Product Description
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.Amazon.com Review
All children should believe they are special.But the students of Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside, are so special that visitors shun them, and only by rumor and the occasional fleeting remark by a teacher do they discover their unconventional origins and strange destiny.Kazuo Ishiguro's sixth novel, Never Let Me Go, is a masterpiece of indirection.Like the students of Hailsham, readers are "told but not told" what is going on and should be allowed to discover the secrets of Hailsham and the truth about these children on their own.

Offsetting the bizarreness of these revelations is the placid, measuredvoice of the narrator, Kathy H., a 31-year-old Hailsham alumna who,at the close of the 1990s, is consciously ending one phase of her life and beginning another.She is in a reflective mood, and recounts not only her childhood memories, but her quest in adulthood to find out more aboutHailsham and the idealistic women who ran it.Although often poignant,Kathy's matter-of-fact narration blunts the sharper emotional effects youmight expect in a novel that deals with illness, self-sacrifice, and thesevere restriction of personal freedoms.As in Ishiguro's best-known work, The Remains of the Day, only after closing the book do you absorb the magnitude of what his characters endure.--Regina Marler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (584)

This book didn't let me go for almost a year after I read it.
Like an onion, the layers of this subtly written book peel off slowly. One gradually becomes aware of the underlying issue, which comes as a surprise rather than a shock because of gentle hints- watch for the pencil case early on- which help put pieces of the puzzle together without the realization of the reader. It's also a love story. With many twists!And only one character- a rather minor but vital one- has a first and last name.

Gripping
I got this book for my Kindle on the recommendation of a friend.I loved it and have suggested it as a book for my next book club.I don't like to give away plots, but this book really gets you thinking about the issues of medical research and how far we should or should not go.

"You were brought into this world with a purpose, and your futures, all of them, have been decided."
A first person narrrative by Kathy H. that draws the reader in for the ultimate twist. Ishiguro has crafted an intense, engaging, and somewhat disturbing story about three children that the reader follows from a young age into adulthood.In a world that is cosy, secure and predictiable at the Hailsham Academy we follow the lives of Ruth, Cathy and Tommy.Ishiguro has the gift of nuance and while you are busy hanging on the descriptions and intricacies of the relationships between these three, the backdrop becomes more and more incredible.Without giving too much away, I will say that the world in this novel gives the reader pause to reflect once again on the question of science with morality. Never Let Me Go is different, intriguing, and thought provoking novel that will have you think about Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy long after you shut the book.

Better as a movie?
A friend recommended this book to me, and while the concept of the story is really interesting - thought-provoking, raising deep philosophical/existential questions - the literary style became tiresome very quickly. It's written from a first person perspective, and this person happens to be youthful and naive in a not-so-charming way.

This is one of the first times I've read a book and actually thought the movie might be better (usually it's completely the other way around).

Never put it down...
This was a very well written book and one I never wanted to put down.It reveals itself slowly and before it does, you are pretty sure you know the truth, but don't really want to admit it.It brings up moral issues that are great for a book club discussion!Definitely a must read... ... Read more

Product Description
A tragic, spiritual portrait of a perfect English butler and his reaction to his fading insular world in post-war England.A wonderful, wonderful book.Amazon.com Review
The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler whotries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through theself-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a careerthat spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real lifethat goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact thathis aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are evenlarger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel --namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming loveinto his tightly repressed existence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (218)

A good book for butlers or people who want to become butlers
I picked up this book because I have long been interested in butlers, and specifically, in becoming a butler.

Before this book, I found it very difficult and at times frustrating to find subject matter that treated it seriously. There is no "butlering for dummies" or "The Real Butlers of Orange County" to aid people who have the same desire--no, passion--that I once had.

I'm very grateful to this book, because after reading it, I knew what I don't want to do anymore. That's right. Become a butler. It turns out that being a butler is super boring. You can't go to clubs or get crunk, and you don't even get to listen to music in your own room. You basically have to live a certain way at all times and avoid ever doing anything that might embarrass your master. (Spoiler: Almost anything you do could embarrass the master)

If you are a butler, or you want to become a butler, I highly recommend reading this book. It will let you see exactly what life is like for butlers.

I know that my mother is disappointed in me because of this book, but it doesn't matter. This book saved me from a really boring life as a butler. I really appreciate it, and am so glad I found it.

Thanks a lot for writing this book.

Perfect
Perfect. One of the few modern works that approaches the perfection of the Great Gatsby.

looked sceond hand
book arrived - expensive for a paperback but I didnt have time to go shopping elsewhere. When it arrived it looked distinctly second hand.

A masterwork of reflection...
My first experience with Kazuo Ishiguro was with his novel `Never Let Me Go', which drew me in and blew me away.I have been a longstanding fan of the 1993 film adaptation of this particular novel, and so I have wanted to read it for some time.Truth be told, the idea of reading a novel about a butler's revelations didn't seem all that appealing.Some stories are better told on the big screen, for reading their plights can become rather monotonous and redundant.After reading `Never Let Me Go' though, I was so enamored with Ishiguro's magnificent writing technique that I became confident that this novel would please me.

It did, and then some.

I find it rather baffling to read some (very few thankfully) reviews that lambaste this novel for being boring or uninspired.Yes, to the untrained eye this may seem like a longwinded exercise (which I can't say I rally behind in the slightest since I was unable to put this engrossing piece of literature down and finished it rather rapidly) but quite frankly there is so much to be absorbed here.

