Ishiguro, Kazuo

Average customer rating:

This is one for your heart
reality in a sci-fi setting
wonderful
Am I missing something?
Very sad story

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Perfect Paperback

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ASIN: 1400078776
Release Date: 2006-03-14

Book 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

Customer Reviews:

This is one for your heart.......2007-06-25

This story is a classic, and must be read if you possibly can. You will never forget its brave hopefullness and heartbreaking goodness in the face of personal horror. Anyone who holds close to their heart memories that sustain the will to go on will cherish "never let me go"

reality in a sci-fi setting.......2007-06-12

Set in a late 1990s England, Ishiguro places us in an uncomfortably realistic, sci-fi scenario where cloning is normative and routine. We follow the lives of Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, students at Hailsham, a picturesque boarding school. Only about halfway into the novel is the nature of this society completely revealed, when we find that the students are clones, living as normal humans until their organs are needed.

Fortunately, the story never directly questions societal ethics of cloning. Doing so, even slightly, would have changed the tone to a political bent, shredding the tender story. And although he doesn't question cloning, he does, however, lead the reader to an underlying answer while maintaining a tight reign over the actual storyline.

Ishiguro broaches many topics, such as societal detachment and the struggle of a minority class, but its his focus on the aching to belong, an experience that, I venture to guess, most people feel or have felt at some point, that gives us real emotions filtered, only mildly, through prose.

Kathy is one of few students raised at Hailsham, where the caretakers focus on creative outlets; we discover later that the art is being preserved as possible evidence of students' humanity. Oddly enough, the caretakers miss the student's self awareness and emotional maturations, arguably the most human of all traits.

Through Kathy H., we see that the students are capable of ranging emotions, from sadness and forgiveness to lust and curiosity. She excels as a "carer" because she interacts with the dying on a personal level, interprets their moods, and calms them. As a human-like force, she doesn't embrace the horrific outcome of her life and list towards death like many of her peers, she focuses on her friends, repairing old mistakes and forming stronger bonds.

In spite of the sci-fi setting, the unique traits of Ishiguro's narratives, such as a languorous flow and inherent subtlety, allow him to slip rather significant items into the story without any grandiose epiphanies. You feel as though you're like sitting with a friend, listening to recalled events, some familiar and some new.

After reading the last chapter, I honestly didn't know how to feel. Tapped out emotionally, I just desperately needed a hug. It's a rare occasion that instead of reading a novel, I experience it; a testament to Ishiguro's skill in crafting a story, not just words.

wonderful.......2007-06-06

I am a sucker for dystopian novels. I will re-read The Handmaid's Tale on any given day, and will readily pick up any book noted as "speculative fiction." I didn't know Never Let Me Go was speculative fiction at first, in fact, I didn't know much about it at all except that it is highly regarded and has been staring at me from the bookshelf for months. So I was pleased when I started reading it and realized that it has subtle elements of "science fiction." That aspect of the book serves more as a plot device than as the driving force behind the novel. The real story here is about human emotion and relationships among friends and lovers.

The story is tragic and heartbreakingly realistic, even if the plot requires a small stretch of the imagination (or what could be a terrifying look into our future). In ways, it is loosely similar to The Island (the 2006 movie), but thankfully it has much better writing and more developed characters. And the real focus, for me at least, was the story of the relationship between three friends. The dystopian element was just an added bonus.

The novel takes place over three decades of the three friends' lives. The first is while they are sheltered students at a mysterious boarding school, where the children are regarded as special, but never told why. The second phase of the book is when the students, now young adults, are transferred to a residential compound where they begin developing romantic relationships. The third phase is during their adulthood, when they begin to serve their "purpose" in life. The relationship between the three friends is heart wrenching and poignant as they face the reality of their futures together.

Ishiguro has an interesting way of writing prose. It is sort of flat and detached, almost as though he is holding back, but still resonates. I think the detachment serves to reinforce the strange lives these children and young adults have led. All in all, it is a deeply disturbing look at the human condition, love, and loyalty in the face of despair.

Am I missing something?.......2007-06-02

Maybe my expectations were too high, based on some of the readers' reviews of this book, but I thought it was a waste of time!! I kept thinking the book would go somewhere, but it was ultimately a slow, boring book. If you like to read for entertainment, skip this one!!

Very sad story.......2007-05-28

This book is not a thriller, but it certainly is thought provoking. If you measure plot by change, then the story basically has no plot as not much changes throughout the story, if on the other hand, you measure plot by the delicacy of the emotions, feelings, and thoughts of the characters and the reader (you), actually quite a bit happens. This book is a little tough to read because in order for the reader to get it, you have to read the book with empathy and that involves more than pleasure reading. Its important to understand deep down the characters know they will die soon, that they won't have careers or children, that they are living solely to give their vital organs so that others who despise them might live and that they are living mainly for each other. I think if you read the book empathizing with their plight, how they must learn to accept death then there is a lot you can take from this book. The book also subtlety needs with ideas of social justice in ways other reviews have noted more specifically and better than I can do and that are certainly worth thinking about.

Average customer rating:

"I'm sorry, sir, but I am unable to assist in this matter."
A masterpiece
Relatable
A Moving Exploration of Regret
A convincingly written narrative of a long-time butler, with the complication of an ureliable narrator

The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679731725
Release Date: 1990-09-12

Amazon.com

The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

"I'm sorry, sir, but I am unable to assist in this matter.".......2007-06-17

Midway through a pivotal scene in "The Remains of the Day," Lord Darlington's young godson confronts the butler, James Stevens, about the nefarious goings-on in Darlington Hall, insisting angrily, "you're not curious. You just let all this go on before you and you never think to look at it for what it is." A gentleman's gentleman to the core, Mr. Stevens serves at the pleasure, and defers to the judgment, of his lord, and this training limits his robotic, repeated replies: "I don't fully understand what it is you're referring to" or "I'm afraid I have not noticed any such development."

