Yoko Ogawa

Though I’ve tried, I’ve found no way to fill in the voids left by the Memory Police.

The mention of money was probably nothing more than a smoke screen.

they were almost off-putting.

he believed that mistakes were often as revealing as the right answers. This gave us confidence even when our best efforts came to nothing.

I couldn’t hear him clearly, but I decided not to ask him to repeat himself, in case it had been something less romantic

Jealousy seems to make me suffer in the most unexpected ways

I must have had a good reason for wanting to kill myself, but I’ve forgotten what it was

“Long ago, before you were born, there were many more things here,” my mother used to tell me when I was still a child. “Transparent things, fragrant things…fluttery ones, bright ones…wonderful things you can’t possibly imagine.

Soon enough, things are back to normal, as though nothing has happened, and no one can even recall what it was that disappeared.”

“Mama, why do you remember all the things that have been disappeared? Why can you still smell the ‘perfume’ that everyone else has forgotten?”