The story tells that of an English butler named Mr. Stevens who takes a much deserved holiday to visit an old acquaintance and former co-worker, Miss Kenton.Over the course of this trip, Stevens recalls his life in segments that add layers of development over his own person and the people with whom he shared his company, namely Miss Kenton and his former employer, Lord Darlington.While it may be instantaneously ascertained that Stevens is quite oblivious to his former employers real life ambitions, the reader soon become privy to the fact that Stevens is searching for a meaning to his own existence that causes him to place unnecessary adoration on his late-employer.Stevens, a man so dedicated to his craft that he has made other people's mistakes, is stumbled by his own lack of `dignity', as he sees it.Feeling lost and inadequate, Stevens focuses his reflection on times when he felt most amenable, completely worthwhile and needed.This reflection, when recollected in like manner, paints a vivid picture of a man who is just beginning to grow outside of himself.

Some have balked that this story is far from the `romance' is it trying to be, but for me that anti-climactic finale only further bolsters the story's romantic subplot.

There is a passage near the beginning of the book where Stevens comments on the meaning of greatness, and when discerning the reason many consider the landscape in Britain to be `great' he states: "I would say that it is the very lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty of our land apart."That is precisely how I feel about this beautiful novel.The `obvious' theatrics are stripped away to reveal a story that is pure and believable and relatable, no matter what your nobility.

I must also make a quick note in regards to Ishiguro's writing style.This man is a genius.I've only read two of his novels and yet I'm ready to pronounce him one of the greatest novelists I've ever had the privilege of reading.His ability to transport the reader into another world is unsurpassed.Comparing the style of this novel and `Never Let Me Go', it is outstanding to see how he was able to capture such completely contrasted personalities so effortlessly.

This novel breathes.

A fascinating, heart-rending masterpiece.
For readers who prefer fast-paced thrillers or the light beach-read, "The Remains of the Day" may be just the book to pull you into serious, contemplative literature.The story is presented in the form of a butler's diary, and the time alternates between his years of service to Lord Darlington (leading up to WWII) and the "present" day, in which Lord Darlington has died and Stevens is adjusting to both his new employer and his own advancing age.Deciding to seek out a former associate who now lives in Cornwall, Stevens borrows his new employer's car and takes a "motoring trip" across the English countryside, all the while contemplating his past thirty years of service and their greater significance.

Ishiguro is truly a master of the form.I've seldom read a book by an author who seems to understand, without reservation, what good fiction does and how it is written.There are no car chases, no shouting matches, no fistfights or dead bodies.But if you let Ishiguro work his magic, he will pull you under swiftly and see you to the conclusion of this beautiful work.

As for character portraits, the butler Stevens is perhaps one of the most compelling characters I have ever met in a novel.Many times I felt myself thinking of Stevens not as an interesting (or even life-like) character or as an ideological construct but as a real person with feelings, desires and passions.As you read the book, there are quiet moments that are utterly heartbreaking.Most of this is due to understatement or implication, and being able to sense the meanings behind Stevens' actions--and especially his non-actions.The Remains of the Day presents these repressed moments of sorrow with a precision I'm not sure I've found elsewhere--even in the works of the masters.I'm anxiously awaiting my next Ishiguro novel. ... Read more

Product Description

From the award-winning author of Remains of the Day comes an inspired sequence of stories, which is as affecting as it is beautiful.
 
With the clarity and precision that have become his trademarks, Kazuo Ishiguro interlocks five short pieces of fiction to create a world that resonates with emotion, heartbreak, and humor. Here is a fragile, once famous singer, turning his back on the one thing he loves; a music junky with little else to offer his friends but opinion; a songwriter who inadvertently breaks up a marriage; a jazz musician who thinks the answer to his career lies in changing his physical appearance; and a young cellist whose tutor has devised a remarkable way to foster his talent. For each, music is a central part of their lives and, in one way or another, delivers them to an epiphany.

Customer Reviews (26)

Clever and bittersweet
This is a light and minor work by a gifted author who is known for more serious efforts. Nonetheless, he has put together a readable, clever and bittersweet group of stories that linger surprisingly long in the memory. I suppose he was just having a bit of fun; nothing really wrong with that and the result is entirely enjoyable.

In interesting approach to the short story format
This is the first book I have read by Kazuo Ishiguro. His unique approach to the short story format is refreshing and asks the reader to engage in the piece differently. Each story revolves around music and nightfall and particular symbols can be seen consistently throughout the piece (I won't give any away!). Each individual piece on its own is entertaining, but together, these five shorts weave a new story that can only be read with careful attention to literary devices used in the shorts.

Not bad, but not good either
This book started well but, in my opinion, got steadily worse.
The first part was a classic example of what a short story is about. But by the fifth, and last, part I had lost patience with it all.
It may sound all very clever, the construction with reflected stories, repeated characters etc. etc. but the collection is a fuse that simply fizzles out; there's no explosion.
I've read worse, but also a lot better.

fans of Kazuo should avoid this musical non feast
After reading each story I kept thinking the next one will be better.
Alas, that glorious moment never came. Dissapointing

Stories in a minor key
Ishiguro writes his novels with rare power and grace. In the short story form, this power is diluted but still definitely there. The stories in this collection are linked by music, by failing relationships and by failing careers. The tales all play in a minor key; even the comedic sections are farce rather than sprightly wit.

A has-been singer engages a younger guitarist to serenade his wife, but not for the reasons the guitarist thinks. A man finds that his old college friends think of him- *need* to think of him- as a loser, with his taste in music his only redeeming quality. A singer/songwriter finds himself in the middle of the marital discord of a couple he's only just met. A cellist is tutored by a self declared virtuoso cellist with a secret. A gifted jazz musician who has never gotten a break lets himself be convinced that a new face will solve his career problems. Simple ideas, but made into stories with depth and insight.
... Read more

Product Description
The story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a story where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan's devastation in the wake of World War II. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (53)

Subtle and Restrained
During a visit from her daughter Niki, Etsuko, who now lives in England, reflects on her earlier life in Japan. The floodgates of memories are also opened by a recent suicide of Keiko, Etsuko's older daughter from her first marriage. Keiko had struggled to adjust to life in England, prompting her suicide. As Etsuko remembers her older daughter, she also finds herself reminiscing about another young woman and her daughter whom she had met in Nagasaki shortly after World War II and who had emigrated to the United States. The incidents that Etsuko recalls are highly idiosyncratic, and it is not entirely clear if they had actually occurred, or if the mother and daughter duo are figments of Etsuko's imagination created in order to cope with her own sense of grief and guilt.

