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AUGUST
READS
August is proving to be an exciting month for new releases, here are some of the highlights hitting the shelves this month. WORDS ALICIA DUGGAN OF THE BOOKSHOP IN SAN PEDRO DE ALCÁNTARA, CC LA COLONIA LOCAL 21, SAN PEDRO DE ALCANTARA. TEL: 951 779 785. WWW.THEBOOKSHOP.ES
THE MEMORY POLICE BY YOKO OGAWA
Originally released in 1994 in Japan, this is the first English translation of this remarkable, Orwellian novel. On an unnamed island objects are disappearing. From roses to ribbons, perfume to songbirds, once the objects have been destroyed the memories of those objects must also disappear. Some people on the island are immune to forgetting and are taken by the brutal, authoritarian Memory Police and never
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seen again. The protagonist of the piece is a young female author who is writing a novel about a woman who has lost her voice. She discovers her editor is in danger as he is a ‘rememberer’, so she hides him in a secret chamber in her house. As more things are removed from the collective memory, the inhabitants seem to lose parts of themselves. This beautiful and simple novel explores the power of memory and its importance to the soul.
