4 Quotes by Yōko Ogawa about memory

  • Author Yōko Ogawa
  • Quote

    A heart has no shape, no limits. That's why you can put almost any kind of thing in it, why it can hold so much.

  • Tags
  • Share

  • Author Yōko Ogawa
  • Quote

    Perhaps this was just evidence that his body was adapting to the secret room. Perhaps it was necessary to rid oneself of everything that was superfluous in order to immerse completely in this airless, soundproof, narrow space shrouded in the fear of discovery and arrest. In recompense for a mind that was able to retain everything, every memory, perhaps it was necessary that the body gradually fade away.

  • Tags
  • Share


  • Author Yōko Ogawa
  • Quote

    It became more difficult to breathe. I looked around. My body was now included among the objects arranged on the floor. I lay there between the music box and the harmonica, my two legs protruding at odd angles, my hands crossed on my chest, my eyes lowered. In the same way he had wound the spring on the music box or blown into the harmonica, I imagined R would now caress my body in order to call forth memories.

  • Tags
  • Share