m forgetting? Inconsequential? Until you’ve remembered that thing you’ve forgotten, you exist in that in-between of not-panic and uncertainty. That existence is the experience of stepping into the perspectives of our main character in this book, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read.
Our protagonist is a writer and her work in progress is about a girl who is a typist and loses her voice to the typewriter. Relating this to our protagonist’s premonition about loss of certain memories and how the story ends, do you have any thoughts around why this was the particular work of hers that we read? Was there an underlying message there?
I feel as though that story is highly metaphorical. My best interpretation is this: The typist could symbolize humanity, and the typewriter society. Humanity finds its meaning through connection, through community, through culture, through society. But what happens when the society takes all of those things away in such an efficient way humanity is stuck without any other option?
I like how we analyzed this at both those levels through our discussion. 🙂
It was interesting to me how little world-building there is in this story, and I think that it’s very intentional. The Memory Police simply exist and no one questions them. The widespread forgetting happens and no one questions it. It makes for a very interesting premise where we are almost begging for more, but the book just quietly continues on its trajectory.
The origins of memory loss and the memory police are unknown. As someone who wants to know all the whys and hows, I wish the story had gone a bit into it, but I can totally see that making it less mysterious and taking the focus away from the loss of memory itself.
Lived experiences shape us. I don’t know anyone nor have I read any books on Alzheimer’s and other memory loss diseases and I wonder if they affect the personality in the same way as this book showed with the protagonist. Is there dejection and resignation that they will forget people and things and just move on? We saw that in The Memory Police, people burned or got rid of things that they could no longer remember how to use. It’s a form of purging and cleaning that I had not anticipated.
It seems to me that it is more heartbreaking to be the one who remembers and seeing the loved one fading away. We still remember, we still have emotional meaning attached to the memories, while those who forget simply cannot feel the grief of the loss of those memories due to the fact they do not know to grieve their own loss. It brings up so many philosophical questions about the value of experiences and the significance we place on memories of people, places, and the things that surround us.
Concluding thoughts
The Memory Police is a unique book. I enjoyed it for many reasons and am now interested to dive deeper into the trope of memory loss (I am already reading a book which executed it via fading tattoos). It is a slow book and I can see it being a challenging read. Come to it with patience and the right mindset and I’m sure you’ll take tons away from it! Thanks Ariel for choosing this as our buddy read – it has been so much fun to read and discuss it with you! 🙂
Thank you for reading this with me, Kriti! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a slower dystopia read. There aren’t any grand schemes of rebellion or heroics, but rather the quiet ways that we seek to survive within injustice. That creates a slower pace that feels more literary-fiction than the action that many dystopias seem to subscribe to. Definitely worth the read for me!
That’s all for our discussion for The Memory Police! You know we love describing our reading experience to you! Here is a summary of our read:
Interested in reading The Memory Police and adding to our discussion? Find it on all retail stores. Here are the Amazon links for your convenience. I would recommend finding it at your local library and supporting them!
Amazon Print
Amazon Kindle
Cover Photo by Aditya Vyas on Unsplash
Sounds fascinating.