Yōko Ogawa

BOOK GROUP

The Memory Police

Tascha | alllora

sina (she/her) 

taylor miles hopkins

No matter how careful we are, we all leave behind little bits of ourselves as we go about our lives. 

“A heart has no shape, no limits. That's why you can put almost any kind of thing in it, why It can hold so much. It's much like your memory, in that sense."

…but at some point it vanished. I suppose, over time, that happened to lots of things, even without the disappearances.

Lauri

"And what will happen if words disappear?" I whispered to myself, afraid that if I said it too loudly, it might come true.

No one knows and no one needs to know. Time is a great healer. It just flows on all of its own accord.

'Men who start by burning books end by burning other men,'

Aren't we together, right now, in spite of everything?

Gemma McCarthy

"If you read a novel to the end, then it's over. I would never want to do something as waste- ful as that. I'd much rather keep it here with me, safe and sound, forever."

"No, that's not really a problem. A heart has no shape, no limits. That's why you can put almost any kind of thing in it, why it can hold so much. It's much like your memory, in that sense."

“No, don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt, and you won’t even be particularly sad. One morning you’ll simply wake up and it will be over, before you’ve even realized. Lying still, eyes closed, ears pricked, trying to sense the flow of the morning air, you’ll feel that something has changed from the night before, and you’ll know that you’ve lost something, that something has been disappeared from the island.”

sazha 

Hati tidak memiliki bentuk dan batasan. Itulah sebabnya kau bisa memasukkan semua hal ke dalamnya. 

Marz 

"even if a memory disappears completely, the heart retains something. A slight tremor or pain, some bit of joy, a tear."

aywen

How elegant I’ll feel, listening to music while I’m doing my little rituals, and how lucky I feel today, being here with you and celebrating a birthday at my age.

karina

“You may think that the memories themselves vanish every time there’s a disappearance, but that’s just not true. They’re just floating in a pool the sunshine never reaches. All you have to do is plunge your hand in and you’re bound to find something. Something to bring back into the light. You have to try.”

"…A heart has no shape, no limits. That's why you can put almost any kind of thing in it, why it can hold so much. It's much like your memory, in that sense."

Lindy

But even if paper itself disappears, words will remain. It will be all right, you'll see. We haven't lost the stories. 

sofia mae

“The conscious mind is embedded in a subconscious that’s ten times as powerful, which may make trying to pretend almost impossible.”

“Time is a great healer. It just flows on all of its own accord.”

A haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor.

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.

But the "reality" to manuscript parts confused me.

Susan

Amazing, couldn't put down.

But the "reality" to manuscript parts confused me.

Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020, an enthralling Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance from one of Japan's greatest writers. 'Beautiful... Haunting' Sunday Times 'A dreamlike story of dystopia' Jia Tolentino __________ Hat, ribbon, bird rose. To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. It can be burned in the garden, thrown in the river or handed over to the Memory Police. Soon enough, the island forgets it ever existed. When a young novelist discovers that her editor is in danger of being taken away by the Memory Police, she desperately wants to save him. For some reason, he doesn't forget, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide his memories. Who knows what will vanish next? __________ Finalist for the National Book Award 2019 Longlisted for the Translated Book Award 2020 New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year 'This timeless fable of control and loss feels more timely than ever' Guardian, Books of the Year 'Echoes the themes of George Orwell's 1984, but it has a voice and power all its own' Time 'A novel that makes us see differently... A masterpiece' Madeleine Thien

What a topic to talk about! Memories are one of the things that make us human, and this book offers such a striking vision of what happens when you’re stripped of them. I really like the flow of the story. I know this book can mean different things to different people, but for me, it was a powerful experience. I’d recommend it as a one-time read.

Tanishq Khandelwal

This is such a good book!! Randomly picked it up at a bookstore and I’m so glad I did. 

elissa

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.

Beautifully written. Thought provoking and inviting prose. The writing gets deep and philosophical to just the right degree before a plot element is revealed keeping the pacing perfect. 

Hamed Khalidi

eerie and creepy - breaks the boundary of realism at times. i didn’t like the novel within very much as it took me out of the world but i understand its significance as the main character’s internalization of her reality.

important context: look into japanese human testing during the 20th century, primarily the kidnappings. once i realized that this isn’t purely fictitious the book became much scarier!