"Remains" is basically a British comedy of manners--and there are many episodes that are certainly, if wryly, humorous. Yet Stevens is the anti-Jeeves--a man whose worth in his profession is inversely proportional to the value of his opinions. This point is brought home when one of Darlington's guests, to prove his arguments against England's "present parliamentary system," mockingly asks the butler his stance on several economic and political issues of the day. "I'm sorry, sir, but I am unable to assist in this matter." Whether Stevens has knowledge on these matters is beside the point; he's accepted that it's not his place to offer his own views. He is a man with style, but without substance.

As a result, Stevens proves to be the most unreliable narrator, and it quickly becomes apparent that his defense of his employer's integrity is actually defensiveness. Stevens's lack of "curiosity" and his impassiveness result in the book's three most disquieting subplots: he admires greatly his father (also a butler), but they remain aloof from each other, with heartbreaking consequences; he furtively reads romantic novels, but refuses to entertain the unsubtle overtures from the housekeeper Miss Kenton; he disagrees with his employer's reasons for firing two maids yet refuses to challenge him. For her part, Miss Kenton turns out to be the real hero of the book, trying during her tenure to break through Stevens's emotional barriers and haunting his thoughts long after she's left the household.

Yet, if Ishiguro's novel were simply another upstairs-downstairs tale, it wouldn't be much to recommend. Instead, Stevens is any of us who wanders blindly through life, doing no more than what's expected and leaving "the great affairs of today's world" to others. Indeed, "Remains of the Day" offers a frontal assault on conservative, oligarchic notions of morality. (The endless discussions over the qualities of a good butler and Stevens's arguments for "his lordship's good judgement" seem at times a parody of Edmund Burke's defense of monarchy.)

It's not a coincidence that both Americans in the novel, while behaving like tactless cads, are ultimately being proved right for favoring honesty over "honour." One of the Americans, Stevens's new employer, encourages the butler to drop the stiff upper lip and engage in some friendly banter, offering Stevens a belated opportunity to rejuvenate his own sense of worth. In spite of the novel's focus on aristocracy and servants, its moments like this one that underscore the truly egalitarian nature of Ishiguro's work.

A masterpiece.......2007-04-30

A magnificient book written with wit and great style!
"What I'm interested in is not the actual fact that my characters have done things they later regret. I'm interested in how they come to terms with it" said once the author Kazuo Ishiguro.

Relatable.......2007-03-02

There was something hypnotic about this story. The depth of the feelings behind Steven's carefully weighed speach pulled me in and somehow felt intensely real.

A Moving Exploration of Regret.......2007-02-19

Kazuo Ishiguro once said the following of his desire to write: "I'm always trying to remind myself that while we may be very pleased with ourselves, we may one day look back with a different perspective and ask whether we may have acted out of cowardice or failure of vision. What I'm interested in is not the actual fact that my characters have done things they later regret. I'm interested in how they come to terms with it."

To me the above is an excellent description of what's going on in The Remains of the Day: Mr Stevens, a repressed butler in post-WWII England, is forced near the end of his career to reexamine his entire life. Although there are certainly a number of interesting subplots that keep you asking "what happens next?," the central action of the story revolves around Mr Stevens' attempts to salvage for himself some of the 'dignity' and 'greatness' and 'satisfaction' that he had, until recently, been so sure he'd achieved over the years.

Basically, I read the book as an exploration of regret, a very sad story, although it definitely had its funny moments. Often Mr Stevens will either misinterpret what's happening around him, or else he will repress his feelings to such an extent that he makes happiness impossible for himself. But whether you look at it as a very sad comedy or a very funny tragedy, I thought the book was extremely well written and worthwhile. The first couple of chapters took a bit of patience as I got to know Mr Stevens, but by the end of the story he had become one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. Overall, I'd recommend The Remains of the Day to anyone in the mood for thoughtful, character-driven fiction.

A convincingly written narrative of a long-time butler, with the complication of an ureliable narrator.......2007-01-22

Kazuo Ishiguro's novel THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is the story of Stevens, the butler at a large English house in Oxfordshire from the early 1920s to 1956, the time that the book opens. When his new employer, a newly rich American who now owns the estate, returns to his home country for a few days, he tells Stevens he should travel a bit within England. Stevens sets off on a journey to the West Country, intending to visit one Miss Kenton, his colleague on the house staff for many years before the war. While he travels Stevens, who narrates the novel in first person, recalls the whole breadth of his career.

The dialogue that Ishiguro writes for Stevens, the formal and business-like responses of the servant, is remarkably convincing. It is strict and unemotional and yet never becomes tiring to read. And the overt issues of the novel, such as the difficulty of reconciling work and personal life, and the great changes England went through during these decades are very engaging for the reader. While early reviews praised THE REMAINS OF THE DAY but questioned how much readers outside of England would get from the novel, I think that anyone with a basic knowledge of the country's history will appreciate the dramatic scope of years in Ishiguro's book.