This is Kazuo Ishiguro's first published novel. It resonates with several themes from his other works, albeit in a very different setting. Attention to social and interpersonal relations is heightened, and the author's writing style is very refined and reflective. While not exactly the most exciting read, lovers of good literature will nevertheless find many good qualities in this short novel.

Intriguing, Mystifying, Totally Absorbing
If you, like me, delight in reading books that go beyond just stimulating the visceral senses, Kazuo Ishiguro is an author whose books you want to add to your library - for repeated readings, I dare say.

Ishiguro's tale-telling in the first person narrative is spell-binding.The title can have multiple meanings, depending on which aspect of the book you are focusing on.I know I will definitely need to reread this novel again to put all the pieces together.

Is Sachiko Etsuko's projection of herself? Is Mariko representative of Keiko?To hear Etsuko switch to the first person when talking to Mariko near the river at the end of the novel really packed a punch.Had I considered such at other points in the book?Yes.But, to have it simply pop out there at the last minute was like cold water being splashed on my face.

The reference to Etsuko hanging onto something that caught on her foot while crossing the river was obviously a metaphor to her hanging onto the past.Mariko running away, right after asking why Etsuko was hanging onto that, was that Keiko fading in her memory or Etsuko questioning herself?

Our memories certainly do fade with time and can become quite unreliable, particularly if we are reviewing decisions and behaviors we would rather not recall.Given Keiko's suicide most likely being connected with Etsuko's decision to move to the United States certainly is reason for her to want to rewrite history to alleviate guilt.

I saw the cover from an earlier release of this book and it shows a Japanese woman - just her head - wearing a mask.This reinforces the ending of this book ... that Sachiko is really a mask Etsuko wears in her mind as she recalls the irrevocable decisions, and their consequences, of her past.

I finished reading A Pale View Of Hills three weeks ago and am still mulling it over in my mind.I plan to reread it again, looking for the subtle clues Ishiguro has surely placed throughout the book, but until then I will simply enjoy the experience of mulling over this literary work of art.

A novel done in brush strokes
Ishiguro has written this novel with the spare grace of a Japanese painting- a brush stroke here, another there;you must infer the rest. Past and present shift and blur at times. One is not entirely sure how many women there are in this story, or who is who.

Etsuko, a Japanese born woman living in Japan, is dealing with the recent suicide of her elder daughter. With her younger daughter staying with her, she reflects on her own past in Japan, when she was a young wife, pregnant with her first child. Living in Nagasaki, the city so recently devastated by the American bomb, she becomes friends with Sachiko, a woman who-along with a young daughter- lives in a shack that has no electricity or water, spends her days working in a noodle shop and her evenings with an American service man who she expects to take her to live with him when he is shipped back home. This life is very different from Etsuko's- she is married to a man who expects instant obedience from her and spends her days cleaning and cooking. Sachiko's daughter, Mariko, is a fey child who does not go to school and spends her time by herself or with a batch of kittens, sometimes speaking of a woman that no one else sees. And there is a child murderer on the loose....

How accurate are Etsuko's memories? Is there more to her past than she admits in her mind? Does she have some connection with the murderer, or with Sachiko? These things are unresolved. Memory can be like that; many times one doesn't see the past in a clear cut way.In the 24 hours since I finished reading this book, I've wondered over and over about these things and am no closer to the answer, but the wondering is a pleasant thing.

What the hell happened in this book?
Okay, I really loved this book.I have read most of Ishiguro's other books, so I am used to the "more questions asked than answered" type of tale.But I finished this one, and I can't figure out what the hell happened.Is there really a Saichiko, or is the creation of Saichiok Etsuko-in-England's device for recalling the rearing of her first daughter, Keiko?Or, did Etsuko take Mariko to England with her, and there really was no pregnancy? What's with the two references to Etsuko coming to Mariko at night with a rope around her ankles? Foreshadowing Keiko's suicide? Or, is she the child murderer? What about the woman in Nagasaki who drowns the baby in the canal just after the bomb has been dropped? Did this really happen? How does this relate to the drowning of the kittens?Etsuko talks about "Keiko" being "so happy that day at the harbour..." Keiko? Mariko? A different trip? I would really like to be smart enough to figure out this book, and sophisticated enough not to need concrete answers, but I'm neither.I also don't have the time to figure this out - I have to cook a Thanksgiving Dinner for 15, and I am really busy.So, someone, please explain this book to me!!!

Wait...what just happened?
Part current story and part flashback, this is the story of Etsuko and her two daughters, born of two different fathers.One is part of her "old life" in Japan, and one seems to be more modern like her second husband.And at the time of the story, one has killed herself, leaving the mother and daughter left behind to puzzle out what happened.

Large portions of this shorter novel are set in the past, when Etsuko still lives in Japan, is newly married and expecting her first child, and she meets and befriends a forward-thinking and somewhat eccentric single mother who has a rather strange daughter of her own.Etsuko seems torn between admiring and being irritated by the behavior of her friend and her later-life reflections bring the story to a surprising conclusion.

