Z’s Reviews > The Memory Police > Status Update

It's a little mundane and slow, can be boring at times if you are not in the right headspace or looking for more thrills or action, it focuses more on the effects of totalitarian on the individual

3*

I like that when items disappear they are not jsut taken or burned or destroyed but their associated memories are too, leaving holes in people’s souls. Plot is more slice of life and the villains in the story are not super present, the islanders kind of accept what’s happening and the ones that don’t we don’t hear from them but R. So there is a tension throughout but nothing like omg we’re all gonna die type stuff

Notes:

- the story goes back and forth of MC’s life and her novel of a woman in love with her type writing instructor
- Having her editor be the one she’s hiding while actively writing a novel, not necessarily an outlawed thing but toeing the line as writing can be used to log memories
- Eczema lol
- MC thinks about what would happen if the storage room was disappeared and she forgot R was down there

He brings the new student up after having captured her voice

With body parts going there’s not a lot of production and restoration being done in the town

She is just a voice now in R’s room, he leaves her w the other relics and leaves the room

She works all night to write one line

The next disappearance is left legs! what in the world, so they wonder how to get rid of them when they see MP coming having no trouble walking

Dons back left leg is missing (tho hers is still there) and R massages hers at night

MP are easily able to find ppl who are immune because they can’t mimic the new gait of citizens w a numb left leg

Her and the old man head to her mother’s cabin where she used to sculpt to find more objects, otw back MP are searching the train but they were checking IDs not so much luggage

The old man is having issues moving his hands, they live together now

They go on a walk together, she goes home early, he passes out and dies from the injury he took during the earthquake

She is more affected than when her own parents died

I forgot to mention that one group were able to sail off the island (or maybe I did idk) that’s why they interrogated the old man cuz he was knowledgeable before the disappearing so his boat being wrecked also sucks doubly more now

She sees gloves from the boy in the beginning who left w his family to hide

Statues her mom made break in the earthquake and reveal hidden items inside, a ferry ticket, some pills etc

An earthquake hits and they have to flee before the tsunami, the old man was pinned but she refused to leave him behind

At home the trapdoor is stuck due to the floor warping w the earthquake, they have to borrow the painted house neighbor’s tools but he insisted to help but she pretends the old man has eczema so doesn’t want to be seen lol

She gets a new job at a spice company

While R keeps her manuscript she’s no longer able to feel emotions while reading it or paint a picture

Her and the old man are chilling in his boat e Don, he asks if she’s in love w R and she’s vague but does say he’s too dense to over come out of the storage room like a deep sea creature couldn’t come to the surface

She has to make a show of burning some b/c it’ll be suspicious as a novelist if she didn’t, she can’t even remember what’s in each one so she has to decide what to hide w R and what to burn, one last tries to get them to stop and is removed by the MP

She tells the old man she’ll continue to write and he continues to listen to the music box everyday

The library is burned down