Not natural Kazuo Ishiguro territory, 03 Dec 2008
I read and loved "An Artist of the Floating World", so i thought I'd try another Kazuo Ishiguro. I was disappointed by this book, as the territory has been explored elsewhere ("Parts: The Clonus Horror", or "The Island", anyone?). I guessed the twists very early and was surprised at how clumsily they were delivered, which left me with the general style of the book.

Some reviewers in other media have commented that the author's distant style is a reflection of the restless detachment the characters feel from life, even during intense love. This seems like a poor excuse for using exactly the same style as in "Floating World" in a totally diffent setting. The characters all seem totally passive and very hard to believe. The odd three way romance at the end seems like a messy conclusion to an imperfect book.

Kazuo Ishiguro's skill seems to be in exploring quiet emotions over very short periods of time, especially nostalgia and regret. This was a brave experiment with controversial material in a foreign setting. Although it was critically well received and successful I found it tiresome. It gets two stars instead of one as it did leave me with a sense of the futility of the whole human experience, although I'm not certain this was intended.

Written from a unique perspective, 07 Nov 2008
The way the novel is written is deliberately stunted in order to build up the contrast in the reader's emotional response to what happens in the final chapter to that of the narrator Kathy. This makes for a tough journey in getting to that point but I believed it to be worth the effort.

Good imagination required, 13 Oct 2008
In order to fully appreciate this book, you need a good imagination. The general idea is excellent and i can really see what the author is driving at, however, it left me feeling frustrated and, i'm ashamed to say, rather bored. The story is very understated and is told through the eyes of 31 year old Kathy, a carer in a dystopian England. I was left feeling hungry for more information rather than just glimpses into the world they were living in. I never really got a sense of the horror that they faced, however, i do appreciate that they had a true acceptance of their fate and saw it as completley normal which i guess adds to the darkness of the book. On the whole, the idea was superb but the narrative was boring at times and quite repetitive. I didn't warm to any of the characters particularly and was left feeling quite empty at the end. As i said a good imagination is a must!!

A strange, disappointing read, 31 Aug 2008
This is a strange book. The plot unfolds very slowly - in places, too slowly - at first with hints, then with a little more; tasters of what's to come. And yet in the end, I felt there were too many unanaswered quesitons, and I felt cheated. The characters are two-dimensional and never really come alive. For me, a good novel has to have 3 main ingredients. It has to have at least one really sympathetic character, it should be well-written, and it must hold my attention. The best this novel did for me was to hold my attention, but only because I wanted explanations and answers, and in the end these were not forthcoming.

Adding my voice to the sound of disappointment..., 25 Aug 2008
I was excited to see this work by Kazuo Ishiguro, having read a good number of his previous novels and enjoyed them. Unfortunately, "Never Let Me Go" falls short of Ishiguro's usual high standard.

Whilst the premise of the story has great potential, the plot lacks pace and the delivery struggles to hold (my) the reader's interest. Who is the intended audience? I wonder. Not seasoned adult readers, surely.

I found "Never Let Me Go" a slow, tedious read, and while I did find myself wanting to discover if there were indeed any dark mystery, I resorted to speed reading to reach the end - a sure sign, for me, of a certain lack of quality.

Sorry to say, when there are so many spectacular reads out there, and so little time, this one gets a thumbs down from me.

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, beautifully crafted novel-- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.

Not natural Kazuo Ishiguro territory, 03 Dec 2008
I read and loved "An Artist of the Floating World", so i thought I'd try another Kazuo Ishiguro. I was disappointed by this book, as the territory has been explored elsewhere ("Parts: The Clonus Horror", or "The Island", anyone?). I guessed the twists very early and was surprised at how clumsily they were delivered, which left me with the general style of the book.

Some reviewers in other media have commented that the author's distant style is a reflection of the restless detachment the characters feel from life, even during intense love. This seems like a poor excuse for using exactly the same style as in "Floating World" in a totally diffent setting. The characters all seem totally passive and very hard to believe. The odd three way romance at the end seems like a messy conclusion to an imperfect book.

Kazuo Ishiguro's skill seems to be in exploring quiet emotions over very short periods of time, especially nostalgia and regret. This was a brave experiment with controversial material in a foreign setting. Although it was critically well received and successful I found it tiresome. It gets two stars instead of one as it did leave me with a sense of the futility of the whole human experience, although I'm not certain this was intended.

Written from a unique perspective, 07 Nov 2008
The way the novel is written is deliberately stunted in order to build up the contrast in the reader's emotional response to what happens in the final chapter to that of the narrator Kathy. This makes for a tough journey in getting to that point but I believed it to be worth the effort.

Good imagination required, 13 Oct 2008
In order to fully appreciate this book, you need a good imagination. The general idea is excellent and i can really see what the author is driving at, however, it left me feeling frustrated and, i'm ashamed to say, rather bored. The story is very understated and is told through the eyes of 31 year old Kathy, a carer in a dystopian England. I was left feeling hungry for more information rather than just glimpses into the world they were living in. I never really got a sense of the horror that they faced, however, i do appreciate that they had a true acceptance of their fate and saw it as completley normal which i guess adds to the darkness of the book. On the whole, the idea was superb but the narrative was boring at times and quite repetitive. I didn't warm to any of the characters particularly and was left feeling quite empty at the end. As i said a good imagination is a must!!

A strange, disappointing read, 31 Aug 2008
This is a strange book. The plot unfolds very slowly - in places, too slowly - at first with hints, then with a little more; tasters of what's to come. And yet in the end, I felt there were too many unanaswered quesitons, and I felt cheated. The characters are two-dimensional and never really come alive. For me, a good novel has to have 3 main ingredients. It has to have at least one really sympathetic character, it should be well-written, and it must hold my attention. The best this novel did for me was to hold my attention, but only because I wanted explanations and answers, and in the end these were not forthcoming.

Adding my voice to the sound of disappointment..., 25 Aug 2008
I was excited to see this work by Kazuo Ishiguro, having read a good number of his previous novels and enjoyed them. Unfortunately, "Never Let Me Go" falls short of Ishiguro's usual high standard.

Whilst the premise of the story has great potential, the plot lacks pace and the delivery struggles to hold (my) the reader's interest. Who is the intended audience? I wonder. Not seasoned adult readers, surely.

I found "Never Let Me Go" a slow, tedious read, and while I did find myself wanting to discover if there were indeed any dark mystery, I resorted to speed reading to reach the end - a sure sign, for me, of a certain lack of quality.

Sorry to say, when there are so many spectacular reads out there, and so little time, this one gets a thumbs down from me.