But what is special about THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is its unreliable narrator. Stevens, so wrapped up in ideas of duty and dedication, speaks much about his career but little of the actual events that he has gone through. His love for Miss Kenton is deduced only through the actions and words of characters around him. Nor does Stevens give any judgement on the men he serves, for the shady dealings of his former employer are revealed only in passing as Steven recalls a young man who often visited the house. The novel is beautiful and entertaining on the first read, but it rewards rereading, for one can find instances where Stevens is not being honest about some crucial matter.

I was impressed by THE REMAINS OF THE DAY. As a fan of Gene Wolfe--I'm thinking especially of "The Book of the New Sun" or "The Fifth Head of Cerberus"--I've grown to love unreliable narrators. But anyone looking for a simple and dramatic story of how a man can dedicate his life to the service of others will find much to enjoy in the novel.

Average customer rating:

Novel or Relationships- great summer read
Page Turner
outstanding
Dystopia literature is hard to pull off
What College did your Daughter get in to?

Never Let Me Go (Alex Awards)
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400043395
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Amazon.com

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, measured voice 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 about Hailsham and the idealistic women who ran it. Although often poignant, Kathy's matter-of-fact narration blunts the sharper emotional effects you might expect in a novel that deals with illness, self-sacrifice, and the severe 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

Book Description

From the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, a moving new novel that subtly reimagines our world and time in a haunting story of friendship and love.

As a child, Kathy–now thirty-one years old–lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.

And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed–even comforted–by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.

A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go slowly reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance–and takes its place among Kazuo Ishiguro’s finest work.

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"So exquisitely observed that even the most workaday objects and interactions are infused with a luminous, humming otherworldliness. The dystopian story it tells, meanwhile, gives it a different kind of electric charge. . . . An epic ethical horror story, told in devastatingly poignant
miniature. . . . Ishiguro spins a stinging cautionary tale of science outpacing ethics."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Perfect pacing and infinite subtlety. . . . That this stunningly brilliant fiction echoes Caryl Churchill’s superb play A Number and Margaret Atwood’s celebrated dystopian novels in no way diminishes its originality and power. A masterpiece of craftsmanship that offers an unparalleled emotional experience. Send a copy to the Swedish Academy."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Ishiguro’s elegant prose and masterly ways with characterization make for a lovely tale of memory, self-understanding, and love."
—Library Journal (starred review)

"Ishiguro’s provocative subject matter and taut, potent prose have earned him multiple literary decorations, including the French government’s Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and an Order of the British Empire for service to literature…. In this luminous offering, he nimbly navigates the landscape of emotion — the inevitable link between present and past and the fine line between compassion and cruelty, pleasure and pain."
—Booklist

Praise for Kazuo Ishiguro:
"His books are Zen gardens with no flowery metaphors, no wild, untamed weeds threatening — or allowed — to overrun the plot."
—The Globe and Mail

"A writer of Ishiguro’s intelligence, sensitivity and stylistic brilliance obviously offers rewards."
—The Gazette (Montreal)

"Kazuo Ishiguro distinguishes himself as one of our most eloquent poets of loss."
—Joyce Carol Oates, TLS

"Ishiguro is a stylist like no other, a writer who knows that the truth is often unspoken."
—Maclean’s

"One of the finest prose stylists of our time."
—Michael Ondaatje

"Ishiguro shows immense tenderness for his characters, however absurd or deluded they may be."
—The Guardian

"[Ishiguro is] an original and remarkable genius."
—The New York Times Book Review

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Novel or Relationships- great summer read.......2007-06-04

I just finished this book yesterday. I must say while I was reading it I didn't want to put it down and once I did I just kept thinking about it. I don't think that it is an earth-shattering novel about the politics of cloning. However, I do think it is an earth-shattering novel about people and relationships. It's characters are so profoundly written, that one feels as though they live and breathe with them. I enjoyed this aspect a great deal. It is slow about two fourths of the way through, but the characters keep you reading. I didn't think the end was shocking or awfully meaningful, but Ishiguro certainly does "pull you under." Great summer read!

Page Turner.......2007-06-04

My mom told me she thought this book was "creepy". A lot of reviewers seem to find in this book to be a commentary on the advancement of cloning technology and the ethical concerns posed by such advancement. Though there was some creepiness to it and certainly some commentary on ammoral science and blind obedience, the most poignant aspect of the book to me was a looming question: what makes a life meaningful. I have been haunted, for the weeks since I read this book, with the nagging question about what makes my life different from a life certain to end young. That I may one day have children? That I can "choose", within the confines of the life I've been born into, the basic course for my life? I agree with some of the reviewers that the characters seemed flat and that Ishiguro doesn't quite capture the female voice. Because I see this book as more of an allegory, these details didn't bother me as much as they might in a book with less going on thematically. In addition to interesting themes, the Ishiguro masterfully weaves a page-turning story. I would definitely buy this book again.

outstanding.......2007-03-28

Subtle yet devastating. His simple elegant writing style belies the complexity and intensity of his message. An amazing accomplishment. Hard to put this book down.

Dystopia literature is hard to pull off.......2007-03-20

This will ultimately become a period piece of literature, more important for its social attitudes and ethical questions that happen to be in the air, rather than its literary merits.

Ultimately, the characters are fairly static and flat. And without really giving any of the plot away, the entire issue that forms the book's real twist can pretty much be seen 50 pages before the big surprise is ever revealed.

There is a feeling that this plot has been used before and as for the writing style, one has the feeling that there is nothing stylistically originally going on here. Finally, this male author attempts to write about sex from the point of view of a female narrator, and ends up sounding like a man imagining what an ideal female with a male libido would say about love. The scene where she initiates a act with the main male character is pure male fantasy.

