The Memory Police is a tale about the disappearance of objects. The disappearance takes place on an unknown island. The residents of the island are bemused by how things are happening. Once the objects go missing, everybody should forget about them. Draconian memory police are put in place by authorities to ensure no one talks about what has gone missing. The protagonist of this novel is a young woman who is tired of the happenings on the island. Among the things that have disappeared are ships, calendars, roses, maps, and birds.
The narrator remembers her mother telling her about the disappearance of objects without a trace. The memory police killed her due to the power of remembrance. Currently, she is working with an editor who has the ability to recall past events. As well, the protagonist befriends a former ferryman referred to as an “old man”. The narrator decides to hide her editor so that draconian police do not capture him. Objects continue disappearing. Books are set ablaze, and novels vanish.
The residents of the island feel something moving briskly on a certain night. The following morning they discover roses flooding the river. Such a gesture prompts them to find roses in their gardens and throw them into the river. Within a few days, the roses vanish, and no one remembers whether they existed. The memory police are tasked with ransacking every residence to ensure no writing or image of the rose is left behind. The disappearance of objects baffles inhabitants of the island.
Memory Police are ruthless to people with the power of retaining memories. The inhabitants seem to have gotten used to the happenings. Indeed, they no longer agonize over the disappearance of objects. The residents know that once an object has vanished, that marks the end of it. The story evokes a sad mood among the readers, judging by how events are unfolding.