Nina

eerie and creepy - breaks the boundary of realism at times. i didn’t like the novel within very much as it took me out of the world but i understand its significance as the main character’s internalization of her reality.

important context: look into japanese human testing during the 20th century, primarily the kidnappings. once i realized that this isn’t purely fictitious the book became much scarier!

i waited over 36 weeks to get this book from my library just to be somewhat..disappointed? i think the allegories are great, and the interwoven story the narrator tries to author throughout…yet it still felt very simplistic, “genre-y” at times. i like ogawa a lot but maybe this wasn’t the book for me 

marlisa

An intimate journey exploring loss, grief, the past and pain in a way that leaves you thinking. Read in one afternoon.

Sam Richardson

The Memory Police is a haunting and atmospheric dystopian novel set on an unnamed island where objects and memories mysteriously disappear. The Memory Police enforces these disappearances, and those who remember risk being taken away. The story follows a novelist who hides her editor in a secret room to protect him from being “disappeared.” The novel explores themes of loss, erasure, identity, and resistance in a world slowly being emptied of meaning. 

I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, and yet, it quietly grew on me. Readers who enjoy dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451, especially ones with a slow-burn literary tone, may find The Memory Police surprisingly resonant. To me, it struck a delicate balance between speculative fiction and something distinctly Japanese in mood - melancholic, minimal, and poetic; even though I read it in English. 

What stood out most was the way it reflected something I’ve been thinking about lately: how memory and identity fade over time, often in ways we don’t immediately notice. Entering my 30s, I find myself becoming more aware of how easily we lose touch with our inner world. When we were younger, everything felt new and exciting: we were too busy diving into life to reflect on what we were leaving behind. But with time, it becomes easier to forget who we once were. I’ve personally experienced moments of identity loss, pouring myself into work, drifting away from old passions, and forgetting how to tend to my own "inner garden." In that way, the novel felt personal. 

The narrator’s fictional novel, the story within the story, took me by surprise. While listening to the audiobook, I initially struggled to distinguish it from the main narrative, but once I realized what was happening, it added a fascinating layer. The young typist who loses her voice, is held captive, and yet is gently cared for by her captor… it mirrors the narrator’s own world and emotional state. It’s eerie, surreal, and symbolic - a reflection of what can’t be spoken out loud in a society where remembering becomes dangerous. 

I also found myself thinking about the mechanics of forgetting in this world. Why are some items removed by force, confiscated by the Memory Police, while others, like the calendar, seem to dissolve on their own? That ambiguity feels intentional. It suggests that not all forgetting is external or imposed. Some of it happens quietly, internally, when memories no longer feel anchored to anything tangible. In this world, when time loses meaning, calendars no longer matter. That blurred line between erasure and surrender, between forgetting and being forgotten - left a strong impression on me. 

Ultimately, this book is about more than just memory. It’s about what we choose to keep alive in ourselves. And what we sometimes lose without realizing.

Ash Hoe

Summary

The Memory Police is a haunting and atmospheric dystopian novel set on an unnamed island where objects and memories mysteriously disappear. The Memory Police enforces these disappearances, and those who remember risk being taken away. The story follows a novelist who hides her editor in a secret room to protect him from being “disappeared.” The novel explores themes of loss, erasure, identity, and resistance in a world slowly being emptied of meaning. 

Reflection

I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, and yet, it quietly grew on me. Readers who enjoy dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451, especially ones with a slow-burn literary tone, may find The Memory Police surprisingly resonant. To me, it struck a delicate balance between speculative fiction and something distinctly Japanese in mood - melancholic, minimal, and poetic; even though I read it in English. 

What stood out most was the way it reflected something I’ve been thinking about lately: how memory and identity fade over time, often in ways we don’t immediately notice. Entering my 30s, I find myself becoming more aware of how easily we lose touch with our inner world. When we were younger, everything felt new and exciting: we were too busy diving into life to reflect on what we were leaving behind. But with time, it becomes easier to forget who we once were. I’ve personally experienced moments of identity loss, pouring myself into work, drifting away from old passions, and forgetting how to tend to my own "inner garden." In that way, the novel felt personal. 