Read this if you have a week end to kill and don't want anything to deep.

What College did your Daughter get in to?.......2007-01-28

NOT SCIENCE FICTION!!!! This novel asks us to look at our lives!!! As you wade into Ishiguro's current, remember that we are all moving toward an inevitable end. This is existentialism at its most realistic level. I can't imagine regarding this novel as an examination of the nuts and bolts of cloning. "Is cloning good?" or "Is cloning bad?" Go talk about this at your book club. When you take up this book on your own time, I hope it drives you back to bigger questions. What college did your daughter get in to? I hope it is a place she can think about what we do with the time we have here.

Average customer rating:

Confusing and Disappointing
It's The Way He Tells 'Em...
Premonitions of 9/11
He Could Write a Good Novel...
Not Worth the Time

When We Were Orphans: A Novel
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375724400
Release Date: 2001-10-30

Amazon.com

When 9-year-old Christopher Banks's father--a British businessman involved 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 alleys of the Chinese districts, whatever our variations and elaborations, our narratives would always conclude with a magnificent ceremony held in Jessfield Park, a ceremony that would see us, one after another, step out onto a specially erected stage ... to greet the vast cheering crowds."

But Christopher's mother also disappears, and he is sent to live in England, 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 his loss. Finally, in the late 1930s, he returns to Shanghai to solve the most important case of his life. But as Christopher pursues his investigation, the boundaries between fact and fantasy begin to evaporate. Is the Japanese soldier he meets really Akira? Are his parents really being held in a house in the Chinese district? And who is Mr. Grayson, the British official who seems to be planning an important celebration? "My first question, sir, before anything else, is if you're happy with the choice of Jessfield Park for the ceremony? We will, you see, require substantial space."

In When We Were Orphans Kazuo Ishiguro uses the conventions of crime fiction to create a moving portrait of a troubled mind, and of a man who cannot escape the long shadows cast by childhood trauma. Sherlock Holmes needed only fragments--a muddy shoe, cigarette ash on a sleeve--to make his deductions, but all Christopher has are fading recollections of long-ago events, and for him the truth is much harder to grasp. Ishiguro writes in the first person, but from the beginning there are cracks in Christopher's carefully restrained prose, suggestions that his version of the world may not be the most reliable. Faced with such a narrator, the reader is forced to become a detective too, chasing crumbs of truth through the labyrinth of Christopher's memory.

Ishiguro has never been one for verbal pyrotechnics, but the unruffled surface of this haunting novel only adds to its emotional power. When We Were Orphans is an extraordinary feat of sustained, perfectly controlled imagination, and in Christopher Banks the author has created one of his most memorable characters. --Simon Leake

Book 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.

Download Description

The maze of human memory--the ways in which we accommodate and alter it, deceive and deliver ourselves with it--is territory that Kazuo Ishiguro has made his own. In his previous novels, he has explored this inner world and its manifestations in the lives of his characters with rare inventiveness and subtlety, shrewd humor and insight. In When We Were Orphans, his first novel in five years, he returns to this terrain in a brilliantly realized story that illuminates the power of one's past to determine the present.

Customer Reviews:

Confusing and Disappointing.......2007-05-18

Sometimes the confusing nature of a book adds to its charm; this was not the case with When We Were Orphans. I felt to urge to re-read the book after figuring out most of what was going on after finishing the book.

I found the protagonist rather annoying and conceited. Perhaps we all are; perhaps others found him charming. The other characters seemed rather weak. I didn't get attached to any of them.

After reading this, I'm reluctant to pick up Remains of the Day which I've heard is excellent.

It's The Way He Tells 'Em..........2007-04-14

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. He was awarded the OBE in 1995 and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998. "When We Were Orphans" is his fifth novel, was first published in 2000 and was shortlisted for that year's Booker Prize.

The story is set in the 1930s and is told by Christopher Banks. Born and raised in Shanghai until the age of nine - when, within a few weeks of each other, both his parents disappeared - Banks then moved to England, to be raised by an aunt. Now grown up and based in London, Christopher is working as a high profile and very successful private detective. His celebrity has eased his way into fashionable London society, though some - such as Sarah Hemmings - are initially a little resistant to his appeal. Fashionable society, however, isn't Christopher's main concen : although it's been many years since his parents disappeared, the case is still (apparently) open and unsolved. Christopher has taken it upon himself to complete the investigation - "When We Were Orphans" sees him not only move forward with the case, but also look back on his childhood memories of Shanghai. Obviously, his parents feature prominently in these memories - but his friendship with a Japanese boy called Akira was also very important to him. As the book goes on, however, it becomes clear - though unfortunately not to Banks himself - just how unreliable his memories are. Ultimately, the investigation leads to his return to Shanghai - where he hopes to close the case. The trouble, of course, is that while his investigation may uncover the truth, the truth may not be quite what he is expecting...

While I wouldn't say "When We Were Orphans" is entirely flawless, the flaws are only very few and far between. The details on how Christopher conducted his investigation were a little scant - but, as the book wasn't written as a thriller, that's pretty easy to brush off. The style of writing was also occasionally a little formal - there's a few chaps and fellows here and there, what ho. However, given that the story was being told by a Cambridge graduate in the 1930s...somehow, to me, the language added a touch of authenticity. There were one or two questions left unanswered - particularly in relation to Akira. (I'd have given anything to find out what happened to him after Christopher left Shanghai). Overall, though, I'd absolutely recommend this book - very readable, and one that I just couldn't put down.