Surprising...and confusing for me.In fact, I had to stop and back up a few pages because I wasn't sure I'd understood what was being said clearly, and to be honest, I'm still not sure.I think I read it right, in which case other parts of the book now confuse me, but I wasn't inclined to go thumbing back through the rest of the book to figure it out.As a result, I was left with mixed feelings about how to view the book in terms of like/dislike.I really enjoyed the writing itself and would not shy away from reading something else from this author, but this particular story left me feeling a little disgruntled.I'm not sure I like that. ... Read more

Product Description
From the Booker Prize-winning, bestselling author of Remains of the Day comes this stunning work of soaring imagination.

Born in early-twentieth-century Shanghai, Banks was orphaned at the age of nine after the separate disappearances of his parents. Now, more than twenty years later, he is a celebrated figure in London society; yet the investigative expertise that has garnered him fame has done little to illuminate the circumstances of his parents' alleged kidnappings. Banks travels to the seething, labyrinthine city of his memory in hopes of solving the mystery of his own, painful past, only to find that war is ravaging Shanghai beyond recognition-and that his own recollections are proving as difficult to trust as the people around him.

Masterful, suspenseful and psychologically acute, When We Were Orphans offers a profound meditation on the shifting quality of memory, and the possibility of avenging one’s past.
Amazon.com Review
When 9-year-old Christopher Banks's father--a British businessmaninvolved in the opium trade--disappears from the family home in Shanghai,the boy and his friend Akira play at being detectives: "Until in the end,after the chases, fist-fights and gun-battles around the warren-like alleysof the Chinese districts, whatever our variations and elaborations, ournarratives would always conclude with a magnificent ceremony held inJessfield Park, a ceremony that would see us, one after another, step outonto a specially erected stage ... to greet the vast cheering crowds."

But Christopher's mother also disappears, and he is sent to live inEngland, where he grows up in the years between the world wars to become,he claims, a famous detective. His family's fate continues to haunt him,however, and he sifts through his memories to try to make sense of hisloss. Finally, in the late 1930s, he returns to Shanghai to solve the mostimportant case of his life. But as Christopher pursues his investigation,the boundaries between fact and fantasy begin to evaporate. Is the Japanesesoldier he meets really Akira? Are his parents really being held in a housein the Chinese district? And who is Mr. Grayson, the British official whoseems to be planning an important celebration? "My first question, sir,before anything else, is if you're happy with the choice of Jessfield Parkfor the ceremony? We will, you see, require substantial space."

In When We Were Orphans Kazuo Ishiguro uses the conventions of crimefiction to create a moving portrait of a troubled mind, and of a man whocannot escape the long shadows cast by childhood trauma. Sherlock Holmesneeded only fragments--a muddy shoe, cigarette ash on a sleeve--to make hisdeductions, but all Christopher has are fading recollections of long-agoevents, and for him the truth is much harder to grasp. Ishiguro writes inthe first person, but from the beginning there are cracks in Christopher'scarefully restrained prose, suggestions that his version of the world maynot be the most reliable. Faced with such a narrator, the reader is forcedto become a detective too, chasing crumbs of truth through the labyrinth ofChristopher's memory.

Ishiguro has never been one for verbal pyrotechnics, but the unruffledsurface of this haunting novel only adds to its emotional power. When WeWere Orphans is an extraordinary feat of sustained, perfectlycontrolled imagination, and in Christopher Banks the author has created oneof his most memorable characters. --Simon Leake ... Read more

Customer Reviews (218)

When we were orphans
Just thought this was such a great read. Written with an odd gentleness and a somewhat strange story, but one that I kept thinking about for a long time after reading it. Would recommend this book wholeheartedly.

An epic mess
This book is such a grandiose mess that I must remind myself of Ishiguro's great works, such as Remains of the Day, which show what he is capable of as a writer and artist.When We Were Orphans is a small, unpleasant, soapy story set against a gigantic and wildly improbable canvas, as if that will somehow give the story social weight, political size and personal meaning.It doesn't.

Beautifully written but the storyline is simply absurd, the events are preposterous,
and it reads like a story a child might write. A very very talented child as far as literary style, but nevertheless a child.

Disappointing
Slow to start. About 2/3 into it, it looked like it would all come together.
Ending disappointing.
I would not recommend it.

terribly contrived
Vapid sleuthing in pre war London..delusions of fame..a wild goose chase and innumerable implausible plot lineslater, I am left wondering why none of the reviewrs bothered to tip us off that this novel is just plain flat and awful. There is no humor, and alas, not much coherence. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the story of an artist as an aging man, struggling through the wreckage of Japan's World War II experience.Ishiguro's first novel.Amazon.com Review
In An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro offersreaders of the English language an authentic look at postwar Japan, "afloating world" of changing cultural behaviors, shifting societalpatterns and troubling questions. Ishiguro, who was born in Nagasaki in 1954but moved to England in 1960, writes the story of Masuji Ono, a bohemianartist and purveyor of the night life who became a propagandist for Japaneseimperialism during the war. But the war is over. Japan lost, Ono's wife andson have been killed, and many young people blame the imperialists forleading the country to disaster. What's left for Ono? Ishiguro's treatment ofthis story earned a 1986 Whitbread Prize. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (38)

Old men forget: yet, all shall be forgot--The best things are put together of a night and vanish with the morning.
A life is much like these things 'put together of a night and vanish with the morning.'It can be so difficult to remember those things accurately as we live in the midst of them, and are left with firm or not-so-firm reminisces.

Ishiguro has a unique take on the 'unreliable narrator'.Here, as in Remains of the Day, the characters who narrate their own stories may or may not be telling the truth, may or may not be deluding themselves, and the reader.Both occur in the context of war, and responsibility.Blindness may be willful, or a natural human tendency to gloss the bad parts and recall the good.

The greatest service this book renders to the reader is an invitation to reflect on the narrative of one's own life--how it might be written, how it might be written by others, the evasions to which we may fall prey, the poignancy of how short a time we are here, a long time gone.

