Stephen Snyder (Translator), Markus Juslin (Translator)
131119: i think i will give this an immediate review, without reflection, without doubt, for example- is this really five? yes, i certainly enjoyed the reading, being absorbed in that particular japanese surrealism, this quiet, abstract, consistent dystopia, the end of the world now/future when we forget the world then/past. i have read four ogawa but was very surprised by this one. the gradually horrifying progress of 'disappearances' is subtle, ominous, cautionary fable for those of us (not many on this site..) who do not know the pleasure of novels, of lying to tell the truth... some readers may be bothered that the memory police have no history, but i find this essential to their hollow function, as any narrative about the rise of this metaphysical repression will distract from each lived moment... some readers may be bothered when certain things disappear almost 'magically', overnight, but this works for me as does the desperate willed amnesia of nearly everyone... and tragic aloneness of one who remembers...