Premonitions of 9/11.......2006-12-10

First off, ignore the editorial reviews. This is a meditation on lost innocence that plays off its own textuality--like a Hemingway novel rewritten by Nabokov. There are many scenes that can bring you to the verge of tears; the final chapters, unfolding across a landscape of smashed buildings and shattered psyches, will make you remember 9/11. There is some hint of redemption at the end but this is a book about the difficult choices we make, and how we are compelled to live with them. A masterpiece.

He Could Write a Good Novel..........2006-10-14

...if only he held himself to a higher standard. As it is, early success seems to have satisfied his artistic urges. He writes what he knows a certain number of readers will buy, not what he needs to write because he cares about it. A high-toned hack, in short. But... he does have amazing powers of invention, better displayed in The Unconsoled than in Orphans. As noted by others, his style is curiously stiff. Are we SUPPOSED to get the impression of an academic translation from a "watakushi no shoosetsu" novel of late Meiji Japan? He's also a bit shoddy about details: in The Unconsoled, his references to music were flimsy jibberish. In this novel, the Japanese boy Akira speaks English with an accent, but it is definitely not a convincing Japanese accent (precisely what one might expect Ishiguro to do well). I've been told that his newest novel is a long step better; I find just enough merit in his work to keep trying and hoping.

Not Worth the Time.......2006-09-16

There are very few books where when I'm done reading them, I'm not sure what the book was even about, but this is one of them. Before reading this, I'd read "Never Let Me Go" by the same author, which I really liked. "When We Were Orphans," however, was not enjoyable at all. It's not an easy book, but I don't have a problem reading somewhat confusing books if they're well-written. This one just didn't capture my attention. The beginning was easier to follow, but it got worse and worse as it went on. I'm still open to trying another one of Kazuo Ishiguro's books, but I wouldn't recommend this one.

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Subsequent story of Ozu's film " Tokyo Story "
Subtle...Haunting...and Confusing
With good Character
Ambiguous, and not for the faint of heart
the big lie

A Pale View of Hills
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 067972267X
Release Date: 1990-09-12

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

Subsequent story of Ozu's film " Tokyo Story ".......2007-03-02

This is a story of a family: a woman, her two husbands, their daughters, her father-in-law in Nagasaki, Japan and England. Having grown up to live a married life in Nagasaki, a woman lives alone in England. She spent Japan's post-war days in very poor but honorable way. It is an old fashioned way of life in Japan; people were all social and so were she. She maintained friendly relations with all-neighbors, friends and her relatives. She spoke to even a stranger like her friends. She called her husband's father "Ogata-San", which showed her respect for him. It's also humbleness of Japanese women in the past. Their conversation evokes me an Ozu Yasujiro's film, " Tokyo Story".
This is also a story of women; Etsuko, Sachiko, Mariko, Keiko, and Niki. all of them are eccentric in various aspects : Etsuko's neighbor Sachiko is eager to leave devastated post-war Japan to start over in America; Mariko, Sachiko' s daughter is sullen, always holding cat as if it was a security blanket. Keiko, one of Etsuko's daughter committed suicide. Tediousness in words exchanged between Etsuko and Niki, her another daughter expresses their disagreement with each other. Only Etsuko behaves normally among the others. Kazuo Ishiguro set her in a story as a subsidiary character essential for the development of the plot, I think. She spoke to the others and knew their living. Sometimes she felt compassion for them and sometime she persuaded them to have second thought, but in vain. Whether in Japan in the past or nowadays in England, she has had no fellow to evoke a sympathetic response from. She is always lonely. It casts a tinge of somberness on this story.

Subtle...Haunting...and Confusing.......2007-03-01

I turned to A Pale View of Hills almost immediately after finishing The Remains of the Day, which I loved. This one was good too, but not quite as satisfying. I think the main difference was that it was far more difficult to wrap my head around this one. Don't get me wrong: I read plenty of difficult books, and a challenging read doesn't bother me. The weird thing about this one, though, is that I didn't realize just how difficult it was until I was about three-fourths of the way through. Up until that point I would have called the book something like "subtle and haunting." But then I ran into this massive twist that made me doubt my entire interpretation of the book to that point. Were Sachiko and Mariko really the narrator's neighbors, viewed through the "pale" lense of memory, so that remembered experiences became confused and conflated? Or were they imaginary inversions of the narrator and her daughter, created by the narrator to help her deal with death and loss? And what about the ghost that Mariko kept seeing? Who was she? Was she real or imagined?

All of these questions kept me reading, kept pushing me forward...but then the book just kind of ended. I felt like the last chapter flew right over my head, and from reading through some of the reviews here it seems that others were left with the same feeling. I would definitely say that this is a worthwhile book, but at times the delicacy of the story-telling leads to large doses of ambiguity...and maybe that's the point. But despite some of my confusion, there were plenty of worthwhile themes that I found readily accessible...plenty of pain and guilt and fear and regret, along with an exploration of cultural and generational differences. In the final analysis I think "subtle and haunting" still describes A Pale View of Hills fairly well, but I would also add "difficult" and perhaps "downright confusing" to the list of apt adjectives. I have a feeling a second reading, knowing what I know now, would do a lot to help me unravel what happened at the end. I imagine I'll probably give it another go at some point in the future, and at any rate I'm still eager to read more by this author.

With good Character .......2006-12-24

The unreliable narrator builds the suspense. Metaphors are beautifully composed--the ground, the rope, the location of the house, the helpless animals, the binoculars, the child who knows too much and speaks in sullen, slightly hostile, vagueness...and the presence of light, men, darkness.