One Of The Greatest Novels In British Literature.., 10 Nov 2008
Many of the best novels have essential qualities, they are thrilling, moving, highly readable and beautifully written. However, while The Remains of the day has ALL of the above, theres one major quailty that really made this novel resonate and touch me like no other book i have ever read. That quality is that this book allows you to re-evaulate your own life. It gives you a new perspective of life, and choices we make, and ultimately teaches us to follow our hearts and by what we feel its right. So that by the end of our days we can look back and not regret making such tragic choices as Stevens does. This book has truly touched me and moved me like no other. Althought the movie adaptation was terrific, you have to read this book to truly get a grasp of the genius this book is. In an era where the word 'Masterpiece', is so easily thrown about, The Remains of The Day, is truly and deservedly a MASTERPIECE.

Brilliant, 15 Oct 2008
I bought this book after seeing the film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Most unusually the film is as good as the book and they're both brilliant. Strictly speaking not a great deal happens in the story but there are tremendous under-currents going on all the way through which hold your attention. This is probably the best book I've read this year.

Beautifully written, 01 Oct 2008
I loved this absolutely beautifully written book and read it in one sitting. Narrated by an English butler, Mr Stevens (we never know his first name), it is a truly moving tale. From the day he sets off on his journey, the story captivates you until the final pages. I loved his definitions of the word 'dignity' and I would thoroughly recommend this as an excellent, enthralling read of times gone by. I wished it had been longer! It won the Booker prize and for once, you can see why.

Faultless, 25 Sep 2008
In short, yes! To all the articulately phrased 5 star reviews above. The Remains of the Day is one of the 20th century's great books. Absolutely essential on the bookshelf. A great gift. Utterly beautiful and clever and sly and absorbing. 5 stars aren't really enough. (Does this volume control go to 11?)

My favourite book of all time, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book on a long plane journey back from Hong Kong when I was 18. Though I had been in Asia for 9 months, I was immediately thrust back into the pre-world war II of gentrified England; stultified, polite and controlled. It astounds me how Japanese-born Ishiguro creates so well the character of Stevens, the middle-aged painfully correct and repressed butler. You bleed for him as his own inhibitions hold him back from criticising his master and accepting he is in love.

One of the final scenes in Weymouth makes me cry everytime. It is Stevens realisation of all he has loved and lost and nothing I have read since has ever been able to compare to that bitter-sweet tang of understanding that it is too late to try again.

Absolutely masterful.

In An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro offers readers of the English language an authentic look at post-war Japan, "a floating world" of changing cultural behaviours, 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 nightlife 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.

Not natural Kazuo Ishiguro territory, 03 Dec 2008
I read and loved "An Artist of the Floating World", so i thought I'd try another Kazuo Ishiguro. I was disappointed by this book, as the territory has been explored elsewhere ("Parts: The Clonus Horror", or "The Island", anyone?). I guessed the twists very early and was surprised at how clumsily they were delivered, which left me with the general style of the book.

Some reviewers in other media have commented that the author's distant style is a reflection of the restless detachment the characters feel from life, even during intense love. This seems like a poor excuse for using exactly the same style as in "Floating World" in a totally diffent setting. The characters all seem totally passive and very hard to believe. The odd three way romance at the end seems like a messy conclusion to an imperfect book.

Kazuo Ishiguro's skill seems to be in exploring quiet emotions over very short periods of time, especially nostalgia and regret. This was a brave experiment with controversial material in a foreign setting. Although it was critically well received and successful I found it tiresome. It gets two stars instead of one as it did leave me with a sense of the futility of the whole human experience, although I'm not certain this was intended.

Written from a unique perspective, 07 Nov 2008
The way the novel is written is deliberately stunted in order to build up the contrast in the reader's emotional response to what happens in the final chapter to that of the narrator Kathy. This makes for a tough journey in getting to that point but I believed it to be worth the effort.

Good imagination required, 13 Oct 2008
In order to fully appreciate this book, you need a good imagination. The general idea is excellent and i can really see what the author is driving at, however, it left me feeling frustrated and, i'm ashamed to say, rather bored. The story is very understated and is told through the eyes of 31 year old Kathy, a carer in a dystopian England. I was left feeling hungry for more information rather than just glimpses into the world they were living in. I never really got a sense of the horror that they faced, however, i do appreciate that they had a true acceptance of their fate and saw it as completley normal which i guess adds to the darkness of the book. On the whole, the idea was superb but the narrative was boring at times and quite repetitive. I didn't warm to any of the characters particularly and was left feeling quite empty at the end. As i said a good imagination is a must!!

A strange, disappointing read, 31 Aug 2008
This is a strange book. The plot unfolds very slowly - in places, too slowly - at first with hints, then with a little more; tasters of what's to come. And yet in the end, I felt there were too many unanaswered quesitons, and I felt cheated. The characters are two-dimensional and never really come alive. For me, a good novel has to have 3 main ingredients. It has to have at least one really sympathetic character, it should be well-written, and it must hold my attention. The best this novel did for me was to hold my attention, but only because I wanted explanations and answers, and in the end these were not forthcoming.

Adding my voice to the sound of disappointment..., 25 Aug 2008
I was excited to see this work by Kazuo Ishiguro, having read a good number of his previous novels and enjoyed them. Unfortunately, "Never Let Me Go" falls short of Ishiguro's usual high standard.

Whilst the premise of the story has great potential, the plot lacks pace and the delivery struggles to hold (my) the reader's interest. Who is the intended audience? I wonder. Not seasoned adult readers, surely.

I found "Never Let Me Go" a slow, tedious read, and while I did find myself wanting to discover if there were indeed any dark mystery, I resorted to speed reading to reach the end - a sure sign, for me, of a certain lack of quality.

Sorry to say, when there are so many spectacular reads out there, and so little time, this one gets a thumbs down from me.

One Of The Greatest Novels In British Literature.., 10 Nov 2008
Many of the best novels have essential qualities, they are thrilling, moving, highly readable and beautifully written. However, while The Remains of the day has ALL of the above, theres one major quailty that really made this novel resonate and touch me like no other book i have ever read. That quality is that this book allows you to re-evaulate your own life. It gives you a new perspective of life, and choices we make, and ultimately teaches us to follow our hearts and by what we feel its right. So that by the end of our days we can look back and not regret making such tragic choices as Stevens does. This book has truly touched me and moved me like no other. Althought the movie adaptation was terrific, you have to read this book to truly get a grasp of the genius this book is. In an era where the word 'Masterpiece', is so easily thrown about, The Remains of The Day, is truly and deservedly a MASTERPIECE.

