"The Memory Police" Discuss Everything *Spoilers*

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Come share your every thought about this book! What genre was it? Was it "too real" or "too removed?" Did it work for you? What was your favorite part?

Share any and all thoughts, no spoiler tags necessary!

[Shomeret]

The genre was definitely horror. It was so effective for me because I identified with the protagonist. So I'd choose "too real". I considered it a top read of 2019, but not because I enjoyed reading it. I don't enjoy being horrified at all. In fact, I usually avoid the horror genre. Real life is so horrific these days. I want to be inspired by books.
The Memory Police did not do that, but the author definitely had a strong impact on me.

[Chris]

Many have shelved The Memory Police as science fiction, and I disagree. It's not a plausible scenario in our universe and its physical laws as we know them. It is some form of speculative fiction, perhaps weird fiction.

I've read that the author was deeply moved by The Diary of Anne Frank and went on to read much more about her life and times. I'd call that the starting point (i.e., hiding R in a secret room). But the book doesn't strike me as primarily concerned with political repression. I'd say it's a lament that human memory and understanding are so fragile and easily manipulated.

The book ponders the meaning of stories. Stories can outlast the authors and their subjects. But can people increasingly removed from the events described really understand the stories? Even though R remembers everything that has disappeared, he mostly fails as he tries to share that knowledge with the protagonist and the old man. They can't grasp essentials of things they experienced in their lifetimes.

I enjoyed thinking about the puzzle of what it all means. I liked the character of the old man and admired the protagonist for her virtues. I wish that the plot stood on its own instead of merely serving as metaphor.

[Jennifer]

In another group some people felt that the woman was actually the woman in the story she was writing, that she was really abused and held captive and was losing herself.

I think this story can be interpreted many ways. Maybe that makes it a great story.

[Elin]

Chris wrote: "Many have shelved The Memory Police as science fiction, and I disagree. It's not a plausible scenario in our universe and its physical laws as we know them. It is some form of speculative fiction, ..."

I´m not sure I understand what you mean. For me science fiction is exactly that. Fiction connected to science that can not be in our universe or follows our physical laws. I do believe this book matches that description perfectly.

[Elin]

This book felt more like a short story than a full novel, like we got a small slice of something much bigger and more complicated. In some ways I was reminded of Karin Boye´s Kallocain wich has a similar feel to it but is even more horrifying.

The story spiked my interest and really got my imagination flowing. I had to take a break right after she found out that she lost her left leg, because of dinner, and during that time I thought of so many possible scenarios that could happen right after. Among other things I saw before me a long row of people cutting of their legs and how that later on led to a revolution against the memory police. If the book had ended right their I would have been satisfied.

Throughout the book I was also wondering a lot about the memory police. What was their gain from endorcing the memory loss? Were they a cult believing in some higher power making the memorys disappear? Was this a colony, and they wanted to make them less human for hard labour? Were they a different race not at all really caring about the humans? The fact that it was so sparce with information made it okay not to get these answers for me. Had I gotten just a tincy tiny piece more, I would have become really frustrated to not know it all.

I thought the beauty of this story was that it became whole when it clashed with the dreams, ideas and imagination of the reader. Depending on who reads it I think it will differ in terms of horror, and emotions conveyed as the reader can chose the ending. For me it was quite a beautiful and sad story were the people of the island became voices mixed in the wind.

I also liked how the main character conveyed her feelings through her novel and there turned it all around. She was just a voice, but the character in the novel had no voice. If the two were connected they would be whole again together.

To summarise this was a somewhat weird read that still had much to give. 4/5 stars from me.

[Elin]

Jennifer wrote: "In another group some people felt that the woman was actually the woman in the story she was writing, that she was really abused and held captive and was losing herself.

I think this story can be..."

