Japanese Literature

Yoko Ogawa’s The Memory Police is a poignant and thought-provoking exploration of loss masquerading under a dystopian premise. With the concept of an unexplained totalitarian regime and the premise of police taking objects and people at random intervals, many would expect this novel to be a psychological thriller or mystery. That is not the case at all as Ogawa merely uses the plot elements as framework to discuss and reflect on how people process loss and memories over time in an abstract manner. While subjectively The Memory Police wasn’t quite for me, I still appreciated the beautiful prose and can easily see why this book is critically well respected and worthy of literary analysis. Despite having some similarities initially to other established dystopian works (a lot of people compare it to 1984), at its core I would not consider The Memory Police to technically be a dystopian novel. While there is a plot to the book, it’s quite abstract and not the focus. The female narrator is a writer who enlists the help of an elderly unnamed old man to hide away her editor referred to as “R” from the Memory Police who mandate things and memories associated with them…

Told in a simplistic and understated tone, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a collection of short stories that focus on self-reflection, perceived happiness, and purpose. Consisting of five largely self-contained stories that average around 60-70 pages each, each story focuses on characters of a variety of ages and backgrounds whose only commonality are feeling unfulfilled with their current life. There’s a young retail worker fresh out of university, an office worker with a dream to open an antique shop, a young mother torn between her editorial work and her child, a NEET unable to find where he belongs, and a recent retiree left without a purpose. Each story follows the focal character through their usually monotonous days, finding the local library, and receiving an unusual book recommendation from the librarian Ms. Komachi. Through this seemingly random book recommendation and a few open-ended questions from Ms. Komachi, each character goes on a quiet journey of self-discovery as they seek what they’re subconsciously looking for; happiness and fulfillment. “For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee gets cold”, I curiously picked this up as I loved The Midnight Library and largely disliked Before the Coffee…

Book #2 in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, I picked this up with the hope that it would be a more refined and improved version of the stellar premise introduced in book #1 of the anthology series that I felt was hindered by lackluster execution. While I did find that it introduced more creative and ambitious stories, ultimately it largely feels like the same misguided experience which I’m unfortunately not a fan of. Much like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Tales From the Cafe feels like a slow and thoughtful reflection on one’s regrets and “what if’s”. Similar to book #1, the cafe Funiculi Funicula’s timeless setting is still quite an aesthetic location that lends itself perfectly to the premise of time travel. Based on context clues and the presence (or lack of) of certain characters, Tales From the Cafe takes place roughly seven years after the events of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. I found that the four short stories were at their best when it connected the four focal time-travelers to characters featured in previous stories, particularly when it involved guests seeking to speak with characters who are no longer alive. On the flipside, stories that…

Note: The following original review for this book is old and does not meet current review standards. A fully rewritten review is planned. There are those who believe Murakami is a genius and artist vs those who think he is a hack. After reading two of his novels I align with the latter. While I liked The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle more than 1Q84, that’s a very low bar to pass and Wind-Up has the advantages of being 300 pages shorter and possessing a more focused collection of plot threads vs 1Q84’s introduced and completely dropped elements. My biggest criticism of this novel and Murakami’s works in general is the excessive amount of detail and word length that’s added for no particular reason. The amount of tedious daily activities and movement by that main character adds nothing to the experience, story or characters included which is exacerbated by how repetitive and monotonous they’re written. Worse is how sporadic characters are added in, only to immediately segue into seemingly unrelated stories with no rhyme or reason. Yes there are connections between each story introduced but the execution is so lackluster, you’re just left questioning why it was done this way and what was…

Note: My original review for this book is old and does not meet current review standards. A fully rewritten review is planned.