The Memory Police

You know that feeling you get when you have been waiting two hours at a concert for the headlining act to come on? There's that anticipation in the air. You're excited, you're flustered, and you're ready to rock! The lights go out, and your eyes start to sparkle as the band belts out the riff to your favorite song. Could this get any better? Then, as the musician makes their way to the mic for the second song, they say these eight dreaded words. “This is a song from our new album.” Heart-sink, buzz-kill, kill-joy. I went through similar emotions while reading The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa. The only difference is if the band continued playing songs from the new album; in fact, they played most of the new record, leaving you disappointed and scratching your head.

In a nutshell, this book follows the narrator as she tumbles down the rabbit hole of memory loss prevention. Her memory is not degrading because of old age; its deterioration is being systematically eradicated by the Memory Police. Dun dun duuun!

Do not let my rating hamper you from adding this book in any way; it might strike a chord for you, but it was definitely not the droids (book) I was looking for. I just found it lacking in the content department. After the initial setup, it digresses into fairly ordinary character moments and weighty chapters that are filled with whimsical ideas you understand within the first few paragraphs but seem to idle on for several pages. For every neat idea like, “Your voice is trapped inside this (type-writer) machine. It's not broken, it's just been sealed off now that it no longer has a purpose,” it has several paragraphs reiterating the same feelings over and over again. The words sterile, unassuming, round-about, and plotting come to mind. It just does not have the connective tissue to keep the feelings engaged.



Rather than using Fahrenheit 451, 1984, or even The Collector as a dystopian starting point (most of the ideas were lifted from these), this book just adds a bit of magical realism to the stew, but it never really simmers or adds anything new to the taste you already know and enjoy.

Oh! And that ending.