What an interesting thought! I totally agree with you. I think this story can be almost anything we want it to be.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

The woman in the clock tower became broken like the silenced typewriters. She was full of vitality and purpose while writing (typing) ideas. But once she was forced to endure only sensual pleasures and distractions, forced by a man (authority) she lost her desire to live or fight for her life. Allegorical set up, of course.

I think the book was horror, with absurd literature wails of despair. Chris on the other thread mentioned Japanese culture thought influences the book, too - mono no aware https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_no....

I also thought political critique, like 1984. And Brave New World in spots, but without the safety net of the island for different thinkers to maintain vitality of invention/creativity.

[Travis]

Jennifer wrote: "In another group some people felt that the woman was actually the woman in the story she was writing, that she was really abused and held captive and was losing herself."

Omg. That is such a powerful and convincing interpretation of this book. It makes so much sense.

It's more satisfying for me, too, than thinking of this as a political satire (suggested by all the comps to 1984). Whenever I think of the novel as a political satire, I get confused about exactly is the point and what exactly is being critiqued...

[Travis]

Elin wrote: "The fact that it was so sparce with information made it okay not to get these answers for me. Had I gotten just a tincy tiny piece more, I would have become really frustrated to not know it all."

Totally agree! Any more would have made "figuring it all out" for me too much the point.

Chris wrote: "I'd say it's a lament that human memory and understanding are so fragile and easily manipulated.

The book ponders the meaning of stories. Stories can outlast the authors and their subjects. But can people increasingly removed from the events described really understand the stories?"

So beautifully put. I love this.

[Elin]

Travis wrote: "It's more satisfying for me, too, than thinking of this as a political satire (...) Whenever I think of the novel as a political satire, I get confused about exactly is the point and what exactly is being critiqued"

I thought in the beginning that the novel perhaps would evolve into something more political with revolutions and uproar, but that never came. Instead I get more of a psychological vibe from this tale. Something is wrong in someones mind, and this is the result. The fact that R can feel and see her body just as it is, but she believe it to be gone, is also a strong point for this abuse theory.

[Jennifer]

Travis wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "In another group some people felt that the woman was actually the woman in the story she was writing, that she was really abused and held captive and was losing herself."

Omg. Tha..."

Once people started talking about it, it changed the entire tone as I read it. Someone called it a psychological horror above. I would agree.

[Soo]

I agree with Chris about the story being more of a Speculative Fiction with a touch of Magical Realism than SF. For me, I don't see the story as a horror because it never raised the kind of tension that I expect to feel in a horror story. The tone was fairly even from start to finish. I feel that fits the author's intention. The vibe of 'mono no aware'.

There's a strong political statement in the story but I think it's about a particular facet of Japanese culture that we may not relate to or see. There are strong themes about being controlled and imprisonment by being on the island, the laws, memory police, social expectations and boundaries of fear.

My fav part was the story about the typist. I figured it would head towards a weird slant due to the 'nothingness theme' but I was still a bit sad when the romance turned into sadistic imprisonment & rape. It stands out because it was the most complete tale within a series of tales.

I enjoyed the descriptions that were attached to memories and active scenes like the birthday party.

The technical details of how memories are taken away and why a statement would lead to the destruction of things were not entirely clear. I mean, I get the meaning behind all of that. The way a new rule or law can be the start of a change that totally deconstructs an existing perception, feelings or thoughts. The active choice to take something and intentionally destroy it to avoid negative consequences will reinforce a new pattern of thought/environment.

There were lots of good pieces of the book that stood out but it didn't have a strong enough character or established setting for me to feel like it was a complete story within itself. I would have been more satisfied if the intro was as vague as the outro. Yet, that is a hard thing to establish and still hook a reader into a story that is based on abstract thoughts & feelings.

[Ellen]

Chris wrote: "I've read that the author was deeply moved by The Diary of Anne Frank and went on to read much more about her life and times. I'd call that the starting point (i.e., hiding R in a secret room)."

