The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa starts off with a strong, intriguing first line that introduces the fantastical element of the story right away:
“I sometimes wonder what was disappeared first—among all the things that have vanished from the island.”
Right away, the reader is given the point of view, the tense, the basic setting, the idea that things are being “disappeared,” and the information that the disappearances have been happening since before the narrator was born. Very quickly, a more in-depth explanation is given about the disappearances and how they affected the narrator and the narrator’s family. It set a solid baseline for the rest of the story to operate off of.
In contrast, I felt that the ending was less strong. The narrator goes through her whole arc of losing her ability to write, trying to write again, failing, and then very suddenly gaining her ability back. The fact that she can continue her novel can leave the reader with a sense of hope, but there was no prior indication that she would be able to. In fact, all of her previous attempts to write were so unproductive that I assumed she would have to spend years to be able to write again.
The fate of the narrator’s body and mind in the last chapter helped to redeem the ending. The heartbreak that accompanies not only the narrator’s fate but the fate of most of the islanders makes a beautifully sad ending. The question isn’t always “What is this story about?” Sometimes you have to consider, “What can I learn from this story?” I believe that the plot and ending specifically offer a bit of life advice that you should cherish what you have as if you could lose it overnight. This is a fairly basic piece of advice, but far too often is it ignored. Paired with the multitude of losses throughout the story– loss of items, loss of memory, loss of life– remembering to appreciate what you have becomes much more real. It’s raw, it’s evocative.
I enjoyed the way Ogawa handled her characters. She broke them down bit by bit before erasing them completely. The old man showed signs of breaking down physically before his death, and the narrator lost herself slowly before becoming lost to the universe. It’s not the same as losing something overnight, but it still provides the same advice to not take advantage of what brings you joy in life.
I appreciated what I was able to take away from The Memory Police. I was expecting it to go a typical dystopian route with more information on why disappearances are happening, who is causing them, and what happens after the story ends. However, the finality of the narrator simply slipping away, leaving behind her love, was stronger than a drawn-out explanation would have been. It isn’t about “Why?” It’s about “This is what happens, what will you make of it?”