We are are own artists of our own floating worlds, and even as we fully realize an experience, a moment, it is already vanishing, more or less quickly, in the morning light.

Old men forget: yet, all shall be forgot.

Dwelling in the Past.
The early novels by Kazuo Ishiguro deal with loneliness, isolation ('A Pale View of Hills', 'An artist of the Floating World') and the inability to respond to the feelings of others (The Remains of the Day).

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five.

It is 1948. Japan is rebuilding her cities after the calamity of World War II, her people putting defeat behind them and looking to the future. The celebrated painter, Masuji Ono, fills his days attending to his garden, his house repairs, his two grown daughters and his grandson; his evenings drinking with old associates in quiet lantern-lit bars. He should have a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to the past - to a life and career deeply touched by the rise of Japanese militarism - a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity...

It's the tragedy of a man who supported the wrong political ideals and somehow hasn't come to terms with his wrong judgement.

If you liked Remains of the Day...
Enter the mind of an artist at the end of his career. As in The Remains of the Day, Ishiguro tells his story by following the meandering ruminations of the main character, this time an artist who in his search for relevance, becomes a propagandist. He is haunted by guilt at helping lead his country down a destructive path. But how much influence did he really have? And do his daughters blame him or does their annoyance with him have a more domestic origin? How good an artist was he really? How much respect did his students and teachers have for him? Knowing oneself and how others see you is an impossible quest.....

Excellent
Kazuo Ishiguro's 1986 novel, An Artist Of The Floating World, which won that year's Whitbread Prize, may be a great novel, but it just misses out on that elite company. Of course, the fact one can make arguments pro and con means the book is worlds above the tripe one would read were the author's surname Oates, Boyle, or Eggers. The reason for the miss, in my mind, is that the novel never fully sores- it never takes that Keatsian leap into the subconscious, to wrench the reader into an experience he or she can get nowhere else. It is consummately written, and its lead character and narrator is very interesting. There really is no fat to trim, yet....there simply are no indelible scenes nor moments that one will recall years later.

As example, I still recall the scents of the Williamsburg neighborhood that Francie Nolan describe sin Betty Smith's A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, even though its been several years since I read that book; I still can recall the final metaphoric scene in Charles Johnson's Oxherding Tale, even though a decade or more has passed since I first read it; and I can still envision the final moments of Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, despite over two decades' passage since I first scanned those words.

Nothing like that occurs in Ishiguro's novel, although his proponents for greatness could claim it's simply not that sort of novel. In a sense, that's true. It is a complex psychological novel that slips easily in and out of the past, even as its first person narrator- a painter named Masuji Ono, is never not the speaker. Of course, the three aforementioned books are also complex novels with psychological heft, which would seem to invalidate the argument pro-Ishiguro readers make, but claimants might also argue that this book is an old man's recitation of his claims to existence, and not a book that reveals the road one travels to get to a certain place, for the artist Ono is already there. In that sense, it strikes commonalities with films such as Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries, Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru, and Theo Angelopoulos's Eternity And A Day.
The book's biggest weakness: it simply never takes off into a higher plane. An Artist Of The Floating World is immaculately wrought, but its very understated nature undermines its claims to greatness, for by its end it recapitulates one thing that is troubling: not only has Ono not gotten any greater insight into himself, but neither has the reader. Yes, we know more of his externals, but his interior landscape is still a mystery. And there are ways, in fiction, that one can give a reader insight that still eludes a character. Ishiguro's choice to not follow such a path may have been deliberate, but it also may be the slight Achilles' Heel of the book.

However, this novel is well worth a read, and the passage of time, and the sticktoitiveness of some of Ishiguro's subtle scenes and intricate words may prove my initial assessment wrong, even to myself. It may indeed have a staying power as long as the adventures of Captain Ahab and the White Whale. Here's hoping.

Post-War Japan as Viewed by a Member of "New Japan"
The narrator of the story was a member of the "New Japan" group that led the Japanese Empire into World War II.They were going to creating the Eastern Pacific Cooperative Sphere under the guidance of Japan and in the namer of the Emperor.What it really mean was that they were going to turn China into a colony and the rest of east asia into client states.

For Korea and Manchuria it would have meant total cultural genocide as both would be turned into integral parts of the Japanese Empire.Ono-San was an important member of the propaganda team that popularizedthe "New Japan" in words (music) and art.They not only created a new style of art but popularized the War, just as did Goebels in Germany.

We meet him just after the war as he recalls his time as an apprentice and his early life.He has just buried his son (who was killed in Manchuria) and is in the process of negotiating the marriage of his younger daughter.He reflexes on the suicide of one of his comrades from the propaganda group.The suicide was due to remorse over having been the cause of the death of so many young men in a bad cause.

The bottom-line for him is that he feels that he could have worked for a better cause or one that would have been better for the Japanese people in the end.His last thoughts for us, is that in 1950, it appears that Japan is on the right road at last and that the future will take care of itself.

**Comment on the Audiotape:The speaker has a distinctive English accent very much like Ronald Coleman.I found it to be distracting as he only seemed to have two voices, one for men and one for woman/children.He also had a very deliberate way of speaking Japanese names as opposed to the fluid way they should be pronounced. ***
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Conversations with Kazuo Ishiguro collects nineteen interviews, conducted over the past two decades on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond, with the author of Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day. The interviews collectively address the entirety of this literary artist's career, affording readers of Ishiguro (b. 1954) the most vivid portrait yet of contexts and influences behind novels that have been garnering awards for a quarter-century. The interviews focus on the author's six novels--A Pale View of Hills, An Artist of the Floating World, The Remains of the Day, The Unconsoled, When We Were Orphans, and Never Let Me Go--but also treat his short fiction, screenplays, and film adaptations of his novels. The writer's evolving understanding of himself, his Japanese heritage, and his use of English and Japanese history are also discussed at length.