I find this very interesting because the island had an occupied, Nazi Germany feel to me. The stern Memory Police with their black cars, starched uniforms and shiny boots. They had a very SS feel. The citizens living in uncertainty , the fear of being overheard.
It had a very suspenseful feeling.
The disappearing of the leg was horrifying to me. The description of her discovering her leg had disappeared was so reminiscent of when I feel off a step ladder and broke my hip. I felt fine until I tried to move my leg. It was like an responsive weight .
In the story of the typist I was sorry that she just accepted her fate and was absorbed into the room. I was really wanting her to bash the teacher with a typewriter.

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

I don’t have a whole lot to add, because I read this awhile ago. But I love the interpretation of the typist being the actual protagonist and everything else is happening in her mind. Truly fantastic.

I also agree with others where the vagueness and ambiguity of everything made all of it okay, whereas if more of an explanation had been hinted at I would have been super upset by it.

[Soo]

Going back to "scary aspects", a part of what is frightening is the fact that we allow situations that are harmful to happen due to vague distance, not being confrontational, wish to be accepted, the 'right way' of following the rules, or how it's not that terrible if it's left ambiguous and okay to go along.

The stories were a good example of that but I'm curious how that would be taken in and processed because intake and output can be (fascinatingly) different. Which is a part of what I can see from what people have said about their experience in reading the book.

While the concepts are mostly horrific, I didn't feel fear while reading the story. That's why I don't think the story as a horror but more as a psychological thriller. Can't remember who else said that but I agree.

Questions & Examples:
- When does the state of being change from 'that's how it is' to this state is destroying the mind and heart. Followed by the deterioration of the body.
- In what ways do outside sources dictate how you perceive and live?
- Different levels of awareness: intentional, enforced & chosen.
- Moments of bravery & intimacy.

[Julie]

The parallel between her novels and her own experiences was interesting as they all dealt with loss that was on a certain level outside of one's control. The death of the old man played into the same sense of loss.

I don't know that I think that she is the woman in the typist story, more that the story is a way for her to try to process what is happening through a "lie" of a story. The level of isolation that the narrator feels from the rest of the society is so stark - when she is hiding R, she can only be honest with him and the old man. She didn't strike me as a particularly social person beforehand, but knowing that her world is just as confined as R's room under the floor had to be limiting. The topic of isolation is definitely something to examine in this book.

[Oleksandr]

If she is truly a typist woman and 'larger story' is her interpretation based on her experiences, which we assume are correctly depicted then we should get much more simplistic language closer to the end because it is said that she found it harder and harder to form sentences/phrases, but we don't see it - the wording is smooth across the story

[Tom]

Just finished this and I liked it, but I wanted more depth. I would have preferred it to be a bit more "1984" in the sense of peeling back the curtain on The Memory Police enough that we could have a bit more understanding of their methods and motives. It could have benefitted from being a bit less allegorical and a bit more literal.

I enjoyed the overall tone though and liked the main characters. The story-in-a-story was good too. The idea that the typist's story is actually the real story is interesting, but I don't quite buy it. Either way I agree with what Oleksandr has to say about the language: I'd expect the writing of at least one of the stories to deteriorate, but that doesn't happen.

[Julie]

Oleksandr wrote: "If she is truly a typist woman and 'larger story' is her interpretation based on her experiences, which we assume are correctly depicted then we should get much more simplistic language closer to t..."

I agree with this point. I don't think that the main protagonist and the typist are the same woman. The main protagonist is known for writing novels that all show someone losing something dear, and I see the typist losing the ability to speak as someone who wants to communicate losing that ability. All of the novels are a way for the main protagonist to process what is happening on the island.

[Jordan]

Wow, this is definitely one of those books that's going to leave me pondering it for a while. How/why are the disappearances happening? What's the whole deal with the memory police? Is there still an outside world? Is the outside world forgetting too or just the island? Like when the island forgot the ferry and could no longer travel did the rest of the world just forget the island? If not, do they ever receive visitors on the island? Do they just ignore/not see them? Do the memory police stop outsiders? Is the island quarantined by the outside world because of the vanishing memories?