Brilliant, 15 Oct 2008
I bought this book after seeing the film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Most unusually the film is as good as the book and they're both brilliant. Strictly speaking not a great deal happens in the story but there are tremendous under-currents going on all the way through which hold your attention. This is probably the best book I've read this year.

Beautifully written, 01 Oct 2008
I loved this absolutely beautifully written book and read it in one sitting. Narrated by an English butler, Mr Stevens (we never know his first name), it is a truly moving tale. From the day he sets off on his journey, the story captivates you until the final pages. I loved his definitions of the word 'dignity' and I would thoroughly recommend this as an excellent, enthralling read of times gone by. I wished it had been longer! It won the Booker prize and for once, you can see why.

Faultless, 25 Sep 2008
In short, yes! To all the articulately phrased 5 star reviews above. The Remains of the Day is one of the 20th century's great books. Absolutely essential on the bookshelf. A great gift. Utterly beautiful and clever and sly and absorbing. 5 stars aren't really enough. (Does this volume control go to 11?)

My favourite book of all time, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book on a long plane journey back from Hong Kong when I was 18. Though I had been in Asia for 9 months, I was immediately thrust back into the pre-world war II of gentrified England; stultified, polite and controlled. It astounds me how Japanese-born Ishiguro creates so well the character of Stevens, the middle-aged painfully correct and repressed butler. You bleed for him as his own inhibitions hold him back from criticising his master and accepting he is in love.

One of the final scenes in Weymouth makes me cry everytime. It is Stevens realisation of all he has loved and lost and nothing I have read since has ever been able to compare to that bitter-sweet tang of understanding that it is too late to try again.

Absolutely masterful.

Subtle and elegant, 25 Jun 2008
Written in Ishiguro's trademark style, this is an elegant, understated and subtle novel. Narrated in a somewhat rambling and not always reliable way by an elderly artist, this is the story of a society rebuilding itself after the horrors of war. The narrator, a former propagandist for Japan during World War II, must come to terms with his own sense of guilt and try to make sense of the sweeping changes brought in by a new generation.

Ishiguro captures the essence of Japan well, and does a good job of conveying the underlying values and social niceties of a society very different from the modern western one. The narrator is a well constructed character - realistic and far from perfect, and throughout the book the reader comes to sympathise with him to some degree. The other characters, particularly his disapproving daughters and lively grandson, are very believable and I enjoyed reading their interaction.

At times the meandering, rambling nature of the narration can get irritating, but apart from that this is a well constructed, fascinating novel.

A Japanese 'Remains of the Day', 30 Jul 2007
`An Artist of the Floating World' is basically the Japanese version of Ishiguro's Booker winning novel `The Remains of the Day'. As in The Remains of the Day the narrator is an unreliable witness with the shadow of pre-war culpability looming over his head. And as with The Remains of the Day the quiet individual has been drawn into the political events which transformed the world. Now retired, Masuki Ono passes his days in quiet seclusion, awaiting visits from his two daughters. He is a widower living alone, his wife and son having been killed during the war. But now it is 1948 and Japan is changing, collective guilt has seized the Japanese psyche, officials in the old regime are committing suicide and a new generation is emerging.

But as Ono works to finalise the marriage of his youngest daughter the issue of his pre-war allegiances arise and he is forced to come to terms with his responsibility for the militarist direction the 1930's took.

The question arises: what is the role of an artist in the wider political arena? Should the artist live solely for the reproduction of beauty, existing solely in a floating world divorced from society at large? Or should he become a conduit for change, a leader of public opinion? In the modern world where every rock star/artist/writer is expected to produce politically conscious work this is a valid and fascinating question.

An Artist of the Floating World produces a beautiful mirage, something like a Monet painting, with ideas and flawed characters flowing together in a silent, uneventful and almost heartbreaking novel. If you liked Remains of the Day then you will love this. It is absolutely fascinating to see the cultural comparisons between two such reserved societies on the verge of change. Kazuo Ishiguro is a rare gem of a writer and his earliest work is the most sparse of his career, he is a master of understatement, so I shall take a leaf out of his book and say nothing more. I enjoyed this book, you may too.

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

A Brilliant Journey, 22 Mar 2007
This novel doesn't have an obvious plotline but instead effortlessly follows the trail of recollections in an old man's mind. This is a beautiful book giving an insight into pre and post-war Japonese society. It explores the views of both the "old" and "new" generations and highlights the complex and delicate social interactions that seem so alien to the modern, Western world.

A must read!

Art and artists, 16 May 2006
'An artist's concern is to capture beauty ... But however skilfully he may come to this, he will have little influence. It seems to be founded on a na?ve mistake about what art can do and cannot do.'
This statement of the main character in this book is also na?ve. The artist is also a member of the community he lives in and he can use or not use the 'little' influence he has.
As his father said: 'Artists inhabit a world which gives them every temptation to become weak-willed and depreaved.'
Another voice adds: 'Artists are on the whole an astonishingly decadent crowd often with no more than a child's knowledge of the affairs of this world.'

The main character in this book 'betrays' his profession by producing work that is 'unflinchingly loyal to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
His talent is abused by those who wish to found a military dictatorship: 'Then the military will be answerable only to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
He even becomes an official advisor to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities and denounces na?vely ('a talking-to for his own good') one of his pupils, who, being unpatriotic, is arrested and tortured.
But, unlike other war criminals, the painter ultimately admits his responsibility: 'I too was a man of some influence, who used that influence towards a disastrous end. Brave young men died for stupid reasons, but the real culprits are still with us. Artists are the only ones who care now, not army officers, politicians or businessman.'

Kazuo Ishiguro wrote a penetrating meditation about the influence of art on a floating world, but also about the human role of the artist in a floating world.
With his indirect, suggestive, restrained floating scenes and sentences the author produced a masterpiece.

Not to be missed.

Not natural Kazuo Ishiguro territory, 03 Dec 2008
I read and loved "An Artist of the Floating World", so i thought I'd try another Kazuo Ishiguro. I was disappointed by this book, as the territory has been explored elsewhere ("Parts: The Clonus Horror", or "The Island", anyone?). I guessed the twists very early and was surprised at how clumsily they were delivered, which left me with the general style of the book.

Some reviewers in other media have commented that the author's distant style is a reflection of the restless detachment the characters feel from life, even during intense love. This seems like a poor excuse for using exactly the same style as in "Floating World" in a totally diffent setting. The characters all seem totally passive and very hard to believe. The odd three way romance at the end seems like a messy conclusion to an imperfect book.