Though readers might expect Ishiguro to be reticent, given the nature of his protagonists, his responses are full, thoughtful, and frequently witty. The volume includes interviews from British, French, and American periodicals, a conversation between Ishiguro and acclaimed Japanese novelist Kenzaburo Oe, and a new interview conducted with the book's editors.

Brian W. Shaffer is professor of English and dean of academic affairs for faculty development at Rhodes College. He is the author of The Blinding Torch: Modern British Fiction and the Discourse of Civilization and Understanding Kazuo Ishiguro, among other works. Cynthia F. Wong is associate professor of English at the University of Colorado at Denver. She is the author of Writers and Their Work: Kazuo Ishiguro. ... Read more

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Interviews that enlighten
Kazuo Ishiguro's work has touched me for many years. His unreliable narrators have led me to reconsider many of my own formative emotional experiences, and I have always been impressed by his artistry.

"Conversations with Kazuo Ishiguro" consists of a series of interviews spanning from 1986-2006, and the interviews are highly engaging. Ishiguro discusses his upbringing, his approach to writing and the themes that fascinate him. Although the interviews were conducted over a period of 20 years, Ishiguro is remarkably consistent in how he comes across as an interviewee: thoughtful and articulate, sensitive and profound.

Reading these interviews has helped me to appreciate Ishiguro's work all the more, and it has helped me to understand the significance of his body of work and how he has evolved as a writer. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the conversations, both on an emotional level as well as on an intellectual level.

"Conversations with Kazuo Ishiguro" is part of the wonderful "Literary Conversations Series" published by the University Press of Mississippi. I consider these publications to be a real service to those of us who love literature and culture. ... Read more

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Only the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day could have created this daring and stunningly inventive new novel. The Unconsoled gives readers what is at once a riveting psychological mystery, an acute satire of the cult of art, and a poignant character study of a man whose public self has taken on a life of its own. "Ishiguro writes with his characteristic grace and off-beat pungency."--Los Angeles Times. Reading tour. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (149)

Wow!
This is one of the most amazing books I have ever read, and I have read thousands.As every reviewer likes to point out, there is no real plot, continuity is essentially non-existent, and yeah, a lot of stuff doesn't make sense.That, however, is the point.It took me about one hundred pages or so to figure this out, but once I pinpointed why the book seemed so familiar- the crazy, circular conversations; the people who seem familiar but are not; the reappearance of people long forgotten in one's past- it dawned on me that Ishiguro was intentionally writing a massive book replicating the tone and action of a dream.
The effect is amazing.The book reads like a dream- not a flying through the clouds, riding a unicorn, eating a rainbow fantasy nonsense- but like a run of the mill, "I need to go to school and take a test but I never can find the right classroom" dream.The main character spends the whole book trying to make it to an auditorium to give a speech but he can't ever make there.Everyone seems to know him, when he travels he suddenly goes from city streets to the middle of nowhere, impossible physical feats are accomplished non-chalantly by people he encounters- the action described so flawlessly in this tour-de-force manage to capture the frustrating unpredictability of a dream.At times, it is joyous! Seeing people you haven't seen for years, having the ability to fall asleep in an instant, having everybody know you.Other times, the illusion of free will- you can never really do what you want in a dream- leads to pain and sadness and at its worst, despair.
It is an amazing accomplishment.The book, like most dreams, is a rollercoaster ride of emotion.This novel is the work of a true master.Embrace the weirdness of this book!

vivid, stressful, but didn't grab me
This tome of a book follows Ryder, a master pianist about to give a recital in a city he knows and doesn't, with a cast of characters he sometimes remembers but vaguely, from a past that looms and recedes in his possibly brain damaged mind. I think he's dreaming, which would account for the impossible passage of time, and his conversations, the lengths and omniscience of which are impossible, unless you (he) (everyone) were on an acid trip.

The unnamed Eastern European city setting is vivid in my mind, along with its myriad of hapless, desperately unhappy (and spiraling) citizens. But then again, if you have 552 pages to work with, perhaps you could do the same. I'm being unfair. Mr. Ishiguro manages a unusual readability, even when everything is repeated and roundabout and relentlessly detailed. But I can't say I was taken with any one character's plight, and it was rather like watching a train wreck, but without the heart and feeling of "A Fine Balance" (another train wreck and tome of a book). While the characters themselves were distinct, they all had the exact same way of speaking, and each caught up in small tragedies and unreasonable expectations. Like in the horror movies where you want to yell, turn around! Run faster! For god's sake, don't draw that pentagram! I kept wanting to say, Just say what you think. Do what you wish. Leave town. Don't look back. You have everything you need within you.

I know this is the way of the world, but the people of "The Unconsoled" weren't especially interesting to me. It's also my bias - as someone who hates being late, or forgetting an appointment - it was unbearably stressful to watch Ryder do this over and over again, with ever more critical consequences. After a while, I had to stop caring or stop reading. I did the former, but only because it was a fiction exploring memory and reality. If I weren't writing about these themes, I'm not sure I'd have finished it.

Disappointment ...
Having read The Remains of the Day, A Pale View of Hills and Never Let Me Go (all of which I greatly enjoyed), I was eager to immerse myself in another of Ishiguro's works.I had high expectations.Sadly, I wasn't even able to finish Unconsoled.I read approximately 1/3 of the book, forcing my way through the last couple of chapters, when I decided to toss it in the trash.

I gave this book two stars because Ishiguro is generally an excellent writer and I could appreciate his efforts.However, most of the conversations seemed random and of little import, not to mention unrelated to one another, seeming more like going off on a tangent rather than contributing to the plot, whatever that may have been.