Somehow the not knowing is much more satisfying in this book though than if there had been concrete answers.

[Christopher]

I had a similar sensation reading this as I had with The Handmaid's Tale, that of being inside a nightmare or an anxiety dream. Especially the segments in the novel within the novel.

[Christopher]

I do think the whole story is a metaphor, potentially for multiple different things -- a government that bans certain ideas or maybe even a comparison to someone whose memory is slowing going.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Christopher wrote: "I had a similar sensation reading this as I had with The Handmaid's Tale, that of being inside a nightmare or an anxiety dream. Especially the segments in the novel within the novel."

Me too.

[Emmett]

I really liked this one. I was very eager to learn more about the memory police and the reason behind the disappearances, etc. but even after realizing that those details would not be revealed, it still kept my interest throughout.

I really enjoyed the protagonist's relationships with both the old man and R as they developed. I didn't particularly enjoy the typist story segments woven throughout. I understand they had a part to play in the novel, but that story just didn't interest me as much as the main one.

It's hard to pin this one to a genre, but I would almost say it was a dystopian thriller? It didn't end up revealing answers in the end, but kept me turning the pages and wanting to find out more about this weird world anyway. I wouldn't say it was disturbing enough to fit into "horror" although it was unsettling.

[Anthony]

I’m glad to have read this, as it was poetic, evocative, and original, but I will say that I ultimately felt its intensely restrained approach left me feeling a bit at arms’ length. My 3 star rating isn’t grumpy, and it’s certainly much better written than some of my other 3 star-rated books, but I wanted to be a bit more immersed into its world than I was.

[Travis]

Christopher wrote: "I do think the whole story is a metaphor, potentially for multiple different things -- a government that bans certain ideas or maybe even a comparison to someone whose memory is slowing going."

Thinking of it as a book about the onset of dementia is almost unbearably poignant and sad. Has anyone else read The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro? I keep thinking about these two books together -- both incredibly restrained reflections on memory and aging and the bewilderment of citizens at the whim of political systems they cannot understand.

[Alex]

I read this a few months ago. This was my review:

"The existential morbidity of this story left me with a literal lump in my throat.

The Memory Police does not happen in the real world, but rather in a world symbolic of loss -- particularly the loss of traditional culture to make way for modernity. Yoko Ogawa does a good job of weaving a dreamlike (nightmare like?) narrative where the reader is at times lulled by poetic metaphor and at others confused by illogical events. It's extremely slow and the dialogue in exceptionally clunky, but that may be due to the translation. In fact, there is a good chance much of the meaning of the story is lost in translation -- both of language and culture. It's hard to know what to make of it, but it has definitely had an impact on me. "

[Gabi]

Wow! What a great book! I just finished it and have to read "1984" now to have the comparison that came up in some comments. So far I was reminded of Kafka with this surrealistic, dreamlike, yet emotionally detached beauty of a narration.

The loss of memory and one's past resonates so much with me at the moment cause of my familiar situation. So I definitely didn't read it as political.

[YouKneeK]

Allison wrote: "Come share your every thought about this book! What genre was it? Was it "too real" or "too removed?" Did it work for you? What was your favorite part?"

Come share your every thought about this book!
I can’t share every thought because some of them have disappeared, but here’s a sample. ;)

What genre was it?
Well, it definitely wasn’t science fiction, at least not in my opinion. I didn't think there were any science fiction elements unless you count the dystopian setting, which can exist in fantasy too. There isn’t any evidence of a technology-based explanation for the disappearances, nor even evidence that an intelligent entity is causing them.

The technology-based explanations I considered while I was reading didn’t fit logically with all parts of the story. As far as an intelligent entity, well, if you’re an intelligent entity who has decided to push some sort of anti-ribbon, anti-bird, anti-hat, anti-pretty-much-everything agenda by causing people to forget things, do the animals really need to participate? And would technology used to affect human minds in this way be very likely to also affect animals the same way?