Kazuo Ishiguro's skill seems to be in exploring quiet emotions over very short periods of time, especially nostalgia and regret. This was a brave experiment with controversial material in a foreign setting. Although it was critically well received and successful I found it tiresome. It gets two stars instead of one as it did leave me with a sense of the futility of the whole human experience, although I'm not certain this was intended.

Written from a unique perspective, 07 Nov 2008
The way the novel is written is deliberately stunted in order to build up the contrast in the reader's emotional response to what happens in the final chapter to that of the narrator Kathy. This makes for a tough journey in getting to that point but I believed it to be worth the effort.

Good imagination required, 13 Oct 2008
In order to fully appreciate this book, you need a good imagination. The general idea is excellent and i can really see what the author is driving at, however, it left me feeling frustrated and, i'm ashamed to say, rather bored. The story is very understated and is told through the eyes of 31 year old Kathy, a carer in a dystopian England. I was left feeling hungry for more information rather than just glimpses into the world they were living in. I never really got a sense of the horror that they faced, however, i do appreciate that they had a true acceptance of their fate and saw it as completley normal which i guess adds to the darkness of the book. On the whole, the idea was superb but the narrative was boring at times and quite repetitive. I didn't warm to any of the characters particularly and was left feeling quite empty at the end. As i said a good imagination is a must!!

A strange, disappointing read, 31 Aug 2008
This is a strange book. The plot unfolds very slowly - in places, too slowly - at first with hints, then with a little more; tasters of what's to come. And yet in the end, I felt there were too many unanaswered quesitons, and I felt cheated. The characters are two-dimensional and never really come alive. For me, a good novel has to have 3 main ingredients. It has to have at least one really sympathetic character, it should be well-written, and it must hold my attention. The best this novel did for me was to hold my attention, but only because I wanted explanations and answers, and in the end these were not forthcoming.

Adding my voice to the sound of disappointment..., 25 Aug 2008
I was excited to see this work by Kazuo Ishiguro, having read a good number of his previous novels and enjoyed them. Unfortunately, "Never Let Me Go" falls short of Ishiguro's usual high standard.

Whilst the premise of the story has great potential, the plot lacks pace and the delivery struggles to hold (my) the reader's interest. Who is the intended audience? I wonder. Not seasoned adult readers, surely.

I found "Never Let Me Go" a slow, tedious read, and while I did find myself wanting to discover if there were indeed any dark mystery, I resorted to speed reading to reach the end - a sure sign, for me, of a certain lack of quality.

Sorry to say, when there are so many spectacular reads out there, and so little time, this one gets a thumbs down from me.

One Of The Greatest Novels In British Literature.., 10 Nov 2008
Many of the best novels have essential qualities, they are thrilling, moving, highly readable and beautifully written. However, while The Remains of the day has ALL of the above, theres one major quailty that really made this novel resonate and touch me like no other book i have ever read. That quality is that this book allows you to re-evaulate your own life. It gives you a new perspective of life, and choices we make, and ultimately teaches us to follow our hearts and by what we feel its right. So that by the end of our days we can look back and not regret making such tragic choices as Stevens does. This book has truly touched me and moved me like no other. Althought the movie adaptation was terrific, you have to read this book to truly get a grasp of the genius this book is. In an era where the word 'Masterpiece', is so easily thrown about, The Remains of The Day, is truly and deservedly a MASTERPIECE.

Brilliant, 15 Oct 2008
I bought this book after seeing the film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Most unusually the film is as good as the book and they're both brilliant. Strictly speaking not a great deal happens in the story but there are tremendous under-currents going on all the way through which hold your attention. This is probably the best book I've read this year.

Beautifully written, 01 Oct 2008
I loved this absolutely beautifully written book and read it in one sitting. Narrated by an English butler, Mr Stevens (we never know his first name), it is a truly moving tale. From the day he sets off on his journey, the story captivates you until the final pages. I loved his definitions of the word 'dignity' and I would thoroughly recommend this as an excellent, enthralling read of times gone by. I wished it had been longer! It won the Booker prize and for once, you can see why.

Faultless, 25 Sep 2008
In short, yes! To all the articulately phrased 5 star reviews above. The Remains of the Day is one of the 20th century's great books. Absolutely essential on the bookshelf. A great gift. Utterly beautiful and clever and sly and absorbing. 5 stars aren't really enough. (Does this volume control go to 11?)

My favourite book of all time, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book on a long plane journey back from Hong Kong when I was 18. Though I had been in Asia for 9 months, I was immediately thrust back into the pre-world war II of gentrified England; stultified, polite and controlled. It astounds me how Japanese-born Ishiguro creates so well the character of Stevens, the middle-aged painfully correct and repressed butler. You bleed for him as his own inhibitions hold him back from criticising his master and accepting he is in love.

One of the final scenes in Weymouth makes me cry everytime. It is Stevens realisation of all he has loved and lost and nothing I have read since has ever been able to compare to that bitter-sweet tang of understanding that it is too late to try again.

Absolutely masterful.

Subtle and elegant, 25 Jun 2008
Written in Ishiguro's trademark style, this is an elegant, understated and subtle novel. Narrated in a somewhat rambling and not always reliable way by an elderly artist, this is the story of a society rebuilding itself after the horrors of war. The narrator, a former propagandist for Japan during World War II, must come to terms with his own sense of guilt and try to make sense of the sweeping changes brought in by a new generation.

Ishiguro captures the essence of Japan well, and does a good job of conveying the underlying values and social niceties of a society very different from the modern western one. The narrator is a well constructed character - realistic and far from perfect, and throughout the book the reader comes to sympathise with him to some degree. The other characters, particularly his disapproving daughters and lively grandson, are very believable and I enjoyed reading their interaction.

At times the meandering, rambling nature of the narration can get irritating, but apart from that this is a well constructed, fascinating novel.

A Japanese 'Remains of the Day', 30 Jul 2007
`An Artist of the Floating World' is basically the Japanese version of Ishiguro's Booker winning novel `The Remains of the Day'. As in The Remains of the Day the narrator is an unreliable witness with the shadow of pre-war culpability looming over his head. And as with The Remains of the Day the quiet individual has been drawn into the political events which transformed the world. Now retired, Masuki Ono passes his days in quiet seclusion, awaiting visits from his two daughters. He is a widower living alone, his wife and son having been killed during the war. But now it is 1948 and Japan is changing, collective guilt has seized the Japanese psyche, officials in the old regime are committing suicide and a new generation is emerging.