The narrator’s fictional novel, the story within the story, took me by surprise. While listening to the audiobook, I initially struggled to distinguish it from the main narrative, but once I realized what was happening, it added a fascinating layer. The young typist who loses her voice, is held captive, and yet is gently cared for by her captor… it mirrors the narrator’s own world and emotional state. It’s eerie, surreal, and symbolic - a reflection of what can’t be spoken out loud in a society where remembering becomes dangerous. 

I also found myself thinking about the mechanics of forgetting in this world. Why are some items removed by force, confiscated by the Memory Police, while others, like the calendar, seem to dissolve on their own? That ambiguity feels intentional. It suggests that not all forgetting is external or imposed. Some of it happens quietly, internally, when memories no longer feel anchored to anything tangible. In this world, when time loses meaning, calendars no longer matter. That blurred line between erasure and surrender, between forgetting and being forgotten - left a strong impression on me. 

Ultimately, this book is about more than just memory. It’s about what we choose to keep alive in ourselves. And what we sometimes lose without realizing.

art and memory are really so deeply intertwined

kamille

a strange story but eerie and hauntingly beautiful all the same — what does it mean to be the one who forget things (and what does it mean to be someone with the burden of memory)? the pervasive fear of the police throughout, the surveillance state, how people persisted regardless. it made me think a little harder about things that disappear, what keeps them here, and how those kinds of stories get told. 

 of the story. after checking out what other people said (as if they matter!) i guess i’m not an outlier when i thought about how boring the midpart of the book was. very very slow paced, with the worldbuilding as bare as bamboo stalks framing a shanty. but i suppose that’s the point of the book — you’re not meant to examine or scrutinize or parse the text too roughly (or deeply) as first read — what matters is how you feel while the characters’ memories and souls slowly dissipate. much can be said on how it parallels real life politics — the protagonist being a writer with her own protagonist having her voice taken away from her? on the nose — but much can also be said on how the book still feels universal despite that one pressing comparison. overall, i liked it but mostly because of the ending. the last few chapters alone atone for the slow pace. can’t wait to see lily gladstone in this.

Mika

four stars because i liked the entire feel of the story. after checking out what other people said (as if they matter!) i guess i’m not an outlier when i thought about how boring the midpart of the book was. very very slow paced, with the worldbuilding as bare as bamboo stalks framing a shanty. but i suppose that’s the point of the book — you’re not meant to examine or scrutinize or parse the text too roughly (or deeply) as first read — what matters is how you feel while the characters’ memories and souls slowly dissipate. much can be said on how it parallels real life politics — the protagonist being a writer with her own protagonist having her voice taken away from her? on the nose — but much can also be said on how the book still feels universal despite that one pressing comparison. overall, i liked it but mostly because of the ending. the last few chapters alone atone for the slow pace. can’t wait to see lily gladstone in this.

Eva Ströberg

The protagonist lives in a remote island, run by people called the “Memory Police”. Things disappear one by one in this island, from birds to books, from harmonica to hats. You never know what’s going to disappear next and it’s the Memory Police job to erase the existence of the remaining items in people’s possesion. They conduct raids, they confiscate things, they arrest people.
.
This book is very thought provoking. Can you so easily forget a memory? Even if you want to, or even when you fought so hard not to? Not everyone can forget easily of things that had existed and obviously they are seen as threats by Memory Police.
.
Three stars, again because I was looking for background and closures that I didn’t get. It felt so unfinished to me

Anna 

tohle mělo potenciál a hlubokou myšlenku. chápu, že ne všechny dystopian knihy musí být o hrdinovi, který zničí roky zajetý systém a bojuje proti režimu, jak jen může. ale když už ten worldbuilding nechce autorka rozebrat víc, když nechce vysvětlit, proč se děje, co se děje, nemuselo to mít skoro 300 stran. protože se tam vlastně nakonec vůbec nic nedělo.
jako povídka nebo novela by tohle bylo asi lepší.
.
edit: když jsem nad knihou přemýšlela delší dobu, vlastně se mi to líbilo víc, než jsem původně hodnotila. bylo záměrem, aby to bylo 'o ničem', aby se tam nic nedělo, protože hlavní postava byla obyčejná a nebojovala, což se postupně začalo projevovat a ovlivňovat její život. je to celý metafora na to 'být ovcí v režimu, se kterým je něco v nepořádku', ale i tak by to mohlo být lepší spíš ve formě povídky nebo novely. 
. 
nakonec přemýšlím nad 3,5/5*