Up to the point I read, I had developed no interest in the characters - no empathy, sympathy, concern or desire to know any more about them.They seemed like a bunch of lost people rambling on about nothing and everything, no matter how trivial, with no real point to any of their conversations.The protagonist seemed like a dunce, wandering aimlessly in whatever direction someone else pointed, with no understanding of the whys and wherefores.

When I reached a high enough frustration level to toss the book in the trash, the only interest I had was:"What the heck is this book about?"Even at that, I didn't care enough to keep reading;particularly since it appeared to be an endless winding andirritatingly rutted road leading to nowhere.

I would not recommend this book to anyone.Truthfully, had I read no other books by Ishiguro and thus felt no need to be charitable, I would have given this book zero stars.

A Bugged Out Dream
The Unconsoled is like a dream that is so fun and strange, when you wake up you pat yourself on the back for being cool enough to have conjured up something that awesome. This is one of those books I can recommend to anybody no matter what style of book they enjoy. Ishiguro's recipe for success is his perfect balance of surreal dream-like imagery, wit and suspense. This is difficult feat to pull off without pretension, but it is flawlessly executed here by Ishiguro. It is strange to call this book a page-turner since it lacks a traditional plot and yet I could not put it down. I plan to re-read this in the next few years.

A finely wrought dream
The Unconsoled begins with the protagonist, a classical pianist named Mr. Ryder, arriving at a hotel, and almost immediately the surreal nature of the novel takes hold.He is greeted at the desk by the first of many inhabitants of this small Eastern European village to treat him slavishly.The clerk refers to an event on `Thursday night' that Ryder has no idea about, though it seems to revolve around him.In fact, Ryder doesn't seem to understand why he's there at all.The clerk also refers to a famous composer Mr. Brodsky, who is to be part of this event, yet Ryder has no idea who he is.Ryder soon meets Gustav, the elderly bell-hop who rambles on endlessly about his problems, the first of many residents to tax Ryder's time.A Miss Stratmann, the women apparently in charge of Ryder's scheduling for his visit, though he has no idea about any of it, appears in the elevator seemingly out of nowhere.His hotel room changes into his childhood bedroom.Time has no meaning.Stairs go on forever.Walkways go round in circles.People continue to ask Ryder for favors even though his time becomes more and more pressed as he slowly realizes his obligations, which seem to include saving the town itself from its own backwards cultutre.All of this would be frustrating to a reader who didn't know that this whole novel is just a dream.

Ishiguro used dream language for two reasons.One, he wanted to take a chance after the success of his first three novels, all of which were criticized for being `too perfect'. Two, he wanted the reader to view this novel as a metaphorical tale rather than a criticism of a specific culture, as can be seen in, for example, `The Remains of the Day'.And I think once the reader understands this, the effect works.Even though what's happening doesn't always make sense, Ishiguro's prose makes this enjoyable to read.Over time the reader intuits Ryder's real life, realizes the stress Ryder must feel in real-life from his obligations as person after person asks more of his limited time.We can feel the frustration as commitments go by the wayside to meet other commitments.We understand more when we realize that in dreams people are not always who they appear to be.In other words, could Ryder himself be Boris, Stephen Hoffmann, Mr. Brodksy?Is Sophie his wife?And what about his concern for his parents arrival (which he doesn't expect until about halfway through the book)?Does this have anything to do with Stephan's anxiety over his own parent's criticism?Understanding that this is a dream leaves almost limitless discretion to the reader's imagination, which is a great thing.

As the book winds down and we approach the `event', Ryder seems to learn how to say no, he seems to come to terms with his parents, his family, with life.The ending Ishiguro weaves out of the whole is wonderful.While this may seem a challenge to some readers, it's well worth the effort.
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This is an up-to-date reader of critical essays on Kazuo Ishiguro by leading international academics. Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the finest and most accomplished contemporary writers of his generation. The short story author, television writer and novelist, included twice in Granta's list of Best Young British Writers, has over the past twenty-five years produced a body of work which is just as critically-acclaimed as it is popular with the general public. Like the writings of Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro's work is concerned with creating discursive platforms for issues of class, ethics, ethnicity, nationhood, place, gender and the uses and problems surrounding artistic representation.As a Japanese immigrant who came to Great Britain in 1960, Ishiguro has used his unique position and fine intellectual abilities to contemplate what it means to be British in the contemporary era. This guide traces the main themes throughout Ishiguro's writing whilst it also pays attention to his short stories and writing for television. It includes a new interview with the author, a preface by Haruki Murakami and discussion of James Ivory's adaptation of "The Remains of the Day"."Guides in the Contemporary Critical Perspectives" series provide companions to reading and studying major contemporary authors. Each guide includes new critical essays combining textual readings, cultural analysis and discussion of key critical and theoretical issues in a clear, accessible style. They also include a preface by a major contemporary writer, a new interview with the author, discussion of film and TV adaptation and guidance on further reading. ... Read more

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Hailsham aparenta ser un agradable internado inglés, lejos de las influencias de la gran ciudad. La escuela se ocupa bien de sus estudiantes, enseñándoles arte y literatura y todo lo necesario para que se conviertan en el tipo de persona que la sociedad espera. Pero, curiosamente, en Hailsham no se enseña nada sobre el mundo exterior, un mundo con el que casi todo contacto está prohibido. Dentro de Hailsham, Kathy y sus amigos Ruth y Tommy crecen indiferentes ante el resto del mundo, pero será solamente cuando finalmente dejen la seguridad de la escuela que se darán cuenta de lo que Hailsham en realidad esconde.  
 
