REVIEW: The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

25 years old but incredibly relevant to the modern world

THE MEMORY POLICE by Yoko Ogawa Published on 15th August 2019 by Vintage

Imagine waking up one morning to find that you have forgotten what a bird is. Any attachment, any knowledge you ever had about birds is gone, as are most of the birds themselves. Even if you see a bird, you don't have any idea what it is. It's gone from your mind forever. Pretty scary idea, right?

Now imagine your country is run by an authoritarian regime who can make things 'disappear' like this at will.

That's the conceit of The Memory Police, the newly translated novel from Yoko Ogawa, a Japanese author who has won every major literary prize in Japan. The book was originally published 25 years ago, but it's only now making the jump to English.

When the novel opens, birds, ferries, hates, ribbons, perfume and emeralds have already been disappeared, among a host of other things, but the population of the unnamed island where the book is set have tried to plow on as normal. Early in the book both roses and fruit are disappeared, and seeing the way that people 'mourn' these items, and how they are erased from existence as much as possible (e.g. all fruit falls from trees to rot on the ground) is fascinating.

But while the disappearances are mourned by most, there are people who simply don't forget. They go on remembering and treasuring these objects, living in fear that the Memory Police will discover their secret and whisk them away.

The protagonist, an unnamed female novelist, knows the pain of this all too well. Though she is affected by the disappearances, her Mother is one of those who is resistant, and she hoarded disappeared items in a dresser in the family basement until The Memory Police came and dragged her away, declaring her dead just a few days later.

Now it's just the protagonist and the 'old man', a family friend who used to operate the ferry before it was disappeared. The only other person of significance in her life (and the character who comes closest to receiving a name) is her editor R, and when R reveals he remembers the disappeared items, a plot if hatched to hide him from the Memory Police in her home.

This sets up a fascinating exploration of identity, memory, totalitarianism, resistance and oppression, that manages to feel both distinctly Japanese in setting and style, yet completely applicable to broader society.

The plot whistles along at a solid pace, balancing ruminating on loss with continued plot developments very well. The cast of characters, though small, is very interesting, with the 'old man' a particular favourite of mine. Some of R and the protagonist's choices are more questionable, but not too distracting on the whole. All this combines to mean that by the final quarter, when the plot takes some interesting twists that I wouldn't have expected, there's a solid emotional punch to the conclusion.

The decision to include the fragment of the protagonist's own novel in the book was also a decision that pays off in spades. Not only is the 'novel within a novel' a gripping story in it's own right, but it intersects with the plight and storyline of its writer in both expected and more subtle ways that give a wonderful sense of depth to the writing.

Despite being written more than 25 years ago, the book still feels incredibly fresh and relevant to today's society. The commentary on totalitarianism feels like it would fit in a modern-set dystopia, the portrayal of resistance in the face of oppression could be applied to so many societies and communities in the modern world and how we're so attention starved that we forget to appreciate the small things - how something as simple as a bird flying across the sky can be both beautiful and fleeting.

There's certainly much for discussion, with book clubs across the country guaranteed to debate this for years to come, though I feel like there aren't quite enough answers to me. A lot is left unanswered - we're left to imagine who The Memory Police are, how the disappearances work, how they started, what the end goal is - and perhaps I'd have enjoyed a few more resolutions that the reader is given, but it does mean that there's a lot of scope to transpose the novel on to the real world.

Other than some slightly questionable character decisions and the lack of answers, the only other word of caution I'd offer is that this perhaps isn't aimed at a traditional dystopia audience. Most dystopia come to some sort of resolution or conflict in a way that The Memory Police doesn't - it's definitely on the more literary end of the dystopia genre and I worry this might be off putting to some.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the messages it puts across about the modern world (despite being written so long ago) and I will definitely seek out more of the author's work in the near future.

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I received a NetGalley review copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Many thanks to Vintage for approving my request.