But as Ono works to finalise the marriage of his youngest daughter the issue of his pre-war allegiances arise and he is forced to come to terms with his responsibility for the militarist direction the 1930's took.

The question arises: what is the role of an artist in the wider political arena? Should the artist live solely for the reproduction of beauty, existing solely in a floating world divorced from society at large? Or should he become a conduit for change, a leader of public opinion? In the modern world where every rock star/artist/writer is expected to produce politically conscious work this is a valid and fascinating question.

An Artist of the Floating World produces a beautiful mirage, something like a Monet painting, with ideas and flawed characters flowing together in a silent, uneventful and almost heartbreaking novel. If you liked Remains of the Day then you will love this. It is absolutely fascinating to see the cultural comparisons between two such reserved societies on the verge of change. Kazuo Ishiguro is a rare gem of a writer and his earliest work is the most sparse of his career, he is a master of understatement, so I shall take a leaf out of his book and say nothing more. I enjoyed this book, you may too.

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

A Brilliant Journey, 22 Mar 2007
This novel doesn't have an obvious plotline but instead effortlessly follows the trail of recollections in an old man's mind. This is a beautiful book giving an insight into pre and post-war Japonese society. It explores the views of both the "old" and "new" generations and highlights the complex and delicate social interactions that seem so alien to the modern, Western world.

A must read!

Art and artists, 16 May 2006
'An artist's concern is to capture beauty ... But however skilfully he may come to this, he will have little influence. It seems to be founded on a na?ve mistake about what art can do and cannot do.'
This statement of the main character in this book is also na?ve. The artist is also a member of the community he lives in and he can use or not use the 'little' influence he has.
As his father said: 'Artists inhabit a world which gives them every temptation to become weak-willed and depreaved.'
Another voice adds: 'Artists are on the whole an astonishingly decadent crowd often with no more than a child's knowledge of the affairs of this world.'

The main character in this book 'betrays' his profession by producing work that is 'unflinchingly loyal to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
His talent is abused by those who wish to found a military dictatorship: 'Then the military will be answerable only to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
He even becomes an official advisor to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities and denounces na?vely ('a talking-to for his own good') one of his pupils, who, being unpatriotic, is arrested and tortured.
But, unlike other war criminals, the painter ultimately admits his responsibility: 'I too was a man of some influence, who used that influence towards a disastrous end. Brave young men died for stupid reasons, but the real culprits are still with us. Artists are the only ones who care now, not army officers, politicians or businessman.'

Kazuo Ishiguro wrote a penetrating meditation about the influence of art on a floating world, but also about the human role of the artist in a floating world.
With his indirect, suggestive, restrained floating scenes and sentences the author produced a masterpiece.

Not to be missed.

It doesn't matter how old someone is, it's what they've experienced that counts, 05 Apr 2008
Under the surface of apparently harmless conversations, the author uncovers Japan's `very strict and very patriotic' old world of `discipline, loyalty, such things held Japan together once. People were bound by a sense of duty. Towards one's family, towards superiors, towards the country.'

But, in fact, it was a rigid, cold world without pity (symbolized by the merciless drowning of the kittens), where `children were taught terrible things. They were taught lies of the most damaging kind. Worst of all, they were taught not to see, not to question'. It was a world without democracy, where women could not study.

It all ended in disaster: `And that's why the country was plunged into the most evil disaster in her entire history.' A general disaster of war ('Towards the end we were all living in tunnels and derelict buildings and there was nothing but rubble') and atom bombs (`I know it was a terrible thing that happened here in Nagasaki'), and painful personal and familial disasters (suicides, even of a child).

In his brilliant indirect, but nevertheless emotional, suggestive style Kazuo Ishiguro wrote a masterpiece.


Shadows Across The River, 10 Feb 2008
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. "A Pale View of the Hills" is his first book, and he has gone on to win the Whitbread Prize (with "An Artist of the Floating World") and the Booker Prize (with "The Remains of the Day").

"A Pale View of the Hills" is told by Etsuko, a Japanese widow now living in England. Keiko, Etsuko's daughter from her first marriage, was born in Japan though had later moved to England with her mother. She later moved to Manchester, where she had recently committed suicide. Niki - her daughter from her second marriage to her English husband - currently lives in London. Niki and Keiko were never close, to the point where Niki felt she couldn't attend the funeral. Keiko, in fact, she appears to have kept herself isolated - even when living at home, she wouldn't have been seen by her family for days at a time. Part of the book deals with Etsuko's current relationship with Niki, and their attempts to come to terms with Keiko's death.

Recent events have also led to Etsuko looking back to when she was pregnant with Keiko. The war was only recently over and she was living in Nagasaki with her first husband, Jiro. The couple were living in a recently built block of apartments, close to the river - though right beside a large patch of very unhygienic wasteground. At the far end of the wasteground, on the banks of the river, was a lone wooden cottage that had somehow survived both the war and the city's planners. For a short period, during the summer, that cottage was home to a woman called Sachiko - someone Etsuko came to consider a friend. Sachiko was originally from Tokyo, though had been in Nagasaki for around a year. Until her arrival at the cottage, she had been staying at an Uncle's house in a different part of the city - though she proves a little vague as to why she left such comfortable surroundings for such a dilapidated cottage. She doesn't appear to be a caring mother either - Mariko doesn't go to school and she's regularly left without a babysitter. In fact, Mariko seems to care more for her cat and kittens than she is cared for by her mother. (Mariko does speak of a mysterious woman who apparently lives in the woods and calls round when her mother goes out - this, however, is dismissed as a figment of her imagination by Sachiko). In time, Etsuko learns a little more of her new friend's past and her plans for the future - including a life in America with a man called Frank.

The same summer, Etsuko's father-in-law came to stay. Ogata-San is a retired teacher, and he proves a likeable character. While he's not in the same position as Sachiko, he is struggling a little with how attitudes have changed in post-war Japan. Ogata-San is a little troubled by an article he stumbled across in a magazine for teachers. The article had been written by one of Jiro's former school-friend, Shiego Matsuda, and had suggested that teachers like himself should have been dismissed at the end of the war. Ogata-San is naturally offended - Matsuda had spent a great deal of time at the Ogata house as a boy, and Ogata-San himself had introduced Matsuda to his current employer. He's hoping that Jiro will insist on an apology from his old friend.