I agree with the people who suggested horror or magical realism. I ended up shelving it as horror, which isn’t a perfect fit either, but it seemed closest to me. I’m not normally scared by horror books, so scariness doesn’t really work for me as a horror criterion.

Was it "too real" or "too removed?"
I’m not sure if it was either too real or too removed. For me, it was just too unexplained. So I guess more removed than real?

I was completely absorbed by it from the first page to the last, but the thing that most absorbed me was trying to figure out what was going on and why, so I was annoyed about not getting those answers. What was causing the disappearances? If it was an intelligent entity, what were the motivations behind their actions? How did the Memory Police form and what happened to the people they took away? Jordan’s post (message #21) also reminded me that I had wondered while reading what was going on in the world outside the island.

Elin in message #6 mentioned that this felt more like a short story and I agree with that. This is exactly the sort of thing I tend to expect in a short story – a weird thought experiment, interesting, but never fully explained and with an ambiguous ending.

Did it work for you? What was your favorite part?
My favorite part was just the concept of the disappearances itself and how people reshaped their lives around those missing things. I prefer stories with more tangible explanations, at least by the end, although I’m perfectly happy to be kept guessing up to that point. So it didn’t really work for me in terms of being a satisfying read, but I was never bored while I was reading it and it held my attention really well.

At the time I finished, I wasn’t really sure what message the author was trying to convey, if any. I think the one that’s sticking with me as the most likely message is the idea that it’s dangerous to accept small losses that only seem like minor inconveniences, probably meant as a parallel to the loss of freedoms. If we lose small freedoms and just adapt without complaint because they’re only mildly inconvenient and not worth making a fuss over, and if those losses continue, then before we know it we might be just a shell of our former selves without realizing how much we’ve lost. There was repeated emphasis in the story about how most people just accepted the losses as minor inconveniences, so I think the author wanted to drive that part home.

[J.W.]

As I said in the non-spoiler thread, I figured this was going to be a difficult read. And it was. I like the different interpretations of it. I basically saw the whole thing as a kind of haunting memorial to loss, and with my own recent loss it was both helpful and painful to read. I burned through it in an afternoon on my day off. I had tears well up multiple times. I don't know if I liked the book, per se, but it got me to think a lot about my own recent loss and memories that I'll be cherishing.

[Sarah]

I would agree with Chris that this is not sci-fi. I assume people were thinking dystopian when they shelved it that way? But there's no science to what was going on. I wanted to know how they were losing everything, what the mechanism behind it was. I would put it in general specfic and not a specific category. Also wouldn't put it in horror, it's bleak and depressing but not dark.

I wanted some answers to the why of things: what was causing the losses, who were the Memory Police, who did they work for... those kinds of things. And why did the Memory Police retain control of their legs when everyone else lost their left? And why did they even care if some people remembered?

So I liked it, thought it was bleak and depressing, and wanted more answers.

[Camilla]

I really liked this book, too. It was just good. I see how it won't be satisfying at all as hard sci-fi, because it doesn't have any answers. I didn't really expect to get any when I read it, to be honest. To me, this book seemed like it was more character driven, and then I had no problem forgiving that I didn't know everything about this world. I must admit that I often like softer sci-fi and I'm weak for a lot of weird stuff, including mixed genres. Especially when it hits a chord with me.

As I said in the no-spoiler discussion, I felt like there was something painfully true in this story, as well as in the stories within it. Also, there was this calm feel to it all that was sometimes wistful/ beautiful and sometimes almost creepy. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but it felt ominous with all the disappearing and the Memory Police and people being so calm.

