Book Review: “The Memory Police”

The Memory Police

Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder

Hardcover, 288 pages

Publication Date: August 15, 2019

Publisher: Harvill Secker

Genre: Science Fiction

One of the main goals of a novel is to evoke emotions in its reader. Whether those emotions are horror, sadness, love or suspense, a good book will cause you to become emotionally invested. I am happy to report “The Memory Police” by Yōko Ogawa is excellent at providing an emotional experience.

“The Memory Police” presents a dystopia unlike any I have read before. The setting is an island, populated but not crowded. Every so often, an item “disappears.” When this happens, no one on the island can remember what the object is, so they get rid of it and go on with their lives. One day, hats disappeared, and suddenly everyone was trying to figure out what the strange pieces of fabric in their houses were. As the memory of hats slowly faded away, a government organization—the Memory Police—on the island helped everyone get rid of the disappeared object.

Except not everyone forgets what has disappeared, and when someone like that is discovered, they vanish at the hands of the Memory Police. The unnamed main character is not able to retain her memories, but when she finds out someone close to her cannot forget, she goes to great lengths in order to protect him from the Memory Police.

None of the characters in the book are named, except for the dog. Despite this, the characters are unique and their personalities support one another through losing memories and dealing with the Memory Police. The time not spent on describing the characters is used to develop them emotionally.

Despite being simple, the writing is emotional. Many emotionally-driven books try to make their prose as elegant and superfluous as possible, but Ogawa is able to be powerfully emotional through quiet, unadorned language. Quotes like this abound:

“The melody that flowed from the box was simple but pure and sweet. That much I could feel. But I had no confidence that it would be able to check the exhaustion that was overtaking my soul.”

The directness of the writing does not hide anything about where the plot is headed, although I kept wishing for a sudden happily ever after for all of the characters. “The Memory Police” distances itself from many dystopian novels in this way. The ending does not provide a sudden reversal of fates in favor of the good guys. In this sense, I would equate “The Memory Police” to a book like “1984” rather than something like “The Hunger Games.”

Additionally, the main character is not someone special, endowed with powers to set them apart from the rest of the world. The main character in “The Memory Police” is a timid novelist, subject to the same memory loss as the majority of the population. She can do no more to resist the Memory Police than any other citizen could, which helped make the book so powerful. I was upset for the rest of the day after finishing “The Memory Police,” the ending had that much of an effect on me. Take some time to read it if you want to be submerged in a compelling dystopian world full of sympathetic characters.

Paige Holmes is a senior journalism major from Topeka, KS. Reading is her favorite thing to do because it teaches one how to think, imagine and live. Paige believes there is no better way to learn something or be entertained than by reading a book. Her favorite genre of books is fantasy/thriller and her favorite book is ‘Opening Moves’ by Steven James.

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