A little frustratingly, there are a few loose ends that aren't tied up - it's only really hinted at how Etsuko's first marriage came to an end and how she met her second husband, for example. I also wondered about Etsuko's father-in-law, and how he felt about her decision to leave Japan for England - the pair had clearly been very close. Nevertheless, while it's not a cheerful book, "A Pale View of the Hills" is a well worth reading.

macabre, 07 Feb 2008
I read this having never read his books before but have always loved the 'remains of the day' film version. At first I felt dissatisfied with the ending but later (a day later) it made more sense. For some reason parts of the story especially the part where a memory on the bridge is revealed made my 'hair stand on end'. Other parts were even funny but for the most part it felt eerie and sad.To me the horror lay in the presence of evil or percieved evil despite one's best intentions.

Pay Attention, 26 Mar 2007
Having read "Never Let Me Go" and "The Remains of the Day", I was expecting a novel that left me asking questions and would make me feel a little bit empty. I was not wrong.

That is not to say that Kazuo Ishigur's novels are bad. Far from it. But if you expect to put this novel down with a neat happy ending and no questions you'll be disappointed and confused.

You really need to pay attention to the novel to understand it, there are sublte hints which at first might not make much sense, but do not dismiss them out of hand.

If you're still missing the plot there's plenty of online sources out there which will explain the plot to you in a little more detail, but don't look at these until you've finished the book.

When it all falls into place I'll guarantee you'll see why this book is actually far more intelligent than it originally seems.

Quality Creative Writing, 13 Dec 2006
This, Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel, is similar at face value to his better known works The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go but, on closer inspection, is darker in tone and very different in its approach. The novel is the memoir of Etsuko, a woman who has left Japan for England after World War II. Without much in the way of explicitly narrated action, the reader is left to join the dots of her experiences, gaining insight into Japan's fractured post-war culture along the way. Unlike the narrators in the aforementioned later works, Etsuko does not naively misunderstand the importance of events in her life. On the contrary, she is a tortured character. She is all too aware of the scars she has been left with and is tentatively trying to explore where they came from.

Many readers accuse A Pale View of Hills of making no sense. It makes sense once you know that Ishiguro wrote it straight after taking an MA in Creative Writing. The reason the book is so beloved of English students is also its greatest weakness: read it meticulously enough and you can easily see the main ploys Ishiguro has used to toy with his readers. There's no need to read it twice.

The book follows a well-trodden "modern" path, exploring the unreliable mind of a narrator for whom past trauma leaves an imprint on every memory. Different chapters in the narrator's life are interleaved to throw recurring cultural clashes and emotional crises into sharp relief. Emotive symbolism mixes with classic horror motifs ("to keep the reader's attention," you can almost hear his lecturer saying) and result is a subtle cocktail, part disturbing enigma, part beautifully understated character study. In the end, however, you'll want to say: Very clever Kazuo. But where's the plot? Where's the substance? It was to come in later novels.

Not natural Kazuo Ishiguro territory, 03 Dec 2008
I read and loved "An Artist of the Floating World", so i thought I'd try another Kazuo Ishiguro. I was disappointed by this book, as the territory has been explored elsewhere ("Parts: The Clonus Horror", or "The Island", anyone?). I guessed the twists very early and was surprised at how clumsily they were delivered, which left me with the general style of the book.

Some reviewers in other media have commented that the author's distant style is a reflection of the restless detachment the characters feel from life, even during intense love. This seems like a poor excuse for using exactly the same style as in "Floating World" in a totally diffent setting. The characters all seem totally passive and very hard to believe. The odd three way romance at the end seems like a messy conclusion to an imperfect book.

Kazuo Ishiguro's skill seems to be in exploring quiet emotions over very short periods of time, especially nostalgia and regret. This was a brave experiment with controversial material in a foreign setting. Although it was critically well received and successful I found it tiresome. It gets two stars instead of one as it did leave me with a sense of the futility of the whole human experience, although I'm not certain this was intended.

Written from a unique perspective, 07 Nov 2008
The way the novel is written is deliberately stunted in order to build up the contrast in the reader's emotional response to what happens in the final chapter to that of the narrator Kathy. This makes for a tough journey in getting to that point but I believed it to be worth the effort.

Good imagination required, 13 Oct 2008
In order to fully appreciate this book, you need a good imagination. The general idea is excellent and i can really see what the author is driving at, however, it left me feeling frustrated and, i'm ashamed to say, rather bored. The story is very understated and is told through the eyes of 31 year old Kathy, a carer in a dystopian England. I was left feeling hungry for more information rather than just glimpses into the world they were living in. I never really got a sense of the horror that they faced, however, i do appreciate that they had a true acceptance of their fate and saw it as completley normal which i guess adds to the darkness of the book. On the whole, the idea was superb but the narrative was boring at times and quite repetitive. I didn't warm to any of the characters particularly and was left feeling quite empty at the end. As i said a good imagination is a must!!

A strange, disappointing read, 31 Aug 2008
This is a strange book. The plot unfolds very slowly - in places, too slowly - at first with hints, then with a little more; tasters of what's to come. And yet in the end, I felt there were too many unanaswered quesitons, and I felt cheated. The characters are two-dimensional and never really come alive. For me, a good novel has to have 3 main ingredients. It has to have at least one really sympathetic character, it should be well-written, and it must hold my attention. The best this novel did for me was to hold my attention, but only because I wanted explanations and answers, and in the end these were not forthcoming.

Adding my voice to the sound of disappointment..., 25 Aug 2008
I was excited to see this work by Kazuo Ishiguro, having read a good number of his previous novels and enjoyed them. Unfortunately, "Never Let Me Go" falls short of Ishiguro's usual high standard.

Whilst the premise of the story has great potential, the plot lacks pace and the delivery struggles to hold (my) the reader's interest. Who is the intended audience? I wonder. Not seasoned adult readers, surely.

I found "Never Let Me Go" a slow, tedious read, and while I did find myself wanting to discover if there were indeed any dark mystery, I resorted to speed reading to reach the end - a sure sign, for me, of a certain lack of quality.

Sorry to say, when there are so many spectacular reads out there, and so little time, this one gets a thumbs down from me.

One Of The Greatest Novels In British Literature.., 10 Nov 2008
Many of the best novels have essential qualities, they are thrilling, moving, highly readable and beautifully written. However, while The Remains of the day has ALL of the above, theres one major quailty that really made this novel resonate and touch me like no other book i have ever read. That quality is that this book allows you to re-evaulate your own life. It gives you a new perspective of life, and choices we make, and ultimately teaches us to follow our hearts and by what we feel its right. So that by the end of our days we can look back and not regret making such tragic choices as Stevens does. This book has truly touched me and moved me like no other. Althought the movie adaptation was terrific, you have to read this book to truly get a grasp of the genius this book is. In an era where the word 'Masterpiece', is so easily thrown about, The Remains of The Day, is truly and deservedly a MASTERPIECE.