Nunca me abandones rompe con los limites de la novela literaria. Es un misterio conmovedor, una hermosa historia de amor, una crítica mordaz de la arrogancia humana y también una investigación moral de cómo tratamos a la gente más vulnerable en nuestra sociedad. En su exploración del tema de la memoria y el impacto del pasado en un posible futuro, Ishiguro ha creado su libro más conmovedor hasta la fecha.
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Having earned an international reputation with his booker-prize-winning novel, The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro is fast emerging as an important cultural figure of our times.

In this guide to Ishiguro’s varied and often experimental work, Wai-chew Sim presents:

• a biographical survey of Ishiguro’s literary career, and an introduction to his novels, plays and short stories
• an accessible overview of the contexts and many interpretations of his work, from publication to the present
• discussions of key topics in Ishiguro criticism such as narrative theory, multicultural Britain and postcolonial studies, psychoanalytic criticism, and Ishiguro as international writer
• cross-references between sections of the guide, in order to suggest links between texts, contexts and criticism
• suggestions for further reading.

Part of the Routledge Guides to Literature series, this volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailed study of Kazuo Ishiguro and seeking not only a guide to his works but also a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds them.

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Key Features:* Study methods * Introduction to the text * Summaries with critical notes * Themes and techniques * Textual analysis of key passages * Author biography * Historical and literary background * Modern and historical critical approaches * Chronology * Glossary of literary terms ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Deepest gratitude to my brother
When my brother recommended this book to me more than a decade ago, I perversely avoided it because, living in Japan and immersed in Japanese literature, the idea of Mr. Ishiguro's novel of an English butler struck me as too contrived to even deign to read. Living in a complex and ancient foreign culture, I doubted the ability of anyone not born in a country like England or Japan to assume its persona in a novel.

But the name of the book and the author remained, as something of a reproach to my narrowmindedness, and as a kind of reminder that however much I might wish it weren't so, my brilliant brother with a million great books under his belt knew the difference between a fine book and an ordinary one.

When I unwrapped the package that my father had sent, in it was a yellowed copy of Remains of the Day, looking even worse than I had imagined it would be. Slathered with a photo of Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson on the cover, and proudly announcing that it was "now a film from Columbia pictures," all of my old prejudices rose in my throat and I pushed it aside.

In a moment of pique I opened it to the first page, knowing that the first paragraph would reveal the feebleness of the author and the cheap Hollywood veneer of the plot. All I can tell you is that it wrapped me up and enfolded me in a cascade of beauty with which only a handful of books have ever entranced me.

The story has been told a full 194 times in the reviews that precede this one, and I've little to add except the personal testimony that it is a deeply moving and gripping book. The love story here is so deep, and rich, and painful, that when Mr. Stevens says "my heart was breaking," yours will too, if you feel anything at all. The sadness, melancholy, and quiet strength in every line of this book make it a towering monument in English literature. Every line has been chiseled, polished, pondered, and crafted with a beauty matched in modern literature only perhaps by Kawabata Yasunari's "Yukiguni."

You will cherish this book, and feel wiser about and more in love with the world around you for having read it. ... Read more

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One of the most closely followed British writers of his generation, the Japanese-born, English-raised and -educated Ishiguro is the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including A Pale View of Hills (1982, Winifred Holtby Prize of the Royal Society of Literature), An Artist of the Floating World (1986, Whitbread Book of the Year Award), The Remains of the Day (1988, Booker Prize), and The Unconsoled (1995, Cheltenham Prize). Ishiguro's reputation also extends beyond the world of English-language readers. His work has been translated into twenty-seven foreign languages, and the feature film version of The Remains of the Day was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Brian W. Shaffer's study reveals Ishiguro's novels to be intricately crafted, psychologically absorbing, hauntingly evocative works that betray the author's grounding not only in the literature of Japan but also in the great twentieth-century British and Irish masters--Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, E. M. Forster, and James Joyce--as well as in Freudian psychoanalysis. All of Ishiguro's novels are shown to capture first-person narrators in the intriguing act of revealing--yet also of attempting to conceal beneath the surface of their mundane present activities--the alarming significance and troubling consequences of their past lives.

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The first complete study of Ishiguro's work from A Pale View of the Hills to When We Were Orphans, this book explores the centrality of dignity and displacement in Ishiguro's vision, and teases out the connotations of home and homelessness in his fictions. Barry Lewis focuses on such key questions as: How Japanese is Ishiguro?; What role does memory and unreliability play in his narratives?; Why was The Unconsoled understood to be such a radical break from the earlier novels? ... Read more

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Kazuo Ishiugro's 2005 novel Never Let Me Go tells the story of a number of students growing up in a boarding school in England and eventually coming to grips with their destinies, with what they are supposed to do in life. What is both tragic and radically engaging in this novel is that the students are actually clones who will have their organs harvested for the "normals" of Britian. In this first book-length study of the influential novel, Brian Willems sets the work of Ishiguro in a new philosophical key. Analyzing the ramifications the story has for thought on death, poverty and the uncanny doubling of clones, Willems shows how a shakey rational awareness of the world usually ascribed to those considered other-than-human is actually what is most fundamental about "humanity" itself. The conjunction of such critical avenues makes Ishiguro's novel essential reading, giving it a currency that resonates not only in literary circles but also in those of law, philosophy and science, as well as instigating a film adaptation. By delineating the weak ontological differences between the humans and clones in the novel, Willems argues for a renewal of the poverty-of-self we tend to forget is a large part of what we always are.Brian Willems teaches literature and film theory at the University of Split, Croatia. He holds a doctorate in Media and Communication from the European Graduate School and is the author of Hopkins and Heidegger. ... Read more

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An illuminating study of Ishiguro, Booker prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day showing how his novels explore the way humans manipulate memory in their constructions of personal and political histories. ... Read more

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Examines the meaning of being a stranger in Kazuo Ishiguro's six novels. This book fills a gap in scholarship on the Japanese author by assessing his reception in Taiwan and Japan. ... Read more