armoni mayes

I absolutely loved this novel. I do not think I can even express how much i did, besides saying I would rate it 10 out of 5 stars. First, it’s beautifully written & fast paced (two of my favorite things). Second, I felt extremely connected to the main character, R, and the old man and genuinely cared about their future on this unnamed island. Although traumatic events and other things that life threw at the narrator she remained having a positive attitude, which is more than I think I could have in the situations she was put in. 
I also liked reading her manuscript throughout the original plot, which was just as creepy & unsettling.
The only plot hole, but maybe it’s the way the author intended it to be, was I am unsure how the memory police were choosing which items had to disappear.

My favorite quotes:

“A heart has no shape, no limits. That’s why you can put almost any kind of thing in it, why it can hold so much. It’s much like your memory, in that sense.”

“Your heart is doing everything it can to preserve its existence. No matter how many memories these men take away, they’ll never reduce it to nothing.”

“When the voice that links the body to the soul vanishes, there is no way to put into words one’s feelings or will. I am reduced to pieces in no time at all.”

Chourouk

Devoured this book. It’s beautifully written, with descriptions that were very intriguing and detailed (descriptions in some books can bore me to death, not this one though). It did leave me wanting for more and the questions that I had were not answered but it was beside the point. It really captures the feelings of loss and inability to act or rebel. The sense of self is both present and absent in the narration. A dystopian drama worth the read, it definitely brought some strong feelings to the surface. Can’t wait to read more of Yoko Ogawa’s work.

PS: I hate this habit of comparing non-Western literature to Western literature for the sake of making it more accessible, this is not an Orwellian book, it’s a Yoko Ogawa book. If you read it with Orwell in mind, then you’ll be deceived based on that same misleading expectation.

at first, apart from the gorgeous writing, i was really frustrated because i couldn’t understand why things disappeared. in my mind there was no logical explanation why this organisation, the memory police, would make such random things disappear out of the blue. 

as i continued reading i realised this is not exactly like orwell’s 1984 or bradburry’s fahrenheit 451. it doesn’t matter why exactly things disappear. the author conveys how it feels to lose everything and anything around you, leaving the world empty, barren. and writes a thought provoking ending (even though the entire book is thought provoking), where when everything around you disappears what is left of you. 

it really is a well written story that talks about loss and importance of mundane everyday items in our life. and how quickly we can lose ourselves even if we try to persevere. 

the ending made me quite sad, but i know that that was the only possible conclusion to be derived from the story like the memory police.

at first, apart from the gorgeous writing, i was really frustrated because i couldn’t understand why things disappeared. in my mind there was no logical explanation why this organisation, the memory police, would make such random things disappear out of the blue. 

as i continued reading i realised this is not exactly like orwell’s 1984 or bradburry’s fahrenheit 451. it doesn’t matter why exactly things disappear. the author conveys how it feels to lose everything and anything around you, leaving the world empty, barren. and writes a thought provoking ending (even though the entire book is thought provoking), where when everything around you disappears what is left of you. 

it really is a well written story that talks about loss and importance of mundane everyday items in our life. and how quickly we can lose ourselves even if we try to persevere. 

the ending made me quite sad, but i know that that was the only possible conclusion to be derived from the story like the memory police.

n 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 no 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 the floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her wiring as the last way of preserving the past.

A Novel

Alba Ramos

i was telling my mom the plot and she was like wow that's original, she made me tell her what happened in the end too so that's a win for me

a quiet kind of book that puts you in the mind of someone — both resigned and yet, subconsciously hopeful and determined. i sped through this one. tried to pace it out bc i felt i’d suck it all in even before my trip was done. and true enough,,,

the death of the old man had me close to tears. his quiet strength throughout the novel served as a stronghold for both the main character and, unwittingly, me. the ending events came one after the other, all at once. and i felt it!! the void and resolution. the grief !! 