This novel twists and turns and leaves the reader breathless, unsure, and totally convinced, but never really sure what happened.

A delight to read. Horrifying and chilling. You won't want to put it down.

Ambiguous, and not for the faint of heart.......2006-12-07

Having read 4 or 5 other Ishiguro books, and with the goal of reading all his novels, I just finished reading this one last night.

This story of a woman, her life, her families, and her homes is disturbing and mysterious on many levels. Unlike his later books, Ishiguro does not cleanly unveil a single story here. Rather he raises the themes of the disintegration of social fabric after the Nagasaki bombing, the transformation of Japanese culture to a more western attitude, mother-daughter relations, and social climbing through a series of incidents that combine the actual story with distortions and failures in memory of the narrator Etsuko/Sachiko.

The power of the book is in the stark unfairness of Etsuko's actions, their inevitability, and that they probably happened a hundredfold in Japan in the 40s and 50s.

Personally, I found the obscureness of the underlying plot a bit thick. Even reviewing 5 or 6 commentaries on the book online this morning, I didn't get to the bottom of it, and can see some and perhaps all of the commentators I found are even more confused. Probably Ishiguro knew he was leaving ambiguity and loose ends, in fact in one interview he said as much. For example, I suspect a sinister interpretation of the "rope" Mariko referred to 2 or 3 times, but found little clarity online. But the power of the book is clear, this is my favorite of Ishiguro's books.

the big lie.......2005-12-02

Kazuo Ishiguro's "A Pale View of Hills," his first novel, is a devastating, breathtaking work of structural genius. Hence, it is a story that you have to pay extremely close attention to if you want to work out the mystery at its heart, and once you finish you'll likely want to read it a second time. Ishiguro has long been considered one of the great contemporary practitioners of the "unreliable narrator" technique. His narrator here is Etsuko, an older Japanese woman who has, many years before, immigrated to Britain. Through the course of the novel she reminisces about her time as a young wife and mother-to-be in post-WWII Hiroshima. On the surface Etsuko is the ideal traditional, timid, submissive Japanese wife. But pay close attention to everything she says--she's a monstrous liar, and not until the very end do all the puzzle pieces she's been trying to keep hidden suddenly come crashing in on you.

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"We, at least, acted on what we believed and did our utmost"
worth reading
Book about ghosts from the past and catharsis
Hmmm
Insightful look into Japanese post-war relationships

An Artist of the Floating World
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Pale View of Hills
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ASIN: 0679722661
Release Date: 1989-09-19

Amazon.com

In An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro offers readers of the English language an authentic look at postwar Japan, "a floating world" of changing cultural behaviors, shifting societal patterns and troubling questions. Ishiguro, who was born in Nagasaki in 1954 but moved to England in 1960, writes the story of Masuji Ono, a bohemian artist and purveyor of the night life who became a propagandist for Japanese imperialism during the war. But the war is over. Japan lost, Ono's wife and son have been killed, and many young people blame the imperialists for leading the country to disaster. What's left for Ono? Ishiguro's treatment of this story earned a 1986 Whitbread Prize.

Book 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.

Customer Reviews:

"We, at least, acted on what we believed and did our utmost".......2007-05-31

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. He was awarded the OBE in 1995 and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998. "An Artist of the Floating World" is his second novel, was first published in 1986 and won that year's Whitbread Prize.

"An Artist of the Floating World" opens in October 1948, and is set in post-World War II Japan. The story is told by Masuji Ono, a retired artist and - once - a man of some influence and renown. His wife and son died during the war, though both his daughters survived - one is married, with a son, while Ono is conducting negotiations for his other's marraige. Over the course of the book, Ono looks back over his life and tries to deal with how his home city and the attitudes of the people around him are changing. His own career began on the workshop of Mister Moriyama, before he moved to the studio of Master Takeda - one who favoured painting the 'floating world', as the pleasure districts were known. Finally, Ono worked with Chishu Matsuda in producing artistic propoganda - which led to his position of influence leading up to and during the war. Now, in the post-war years, he notices how his own once great reputation has faltered and how attitudes towards him and his paintings have changed. There are many, for example, from the younger generations who hold him at least partly responsible for Japan's misguided foreign policy.These changes in attitude are being mirrored by the physical changes of the city. With the post-war rebuilding, whole districts are now becoming unrecognizable - Ono's own favourite 'pleasure district' is changing in this way. These changes in attitude and in the city lead Ono to look back over his life and try to come to terms with how he has lived it.

"An Artist of the Floating World" was an excellent book, though a little sad in places. Ono himself seems a somewhat sad at how his home city is changing - partly due to the damage caused by the war, partly in the name of 'progress'. In fact, I couldn't help feeling a little sad at the loss of Ono's 'pleasure district' myself. Ono, on the other hand, doesn't quite change enough : he acknowledges his role to a point, though doesn't show any real sorrow for how things turned out. There were one or two points I'd have liked more information on - particularly his relationship with an ex-pupil called Kuroda. I'm not too surprised, however, that Ono avoided this topic as much as possible, though. For Ono to have dwelt on that topic may have caused him to discover something about himself he didn't like.

worth reading.......2007-01-06

One of my favorite writers. This book was full of digressions so sometimes hard to know where it was going but it is worth the read. It touches on Japan history (WWII) and insights the culture and art.

