“The Memory Police” by Yoko Ogawa is a dreamy dystopian narrative set on an unidentified island that’s enveloped by a forgetting pandemic. The cognitive burden of forgetting is depicted in physical reality in the novel: when objects vanish from recollection, they vanish from real existence. It’s a dreamy dystopian narrative set on an unidentified island that’s enveloped by a forgetting pandemic. The cognitive burden of forgetting is depicted in physical reality in the novel: when objects vanish from recollection, they vanish from real existence. They try to respect the disappearances by convening in the street and debating how much they’ve sacrificed. As roses wither away, a covering of rainbow petals forms in the river, as though in a fairy tale. People unlock their birdcages and liberate their bewildered pets into the skies when birds go missing. Less artistic objects, such as stamps and green beans, vanish as well. No one can leave or truly comprehend where they are because the ships and charts have vanished. Each absence is followed by a moment of foggy limbo. There are several stages to forgetting: the object vanishes, the memory of the object vanishes, and finally the memory of failing to mention the object vanishes. In that the plot addresses the calm, daily outcomes of scientific experimentation, the novel’s approach is close to magical realism.
The disturbing feel of the story is compounded by Ogawa’s simple and direct, realistic demonstration, with her narrator leading a more or less normal life, as more and more absences take hold, the world severely limits yet people continue to go about their status quo, embracing whatever befalls them and soldiering on. It’s a bizarre twist on the standard authoritarian dystopia, with people in charge controlling the globe from afar, manifesting only in the piecemeal emptying of the world.This is a more complex scenario, one that goes beyond depicting severe repression by a police-like force in a remote location. At first glance, Ogawa’s novel appears to be small, because it is limited to this narrator and her very modest life — which is becoming increasingly confining around her — and written in such a straightforward manner, yet it is actually a tremendously broad dark picture she portrays.