Perhaps I’m too used to dystopian novels that are action packed, but I felt like there were multiple instances where there was a build up to something happening and then nothing did. It felt like there was very little in the way of plot and the novel was more of a daily life reflection of someone living in a dystopia. 

I think the premise was super interesting, an island where people lose their memories of every day items and a police force meant to seize every instance of the item. I also loved the inter character relationships. R, the old man and the unnamed narrator were well developed characters, however I hated how passive the narrator was and how okay she seemed with allowing her memories stolen and not doing anything to fight back against the memory police other than hiding R. Anything else she did to defy the memory police wasnt because she wanted to, but because R pressed the importance of the items.

Regardless, the novel felt disconnected from the reader and it was to the benefit of the atmosphere to the novel. At the same time, there was no little happening with how detached it was from any sort of political commentary and I don’t think a novel can be good based on atmosphere and vibes alone.