Book about ghosts from the past and catharsis.......2006-08-18

Kazuo Ishiguro is definitively one of my favorite contemporary writers and this novel is surely reminding me why? "An Artist of the Floating World" is first Ishiguro's novel that I've read which is settled in Japan and it brings such a fabulous picture of so many aspects of Japan society, tradition, culture and at the end, evolution. But more than anything it brings such a perfect picture of Japanese character. Magnificent indeed!

Lessons about Japanese role in WWII in school were inferior comparing with European part in all that and therefore my knowledge about this issue was not impressive at all. I knew only general, basic things and to be honest I never thought about how one Japanese (aggressor) looks on WW? Here we "can" see how art can be used in politic purposes and then how can ones handle with guilt and errors from the past. Book is no longer in my possession and therefore I cannot write quote from dialog of two old men but it's something like this:" At least we have thought that we are doing right thing and we've done the best we could do" Yes, but aren't we all doing things because we think they're right? I don't know, maybe I cannot swallow this excuse that easy because I've heard the same sentence too many times right here in my own backyard from many sides when battlefield has become only common field once again.

The strangest thing is the fact that no matter where crime is committed the basic goal, the basic idea and therefore the ultimate excuse are universal. Unfortunately conciseness, admitting errors and self punishment; undergo catharsis is everything but universal. Instead of those we have more and more excuses and at the end the worst thing: justifying crime by another crime ... and here we go again ... But in Ishiguro's book, catharsis is so normal that the reader as well as characters is experiencing it. That positive energy of youngsters in the book is magnificent which is what impressed me the most.
How youngsters are looking into the future and build that future with such an enthusiasm. During that physical transformation of the cities much more impressive is that metal one. Oh we here have so many things to learn from Japanese.

Also cultural difference is breathtaking. Marriage custom, way of conversation between family members or student and teacher even the manner of behaving to someone who you hate is so ... well I guess: Japanese *lol*

Hmmm.......2006-07-31

Both of Ishiguro's novels set in Japan are lovely pieces, but for some reason I can't connect with the stories, including, of course, this one. It could be cultural; it could be simply that I'm not ready. I adore all his other work; as a writer myself, I study his narrative voice for its sterling quality. But this is one I would recommend with reservations. I will come back to this eventually and I would wager I will love it.

Insightful look into Japanese post-war relationships.......2006-07-26

This is a nice story about an artist and his relationships with friends, his daughters, old colleagues and grandson after WWII has ended. It is an interesting insight into the mind of someone who was active politicially in imperial Japan who then had to look back on his actions objectively and make apologies for it post war.

The characters are interesting and realistically complex and their interactions are very authentic in how Japanese people relate to each other within and outside of the family.

Anyone living in Japan or who is interested in relating to Japanese people would benefit from the insights gained by reading this book. Having said that, even if you don't have any connection to Japan or Japanese people, I think one of the main themes of personal forgiveness can speak to you on another level as well as many of us are conflicted about things we have done in the past and how to move on with our lives once it has become clear that we had made bad choices.

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Once you understand the underlying premise...
Cautionary tale to those who are selfish
Books, Fiction
The Unconsoled. A Dream
Dementia Is Surreal

Unconsoled, The
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A Pale View of Hills
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ASIN: 0679404252
Release Date: 1995-10-03

Book Description

From the universally acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day comes a mesmerizing novel of completely unexpected mood and matter--a seamless, fictional universe, both wholly unrecognizable and familiar. When the public, day-to-day reality of a renowned pianist takes on a life of its own, he finds himself traversing landscapes that are by turns eerie, comical, and strangely malleable.

Customer Reviews:

Once you understand the underlying premise..........2007-06-08

...then The Unconsoled becomes perfectly understandable. I was surprised that some reviewers did not understand the immensely virtuosic feat this book represents. I don't want to ruin the book for prospective readers, but if you trust that we have ALL experienced the logic that is the armature of The Unconsoled, you'll become as fascinated by it as I did.

Cautionary tale to those who are selfish.......2007-06-01

Without spoiling the book, I will just say this: it is a cautionary tale for those who are selfish - for those who have no time for anyone else but themselves. Read the first chapter over and over until you can see where Ryder is and why the narrative reads like a bad dream...

Books, Fiction.......2007-05-26

Book is old and pages were yellowish.....arrived in good condition and quickly. Book is very wordy and at times more conversation than I wanted.

The Unconsoled. A Dream.......2007-03-23

First of all I must confess I am a fan of Ishiguro -the writer. I enjoyed all his books (although I still have to read the first two ones), and this one more than the others. The Unconsoled is a dream. Only in a dream you can: go to distant places and times by just crossing a door; see what people inside are doing, and hear what they talking about, from the seat of your car parked a hundred meters away outside; talk to someone that is also you, just much younger or much older...come across grown-up childhood and college friends in improbable places and situations. And what about collapsing a lifetime and the world to just a few days and one city ? Ishiguro's character Ryder experiences all this, and also does the reader, without any sense of discontinuity, which would have compromised beauty. The Unconsoled is a dream translated to words, with all the pain, humor, improbability, and arbitrariness of dreams. I highly recommend this book to all those people who are permanently examining who they are, to those who are always asking themselves "do I really belong here?", who find themselves asking one and again "how come things are the way they are?", to those with melancholy views of their childhood and youth and/or skeptical views of their old-age and thus cannot fully live in the present, ...in a few words I recommend this book to the dreamers and the unconsoled, to the readers of Kafka, Borges, Calvino, Maupassant.

