I selected this book to read with my library's book club. It's a very interesting story with some magical realism and general strangeness which I like. Most of the book club members enjoyed it and we had a great discussion about it because what is really going on in the book is pretty open to reader interpretation. It was interesting to hear what others thought was the cause of the disappearances.

Though I’m very late to reviewing this one, I really enjoyed it! It kept me interested, and I would recommend it to anyone who dabbles in this genre.

The idea was interesting and the writing fairly good - but I felt like I was skimming along throughout without my feelings every being fully engaged, nor my attention being strongly connected to the story. I almost wonder if this would be better rewritten as a short story.

This book is really more a quiet dystopian that is more a story about loss and memory than about the dystopia itself. I absolutely loved it! I am looking forward to going back to read more by this author!

I don't believe I can write a review that would do this title justice. It's a haunting, compelling nighmare-esque story that you can't stop reading.

What a haunting and thought-provoking novel. I will be thinking about this book's lessons on memory and history for some time. Thank goodness for fiction, and for beautiful translation.

I absolutely loved this novel. It was beautifully written. The mood and tone was exceptional. The story was an important one. I was surprised by the subtle beauty of the whole thing and devoured it in a day. This is a shining example of Japanese fiction.

I believe that the translator did a good job in translating this novel to english. some very nice and meditative portions throughout the book on the notion of loss and forgetting. However, I don't think the author took the story and really illuminated any higher truths or a bigger "moral of the story." it literally just faded away at the end.

It was a good read. It made me emotional at times. It made me learn few lessons reading it. Saying this, it was a good read but I was hoping that it would capture my heart better. 4 out of 5 stars.

For as long as the novelist can remember, things have disappeared from her island. Overnight, people's recollections grow faint and colorless. All of a given object will vanish or wither. The examples that don't evanesce on cue are thrown into communal pyres. Anyone who displays reluctance to cooperate with the purge is rounded up by the Memory Police. They also take those rare individuals who, like the narrator's mother, can somehow remember what was lost. Soon, she can tell, they will come for her editor. A haunting and surreal novel that yields no easy answers. Thanks, Netgalley.

*Received via NetGalley for review*

A beautiful, dreamy, and existentially terrifying tale of an unarmed protagonist on an island where things are gradually disappearing. They don't physically disappear: they still exist, but residents lose all knowledge, memories, and perception of them, rendering them functionally invisible.

There are a select few who can remember, who are not affected. R, the main character's friend, is one of them. Her mother was another. Unfortunately, the protagonist is not, and neither is her friend the old man.

I tend to find Japanese fiction much slower and more anonymous than American fiction, and The Memory Police is typical of that. The young woman and the old man are never named, and neither are any other characters. They are not the ones who are important; what they're going through is. And, while these disturbing things are happening and acknowledged, no one panics about it. They all accept, even as the disappearances get more extreme.

The Memory Police, themselves, don't play as much of a role as is stated: there are a few encounters with them, and they are the reason for the main conflict, but once things get really serious, they fade away.

The young woman's tale of the typist and her teacher is even throughout, and beautiful and terrifying allegory for her situation. It really ties everything together.

The Memory Police had a very dream-like quality to it (or nightmare-like, more accurately). One of those dreams that almost feels like reality. The writing was beautiful, although I did have a hard time connecting with it at points. However, I think this was one of those cases where I just picked up a certain type of book at the wrong time - had I been more in the mood for an eerie, slow-paced read, I think I would've been engaged a little more. That being said, I still enjoyed a lot about it. I particularly liked that the author didn't go into too much details of the logistics of the island and the disappearances - a lot is left unanswered, but it's all from the perspective of an island inhabitant so that made sense to me. This is a really thought-provoking read on the power of memories and nostalgia, and how those things make up who we are.

I finished reading this book last night and had dreams about it. Years before, I read and enjoyed Yoko Ogawa's novels and short stories. The Memory Police has that similar quiet eerie tone that her other writings carry. It's beautiful and haunting. For a dystopian novel, the premise itself is not different from many of the classic dystopian novels, i.e. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, but the idea that a government can strip certain memory away from the citizen is quite interesting. It's certainly one of the most noteworthy novels I have read this year - the one that I will remember and talk about with my friends and family for years to come.

