how to win the lottery s21e7 – the memory police by yoko ogawa, translated by stephen snyder
our final “adaptable” book is the memory police by yoko ogawa, translated by stephen snyder. this one feels somewhat unadaptable, but given that our next (“unadaptable”) book is inherently adaptable, we are maintaining a balance. we talk about what charlie kaufman can bring to the adaptation, why this is the exact right type of story to adapt, and what lily gladstone could bring to this role.
we detail how the memory loss on the island likely works (and why it doesn’t quite seem to add up), how the novel is reminiscent of george orwell’s work, and whether the story is global by design or if we’re missing details that make it specific to japan. we talk about the meta chapters (the story within the text), whose ending is more preferable (the narrator or r’s), and the cumulative effect of the text and the subsequent removal of memories.
reading list for season twenty-one
the odyssey by homer, translated by emily wilson
the sugar frosted nutsack by mark leyner
detransition, baby by torrey peters
antkind by charlie kaufman
the chain by adrian mckinty
your name here by helen dewitt and ilya gridneff
the memory police by yoko ogawa, translated by stephen snyder
the catcher in the rye by j.d. salinger
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