Dementia Is Surreal.......2007-02-03

It's a pretty good indication that I'm not enjoying a book when it takes me 9 days to read the last 100 pages, even taking into account a desire to savor (when I'm lucky) the wondrous synthesis of ideas as the author draws the storyline to a close.

Perhaps it is unwise to read reviews that others have written about a book before you write your own. What I noticed was that The Unconsoled was frequently described as Kafka-esque, or surreal. I am embarrassed to admit to the world (perhaps I don't have any readers) that I have never read anything by Kafka and didn't see the movie with Jeremy Irons. But I have watched Joe's Apartment and Being John Malkovich, and I was a huge fan of Twin Peaks, so I think I have a grasp of the terminology. And, yes, I suppose it is accurate to say that The Unconsoled is surreal.

A large part of this derives from Ishiguro's bending of space throughout the novel. Places that seem far removed from one another turn out to be easily accessed through a series of narrow passages or underground tunnels, much like I imagine mazelike corriders beneath DisneyWorld (itself a rather surreal space). While a number of reviewers use this feature to bolster their argument that the novel represents a dream, it most reminded me of how individuals suffering from dementia attempt to rationalize their disorientation.

Once I made this connection, I read the remainder of the book in the context of Ryder (a concert pianist called to an unnamed Eastern European city to assist with an artistic crisis) as an individual with dementia. He is, like those suffering from dementia, apathetic toward others and seemingly unconcerned by how his behavior might affect them. A diagnosis of dementia would also explain his abilities to know what people are thinking and what has occurred before he enters a room. He is delusional. But his delusions serve a functional purpose in that they help him fill in the blanks of his increasingly porous memory. Ryder displays other symptoms of dementia, including a lack of attention to personal appearance (he attends a number of functions in his dressing gown), impaired judgment (he leaves his son alone for hours at a cafe), disrupted sleep cycle, attentional deficits, and impulsivity.

I saw the novel as actually taking place in a long-term care facility. Ryder just doesn't where he is. And since he is the narrator, neither does the reader. He doesn't initially recognize his family. Iindeed, he frequently refers to himself as an outsider and uses this self description as an excuse for both his lack of recognition of those who know him and his distant behavior. People he knew growing up England keep making appearances which would be unlikely if he actually were visiting an unfamiliar city.

Following this logic, characters like Gustav (an elderly porter at the hotel who is also his wife's father) and Stephan (the hotel manager's son and a aspiring pianist himself) can be viewed as fellow residents in the institution, while Miss Collins (the resident therapist) and Mr. Hoffman (the hotel manager) are members of the staff.

While my interpretation of the novel appealed to me more than that of other reviewers, I just didn't care what happened in the end. Jim Crace has said that all of his novels are metaphors for life in Birmingham, England, but I also find their facades beautiful and intricate and pleasurable. The metaphor isn't necessary to the enjoyment or understanding of the story. I honestly didn't like The Unconsoled until I came upon a metaphor that made the novel work for me, and by then I was so exhausted by it that I had no inclination to start over from the beginning to see if this insight would increase my enjoyment.

But then maybe I have no appreciation of the role of art in society. As Ryder has warned me, "One should not, in any case, attempt to make a virtue out of one's limitations" (p. 201). After all, this book was short-listed for the Whitbread Novel Award and won the Cheltenham Prize when it was published in 1995.

For more of my book reviews, look for by Blogger blog, Shifting to the Godzone

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never let me go

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Slow Man
On Beauty
March

ASIN: 0571224113

Customer Reviews:

never let me go.......2006-03-26

I wondered what Ishiguro was trying to tell us with his "Never let me go". It seems we live in a world where decisions are made without regard to human compassion and we are all human, right? "Never let me go" seems to explore the basic instincts of attachments between people and these attachments assist us in realising who we are. But why are we here? You quickly begin to realise with characters surnames existing of letters only that the main characters are making up numbers, are they people?
Kathy H is a carer of donors. Donors who complete usually by their third or fourth donation. Kathy H and Tommy D have an attachment but Tommy D is resigned to his fate and Kathy H accepts.
The complexity of the relationships between Ruth, Kathy and Tommy make them every bit human but Kathy's honest about her own feelings seems to enable her to be more compassionate and hence a better carer.
I see Ishiguro's book as a fairytale at an adult level with the usual characters of the wicked witch, the princess and her prince.

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Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro (
Manufacturer: Alfred a Knopf Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Housekeeping: A Novel

ASIN: 0739457950

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A Sad Story.

Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Manufacturer: Books On Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1415916292

Customer Reviews:

A Sad Story........2007-01-04

This novel is about young people who are called special and they are all Hailsham students. Hailsham is some sort of an orphanage because the students don't have any family. They are clones and were created to donate organs to cure 'normal' people. Their life span is about 30 years and yet they get an education at Hailsham as if they were destined to a fulfilling live as intellectuals.

It's rumored among the students of Hailsham that when a boy and a girl love each other sincerely, they are allowed to have two years for themselves before the final stage of their short life. The two main characters find the person who can give the permission but she says that it was only a rumor, nothing more. This makes me angry and sad. Something you and I take for granted are not allowed to this persons and the fact that they are 'special' becomes an empty phrase. They were never given a fair chance to lead their own lives.

What is the meaning of this novel? I said that they were never given a fair change to lead their own lives but are we able to do so? We have or loved ones to take care of, we live in a troublesome society and we are easily destroyed by incurable diseases. Is our live better or easier? I believe that in the end, Kazuo Ishiguro has written a symbolic novel about the fragility of our lives regardless of what or who we are.

Authors:

Authors

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