Brilliant, 15 Oct 2008
I bought this book after seeing the film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Most unusually the film is as good as the book and they're both brilliant. Strictly speaking not a great deal happens in the story but there are tremendous under-currents going on all the way through which hold your attention. This is probably the best book I've read this year.

Beautifully written, 01 Oct 2008
I loved this absolutely beautifully written book and read it in one sitting. Narrated by an English butler, Mr Stevens (we never know his first name), it is a truly moving tale. From the day he sets off on his journey, the story captivates you until the final pages. I loved his definitions of the word 'dignity' and I would thoroughly recommend this as an excellent, enthralling read of times gone by. I wished it had been longer! It won the Booker prize and for once, you can see why.

Faultless, 25 Sep 2008
In short, yes! To all the articulately phrased 5 star reviews above. The Remains of the Day is one of the 20th century's great books. Absolutely essential on the bookshelf. A great gift. Utterly beautiful and clever and sly and absorbing. 5 stars aren't really enough. (Does this volume control go to 11?)

My favourite book of all time, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book on a long plane journey back from Hong Kong when I was 18. Though I had been in Asia for 9 months, I was immediately thrust back into the pre-world war II of gentrified England; stultified, polite and controlled. It astounds me how Japanese-born Ishiguro creates so well the character of Stevens, the middle-aged painfully correct and repressed butler. You bleed for him as his own inhibitions hold him back from criticising his master and accepting he is in love.

One of the final scenes in Weymouth makes me cry everytime. It is Stevens realisation of all he has loved and lost and nothing I have read since has ever been able to compare to that bitter-sweet tang of understanding that it is too late to try again.

Absolutely masterful.

Subtle and elegant, 25 Jun 2008
Written in Ishiguro's trademark style, this is an elegant, understated and subtle novel. Narrated in a somewhat rambling and not always reliable way by an elderly artist, this is the story of a society rebuilding itself after the horrors of war. The narrator, a former propagandist for Japan during World War II, must come to terms with his own sense of guilt and try to make sense of the sweeping changes brought in by a new generation.

Ishiguro captures the essence of Japan well, and does a good job of conveying the underlying values and social niceties of a society very different from the modern western one. The narrator is a well constructed character - realistic and far from perfect, and throughout the book the reader comes to sympathise with him to some degree. The other characters, particularly his disapproving daughters and lively grandson, are very believable and I enjoyed reading their interaction.

At times the meandering, rambling nature of the narration can get irritating, but apart from that this is a well constructed, fascinating novel.

A Japanese 'Remains of the Day', 30 Jul 2007
`An Artist of the Floating World' is basically the Japanese version of Ishiguro's Booker winning novel `The Remains of the Day'. As in The Remains of the Day the narrator is an unreliable witness with the shadow of pre-war culpability looming over his head. And as with The Remains of the Day the quiet individual has been drawn into the political events which transformed the world. Now retired, Masuki Ono passes his days in quiet seclusion, awaiting visits from his two daughters. He is a widower living alone, his wife and son having been killed during the war. But now it is 1948 and Japan is changing, collective guilt has seized the Japanese psyche, officials in the old regime are committing suicide and a new generation is emerging.

But as Ono works to finalise the marriage of his youngest daughter the issue of his pre-war allegiances arise and he is forced to come to terms with his responsibility for the militarist direction the 1930's took.

The question arises: what is the role of an artist in the wider political arena? Should the artist live solely for the reproduction of beauty, existing solely in a floating world divorced from society at large? Or should he become a conduit for change, a leader of public opinion? In the modern world where every rock star/artist/writer is expected to produce politically conscious work this is a valid and fascinating question.

An Artist of the Floating World produces a beautiful mirage, something like a Monet painting, with ideas and flawed characters flowing together in a silent, uneventful and almost heartbreaking novel. If you liked Remains of the Day then you will love this. It is absolutely fascinating to see the cultural comparisons between two such reserved societies on the verge of change. Kazuo Ishiguro is a rare gem of a writer and his earliest work is the most sparse of his career, he is a master of understatement, so I shall take a leaf out of his book and say nothing more. I enjoyed this book, you may too.

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

A Brilliant Journey, 22 Mar 2007
This novel doesn't have an obvious plotline but instead effortlessly follows the trail of recollections in an old man's mind. This is a beautiful book giving an insight into pre and post-war Japonese society. It explores the views of both the "old" and "new" generations and highlights the complex and delicate social interactions that seem so alien to the modern, Western world.

A must read!

Art and artists, 16 May 2006
'An artist's concern is to capture beauty ... But however skilfully he may come to this, he will have little influence. It seems to be founded on a na?ve mistake about what art can do and cannot do.'
This statement of the main character in this book is also na?ve. The artist is also a member of the community he lives in and he can use or not use the 'little' influence he has.
As his father said: 'Artists inhabit a world which gives them every temptation to become weak-willed and depreaved.'
Another voice adds: 'Artists are on the whole an astonishingly decadent crowd often with no more than a child's knowledge of the affairs of this world.'

The main character in this book 'betrays' his profession by producing work that is 'unflinchingly loyal to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
His talent is abused by those who wish to found a military dictatorship: 'Then the military will be answerable only to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
He even becomes an official advisor to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities and denounces na?vely ('a talking-to for his own good') one of his pupils, who, being unpatriotic, is arrested and tortured.
But, unlike other war criminals, the painter ultimately admits his responsibility: 'I too was a man of some influence, who used that influence towards a disastrous end. Brave young men died for stupid reasons, but the real culprits are still with us. Artists are the only ones who care now, not army officers, politicians or businessman.'

Kazuo Ishiguro wrote a penetrating meditation about the influence of art on a floating world, but also about the human role of the artist in a floating world.
With his indirect, suggestive, restrained floating scenes and sentences the author produced a masterpiece.

Not to be missed.

It doesn't matter how old someone is, it's what they've experienced that counts, 05 Apr 2008
Under the surface of apparently harmless conversations, the author uncovers Japan's `very strict and very patriotic' old world of `discipline, loyalty, such things held Japan together once. People were bound by a sense of duty. Towards one's family, towards superiors, towards the country.'

But, in fact, it was a rigid, cold world without pity (symbolized by the merciless drowning of the kittens), where `children were taught terrible things. They were taught lies of the most damaging kind. Worst of all, they were taught not to see, not to question'. It was a world without democracy, where women could not study.

