The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa

*spoiler-free*

The Memory Police is a Japanese dystopian book set on an island where random objects disappear. To most people, they are oblivious to this but those who remember live in fear of the memory police and what the consequences would be.

I found this story to have such an interesting concept, especially when the memory policy started to enforce these disappearances. Initially, as readers, we aren’t sure how far the police will go in order to keep control. However, despite this plot, I didn’t find this the most intriguing book. The book did get more interesting towards the end with the characters and the things that would go missing on the island, but the excitement of the book quickly dissipated.

Sometimes I find that translated books don’t always have the right tone which may have contributed to the odd telling of the story. This is also a very short book so I hoped the pace would be quicker. However, whilst the book did not go in the direction I thought it would, the ending was interesting and the most peculiar thing about the book so I am glad I stuck with it.

Overall, I found this quite a strange book to read, but it is still easy enough to read if you are interested in getting into translated fiction. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the book for me plot-wise.

2/5 stars