A beuatiful, surreal novel about loss and memory. The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police details how it can happen that people stop fighting change and injustice and just get used to the new reality. A must read!

**I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review of this book.

In this Yoko Ogawa book, objects have been disappearing for years, and with them, people's memories of the items themselves. However, those who do not lose these memories are under increasing scrutiny and being taken away by the titular Memory Police. This haunting tale will get you thinking about the devastating impact of the oppression to conform to a life prescribed by someone else, and of the loss of creative autonomy.

This book is an incredible work of art. I loved everything about this book. The vague and yet specific way it captured this world was beautiful and the prose was simply gorgeous and carried itself in a steady pace. Almost wandering about an issue and never really saying why things are like they are but the sense of acceptance here, follows. I just love the way the prose carries itself. Confidant, resilient, and the acceptance and apathy linger, only to be battled by a bit of defiance and rebellion at times. One of my favorite books of this year hands down. 

Haunted by memories that she can no longer remember, instruments, memories, even past events are just shadows and ghost to her now. She has no name that is ever stated. The book starts off with memories of her mother who was a sculpturer. Showing her items in a drawer that will soon disappear, along with the culture and life that goes with them. This book explore the idea of what is constructive to our existence and the things that fill up and enrich our lives are important to the human soul. Almost a necessity, as the narrator is a writer, and creativity is something that is not tangible but it surrounds us every day. When you take that away what is left of humanity?

She lives on an island cut off from the mainland. Boats have disappeared. And those that operated them no longer remember how to use them. The Memory Police make things disappear, and those who have a genetic disposition to remember those things that have disappeared, they vanish too. But things escalate when her editor, R, often reminisces on past times and things that have disappeared. Things he should not remember.  

This is a beautiful novel that explores observations about life and art, and the things we hold onto. And the very essence of the human soul, an abstract and unknown force. But it is the soul that binds us together, and how we choose to find meaning in our memories. This book asks deep questions about our existence, and perhaps forewarns us of a government that would choose to shape the world and choose what exists. Brilliantly written, my hat is off to you Yoko Ogawa.

I loved the premise of this novel but I fell short in totally understanding what the author was trying to say. Memory and reality, tho not the same thing, are closely related. When memory fails, reality changes. The passivity of the characters disturbed me, as it should as a warning to readers to not simply accept without questioning dictates from a governing body. It was somewhat reassuring to see the basic goodness and caring shown by those same characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harvill Secker for the ARC to read and review.

I really wanted to like this book but I wish this book filled in some gaps in the plot. So the island is taken over by.....someone, something? And they erase memories but......who? How? Why? I'm having a hard time finishing this book, maybe it's all revealed at the end but the main character has almost no character development so I'm not that interested in her, the reasoning behind the plot problems isn't clear at all. It just didn't hold up.

This book is so relevant to our current political/societal climate. The book itself was very well written, rich with character emotions and development. The ending will leave you feeling haunted.

Things disappear. It’s a fact of life. They disappear and, for the sentimental among us, the occasional pang is felt over what has been lost. But then we collectively move on. On the Island, things disappear with alarming regularity. And when they’re gone people seem to barely remember them. In fact, they actively forget. But some people do remember and are hunted by the ever-vigilant Memory Police, who work to enforce each disappearance with absolute acceptance.

Birds, calendars, people. One by one things are stuck from the collective record of life experience. “What can the people on this island create?” the narrator asks. “…Poor, unreliable things that will never make up for those that are disappearing…If it goes on like this and we can’t compensate for the things that get lost, the island will soon be nothing but absences and holes.”

The Memory Police in some ways reads like a meditation on loss in the modern age. In contrast to other dystopian fiction, this book does not beat you over the head with harsh realities. Rather, it lulls you, suggesting rather than bludgeoning, and leaving much to the imagination.

It is a beautiful book with a subtle touch—graceful and refined—that contrasts with the intensity of the story. I couldn’t put it down. There’s a lyrical quality to it, like a butterfly resting its wings on the hood of a tank. The contrast is eerie and effective. And the air of mystery the author creates produces an allure that pulls you through, page after page, to find out will happen next.

For fans of dystopian fiction and alternate realities this is a lovely and lyrical change of pace. Highly recommend.