To me, this book was a beautiful, painful and it hit me on several levels:
- It mirrored so well what happens in our world at the moment, and shows how hard it can be to fight and escape oppression, fascism and abuse. It also shows how easy people allow leaders like Hitler get into power. We all do it. We tell ourselves that “it’s not so bad,” “it will get better,” “it doesn’t affect me,” “it doesn’t matter what I do.”
- It reminded me of how we tend to stick with our beliefs, even if they’re wrong. We want to believe, in religions, and leaders, and fandoms, and anyone who tells us that things will be okay.
- It made me think about how we sometimes learn strategies to handle difficulties and survive. For instance, we might learn to be quiet, or we find ways to ignore the hurt. However, these strategies tend to hurt us in the end, because we stay quiet when we need to protest, and we ignore when we need to see and act.
- It made me think of how individuals can be overcome by apathy in abusive relationships, too, and how many women and different minorities traditionally have been controlled like that.
- It made me think about what memories are and how they affect us.
- And finally, and this is probably a bit far fetched, but it also reminded me of how easy it can be to ignore mental health issues, or all kinds of issues, because the changes start out so slowly, they’re hard to recognise.

It's kinda sickening to think about, but this book hit home with me, for sure. I loved it.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Camilla wrote: "I really liked this book, too. It was just good. I see how it won't be satisfying at all as hard sci-fi, because it doesn't have any answers. I didn't really expect to get any when I read it, to be..."

Great comments, Camilla!

[Gabi]

I love the amount of thoughts the book evoked in you, Camilla.

[Camilla]

Thanks, guys, I'm afraid I ranted a bit. But I was still thinking about this book when I woke up this morning, so yeah. It hit me hard. ;)

[Oleksandr]

Camilla wrote: "Thanks, guys, I'm afraid I ranted a bit. But I was still thinking about this book when I woke up this morning, so yeah. It hit me hard. ;)"

No, your post was great, write more, your thought were very interesting!

[Xan]

Fascinating book -- allegory? Horror story?

Some random thoughts.

There is a training of the mind going on here, a sophisticated sort of brainwashing. At first what disappears is removed from sight to aid the forgetting -- menthols, birds, ferries, novels. Remembering what has disappeared is not permitted. You are severely punished and removed from society for remembering what has disappeared. So your mind learns to forget what it's told to forget.

And once the mind is trained to forget, actual removal of what has disappeared is no longer necessary. Legs, arms, bodies, they never go anywhere. They remain attached to the body, but because they are disappeared no one remembers them. You have been trained to forget yourself, the ultimate insult.

"There's nothing you can do about it anyway."

But the ones who escaped in the boat did do something about it, didn't they?

That's one way I look at this.

R's room is interesting. It's his prison, yet it insulates and protects him from the horrors occurring outside. And once the disappearing is complete, he is liberated from his prison/safe room and the room becomes her prison. The room becomes the prison of memories. She is a disappeared memory lying on the floor amid scattered other disappeared memories, like sundry artifacts exiled to the attic and then forgotten.

And same with the typist, she becomes an imprisoned memory. As people forget her she slowly disappears, as R seemed to do from time to time in front of our narrator. I can't help thinking that when her boyfriend/instructor first brought her up to the tower room there was a memory of another typist staring at them wishing to be remembered.

To have existed you have to be remembered.

[Edwin]

I am way late to the game here, but have to confess that this was quite an intriguing book for me. Part of my reaction, as others have also reflected, was just how enigmatic it was. Nothing was clearly explained, and the messages all seemed slippery and elusive.

This book certainly defies categorization, but for me, it felt mostly like magic realism. It also felt strongly existential, reminiscent of Murakami or even Paul Auster.

There is a ton of stuff to ponder in this story, and all of the themes and meanings could be dissected and discussed ad nauseum:
--the dark Orwellian authoritarianism of the Memory Police, and what that all means
--the act of ignoring and of denial as coping strategies
--the Anne Frank inspired hidden safe room and the themes of confinement and oppression
--the increasingly dark story within a story of the captive typist held against her will, gradually losing her self and identity and how that links with the bigger story
--the little tidbits of memory hidden in the small crafted objects left by the narrator’s mother

But ultimately, it was the emotions that this book evoked in me that were the most memorable, melancholy and sadness primarily.

