One of Japan’s most acclaimed authors explores truth, state surveillance and individual autonomy. As the visceral disappears, somehow the spirit holds on. The Memory Police loom, their brutality multiplies, but Ogawa remarkably ensures that what lingers are the human(e) connections. Ogawa’s anointed translator, Snyder, adroitly captures the quiet control with which Ogawa gently unfurls her ominously surreal and Orwellian narrative. A masterpiece' Madeleine Thien Read moreĪlthough, at the outset, the plot feels quite Orwellian, Ogawa employs a quiet, poetic prose to capture the diverse (and often unexpected) emotions of the people left behind Kirkus, starred review 'Echoes the themes of George Orwell's 1984, but it has a voice and power all its own' Time 'This timeless fable of control and loss feels more timely than ever' Guardian, Books of the Year New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year Longlisted for the Translated Book Award 2020 Who knows what will vanish next?įinalist for the National Book Award 2019

For some reason, he doesn't forget, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide his memories. When a young novelist discovers that her editor is in danger of being taken away by the Memory Police, she desperately wants to save him. Soon enough, the island forgets it ever existed. It can be burned in the garden, thrown in the river or handed over to the Memory Police. To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. 'A dreamlike story of dystopia' Jia Tolentino Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2020, an enthralling Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance from one of Japan's greatest writers. A compelling and surreal, Orwellian mystery by one of Japan's greatest writers.

Yoko ogawa the memory police