Nat Wong

a quiet kind of book that puts you in the mind of someone — both resigned and yet, subconsciously hopeful and determined. i sped through this one. tried to pace it out bc i felt i’d suck it all in even before my trip was done. and true enough,,,

the death of the old man had me close to tears. his quiet strength throughout the novel served as a stronghold for both the main character and, unwittingly, me. the ending events came one after the other, all at once. and i felt it!! the void and resolution. the grief !! 

this one was something kind of special.

when i read the synopsis of the book i honestly expected smth way different than what actually happened but thats why i loved this book! it was unpredictable and very interesting and obviously i thought to myself what the actual point of this book even was but nonetheless i love how the author turned it into a very thought-provoking ending but my mind was literally empty after finishing this book and the few blank pages which came after the ending basically explained what was going on in my head

micki

The Memory Police was a highly anticipated read that unfortunately fell flat for me. Firstly, I wish I had paid more attention to the 'slow-paced' tag it would have saved me a lot of frustration. Despite being set in such a tense world, with the main character facing such high stakes, the story seemed to drag along. Even when serious events occurred it's as if they barely had an impact, giving a monotonous tone to the story as a whole. This made the book a chore to pick back up at times. 

The concept of this story is so unique but not well explored. While the book did heavily investigate how we tie memories to objects and how those objects no matter how mundane can hold so much meaning and function in our lives, other aspects of the story were not well explained at all. Who set up the memory police? why do they not lose the things that 'disappear', how do people join the memory police? What makes the things disappear? Why is it dangerous to remember things that disappear?  None of these questions are answered, and due to this, I feel like the message of this book was not effectively conveyed to me, all the insight I gained from this book feels quite shallow. It felt like the book was continuously building up to a grand event which never came. 

I did enjoy seeing the main character's writing inserted into the book, in fact, I was more invested in the story being told there than in the book itself, but these sections were far too long and could have been cut short to develop the main story more. Also, I can't buy that the main character was able to write a coherent end to her novel considering she no longer had her right arm or her memories of novels. It is just another way the storytelling falls short. 

Speaking of the characters, I don't the character writing was anything spectacular but the bond between the characters is what made the book bearable. I especially liked seeing the bond between the old man and the main character, it was very heartwarming. However, this is where my positives end. 

Overall this book feels like one big missed opportunity. 

The Memory Police was a highly anticipated read that unfortunately fell flat for me. Firstly, I wish I had paid more attention to the 'slow-paced' tag it would have saved me a lot of frustration. Despite being set in such a tense world, with the main character facing such high stakes, the story seemed to drag along. Even when serious events occurred it's as if they barely had an impact, giving a monotonous tone to the story as a whole. This made the book a chore to pick back up at times. 

The concept of this story is so unique but not well explored. While the book did heavily investigate how we tie memories to objects and how those objects no matter how mundane can hold so much meaning and function in our lives, other aspects of the story were not well explained at all. Who set up the memory police? why do they not lose the things that 'disappear', how do people join the memory police? What makes the things disappear? Why is it dangerous to remember things that disappear?  None of these questions are answered, and due to this, I feel like the message of this book was not effectively conveyed to me, all the insight I gained from this book feels quite shallow. It felt like the book was continuously building up to a grand event which never came. 

I did enjoy seeing the main character's writing inserted into the book, in fact, I was more invested in the story being told there than in the book itself, but these sections were far too long and could have been cut short to develop the main story more. Also, I can't buy that the main character was able to write a coherent end to her novel considering she no longer had her right arm or her memories of novels. It is just another way the storytelling falls short. 

Speaking of the characters, I don't the character writing was anything spectacular but the bond between the characters is what made the book bearable. I especially liked seeing the bond between the old man and the main character, it was very heartwarming. However, this is where my positives end. 

Overall this book feels like one big missed opportunity. 

Maria

i really enjoyed this overall. the writing is neat & really pulls you in. however, the general vagueness of the world-building and the plot itself - while managing to vividly add to the eeriness of the story and to make the general ambience more palpable - didn't really land either way for me. although i think this style is suitable, overall, for a story based on the premise of forgetting and things disappearing, i wish that this had been a more straightforward story in some parts. i do agree with most reviews that this was a quiet, introspective kind of dystopian novel, which is not a bad thing; i just itched for a little more of something.

Isabella 

this book is so interesting. very chilling and mysterious. got me thinking, "what is the point of this?" but i guess it's a very metaphorical book; a lot of interpretations can come up with this book. will be thinking about this for awhile bc it's quite scary in a way that some sort of stuff that happens in this book can and is happening in real life.

The Memory Police BOOK GROUP

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