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Edwin wrote: "I am way late to the game here, but have to confess that this was quite an intriguing book for me. Part of my reaction, as others have also reflected, was just how enigmatic it was. Nothing was cle..."

Agree with your comments, Edwin.

[Hank, Hankenstein's Modster]

Even later to the game...I was going to give this 3 stars, similar to many above but I bumped it up a star just because of the discussions on this page!

I don't remember a book that has prompted such a variety of ideas and great commentary and in retrospect, has made it much more enjoyable.

My completely left field thoughts are that the story of the girl in the tower was the "real" one and that R was some sort of therapist helping the Author work through some traumatic memories, unsuccessfully.

The two rooms, one in the tower, one under the house were significant because I suspect the Author was trying to treat R how she wished her captor would have treated her, or perhaps in some sort of Stockholm syndrome, how she thought she was treated.

The one part I could not fit in anywhere was why the Author was able to refer to one of the men as "the Hat Maker" when hats had disappeared and she should not have been able to remember that word?

[John]

Also late to the game but was curious what others thought so found this thread. Gave it 3 stars but one of my comments was that I thought it was amorphous. Felt like there was a meaning/allegory there that did not come thru the story or I missed it.

[James]

I had a different take on what was going on. It seemed to me that we were reading about how harsh colonization of indigenous groups is carried out.

Sixty years ago, as I was growing up in Southern California, there was a nearby "Indian school", where Native Americans were taken to be reprogrammed. They were forbidden from using their native language(s), and concepts and items that were not approved by the school authorities were banned or replaced by conventional "American" ones. Thus they were taught to forget their indigenous views of things. We all know that complete translation from one language to another is impossible. So having to speak English and not refer to certain topics is equivalent to those items disappearing. Tribal items had to be obliterated to complete the indoctrination.

In this view, Tribal Elders, the ones who remember and retain the indigenous knowledge, had to be persecuted, so they couldn't reinfect those being indoctrinated. Sympathetic individuals, both in indigenous and "mainstream" society, endeavored to aid and protect them, just as the protagonist helps R.

I have no idea if this perspective has anything to do with what Ogawa was getting at, but it has so far been the only way in which I could make sense of the book.

[Marchof21]

I became interested in this book after seeing an interview with the author on NHK World tv. It's still available to watch free online at https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/on... That link will work until 9/29/21 then it will be a memory.

She talks about wanting to write a novel about her memory of reading the diary of Anne Frank. The memory police and the hidden rooms definitely made me feel the fear of being rounded up and murdered by a police state. She says novels memorialize the past and allow people to see through the author's memories.

She talks about situations that humans face repeatedly throughout history, universal truths. As a species, we seem unable to stand up to injustice and when we try bad things happen.

When I finished the book yesterday, I was disappointed there wasn't a 'big reveal' at the end to explain what was happening on the island. After rewatching her interview just now, I think she succeeded in showing how people will go along with bad things in order to live. Even when body parts disappear, people just accept it and even think about cutting them off instead of fighting back that it isn't right and it should stop.

The fact that it was written in 1994 as an exercise in thinking about a diary from 1942 and applies to 2019 says a lot.

Website with virtual 3D tour of Anne Frank's hiding space: https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-fra...

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. - Martin Niemöller

[aPriL does feral sometimes]

Marchof21 wrote: "I became interested in this book after seeing an interview with the author on NHK World tv. It's still available to watch free online at https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/on... T..."

❤️

[L.G.]

This is the first book that I've read by this author. I chose to read it without knowing what it was about. It made me feel so sad and brought up a large number of thoughts about historical and current injustices which have denied personal freedoms to groups of people and individuals.