It all ended in disaster: `And that's why the country was plunged into the most evil disaster in her entire history.' A general disaster of war ('Towards the end we were all living in tunnels and derelict buildings and there was nothing but rubble') and atom bombs (`I know it was a terrible thing that happened here in Nagasaki'), and painful personal and familial disasters (suicides, even of a child).

In his brilliant indirect, but nevertheless emotional, suggestive style Kazuo Ishiguro wrote a masterpiece.


Shadows Across The River, 10 Feb 2008
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. "A Pale View of the Hills" is his first book, and he has gone on to win the Whitbread Prize (with "An Artist of the Floating World") and the Booker Prize (with "The Remains of the Day").

"A Pale View of the Hills" is told by Etsuko, a Japanese widow now living in England. Keiko, Etsuko's daughter from her first marriage, was born in Japan though had later moved to England with her mother. She later moved to Manchester, where she had recently committed suicide. Niki - her daughter from her second marriage to her English husband - currently lives in London. Niki and Keiko were never close, to the point where Niki felt she couldn't attend the funeral. Keiko, in fact, she appears to have kept herself isolated - even when living at home, she wouldn't have been seen by her family for days at a time. Part of the book deals with Etsuko's current relationship with Niki, and their attempts to come to terms with Keiko's death.

Recent events have also led to Etsuko looking back to when she was pregnant with Keiko. The war was only recently over and she was living in Nagasaki with her first husband, Jiro. The couple were living in a recently built block of apartments, close to the river - though right beside a large patch of very unhygienic wasteground. At the far end of the wasteground, on the banks of the river, was a lone wooden cottage that had somehow survived both the war and the city's planners. For a short period, during the summer, that cottage was home to a woman called Sachiko - someone Etsuko came to consider a friend. Sachiko was originally from Tokyo, though had been in Nagasaki for around a year. Until her arrival at the cottage, she had been staying at an Uncle's house in a different part of the city - though she proves a little vague as to why she left such comfortable surroundings for such a dilapidated cottage. She doesn't appear to be a caring mother either - Mariko doesn't go to school and she's regularly left without a babysitter. In fact, Mariko seems to care more for her cat and kittens than she is cared for by her mother. (Mariko does speak of a mysterious woman who apparently lives in the woods and calls round when her mother goes out - this, however, is dismissed as a figment of her imagination by Sachiko). In time, Etsuko learns a little more of her new friend's past and her plans for the future - including a life in America with a man called Frank.

The same summer, Etsuko's father-in-law came to stay. Ogata-San is a retired teacher, and he proves a likeable character. While he's not in the same position as Sachiko, he is struggling a little with how attitudes have changed in post-war Japan. Ogata-San is a little troubled by an article he stumbled across in a magazine for teachers. The article had been written by one of Jiro's former school-friend, Shiego Matsuda, and had suggested that teachers like himself should have been dismissed at the end of the war. Ogata-San is naturally offended - Matsuda had spent a great deal of time at the Ogata house as a boy, and Ogata-San himself had introduced Matsuda to his current employer. He's hoping that Jiro will insist on an apology from his old friend.

A little frustratingly, there are a few loose ends that aren't tied up - it's only really hinted at how Etsuko's first marriage came to an end and how she met her second husband, for example. I also wondered about Etsuko's father-in-law, and how he felt about her decision to leave Japan for England - the pair had clearly been very close. Nevertheless, while it's not a cheerful book, "A Pale View of the Hills" is a well worth reading.

macabre, 07 Feb 2008
I read this having never read his books before but have always loved the 'remains of the day' film version. At first I felt dissatisfied with the ending but later (a day later) it made more sense. For some reason parts of the story especially the part where a memory on the bridge is revealed made my 'hair stand on end'. Other parts were even funny but for the most part it felt eerie and sad.To me the horror lay in the presence of evil or percieved evil despite one's best intentions.

Pay Attention, 26 Mar 2007
Having read "Never Let Me Go" and "The Remains of the Day", I was expecting a novel that left me asking questions and would make me feel a little bit empty. I was not wrong.

That is not to say that Kazuo Ishigur's novels are bad. Far from it. But if you expect to put this novel down with a neat happy ending and no questions you'll be disappointed and confused.

You really need to pay attention to the novel to understand it, there are sublte hints which at first might not make much sense, but do not dismiss them out of hand.

If you're still missing the plot there's plenty of online sources out there which will explain the plot to you in a little more detail, but don't look at these until you've finished the book.

When it all falls into place I'll guarantee you'll see why this book is actually far more intelligent than it originally seems.

Quality Creative Writing, 13 Dec 2006
This, Kazuo Ishiguro's first novel, is similar at face value to his better known works The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go but, on closer inspection, is darker in tone and very different in its approach. The novel is the memoir of Etsuko, a woman who has left Japan for England after World War II. Without much in the way of explicitly narrated action, the reader is left to join the dots of her experiences, gaining insight into Japan's fractured post-war culture along the way. Unlike the narrators in the aforementioned later works, Etsuko does not naively misunderstand the importance of events in her life. On the contrary, she is a tortured character. She is all too aware of the scars she has been left with and is tentatively trying to explore where they came from.

Many readers accuse A Pale View of Hills of making no sense. It makes sense once you know that Ishiguro wrote it straight after taking an MA in Creative Writing. The reason the book is so beloved of English students is also its greatest weakness: read it meticulously enough and you can easily see the main ploys Ishiguro has used to toy with his readers. There's no need to read it twice.

The book follows a well-trodden "modern" path, exploring the unreliable mind of a narrator for whom past trauma leaves an imprint on every memory. Different chapters in the narrator's life are interleaved to throw recurring cultural clashes and emotional crises into sharp relief. Emotive symbolism mixes with classic horror motifs ("to keep the reader's attention," you can almost hear his lecturer saying) and result is a subtle cocktail, part disturbing enigma, part beautifully understated character study. In the end, however, you'll want to say: Very clever Kazuo. But where's the plot? Where's the substance? It was to come in later novels.

Why does everyone seem to rave about 'The Unconsoled'?, 06 Sep 2008
I bought this book in a cheap bookshop, pleased that I had a bargain. I began to read it with great anticipation. However I quickly came to remember how disappointing and irritating I had found the two other Ishiguro books I had previously read. Disappointing because nothing much seems to happen in them, despite implicit promises that something of significance is just round the corner, and because I find his characters utterly unrealistic in their speech, thoughts and relationships; irritating because the narrative is characteristically repetitive and over-detailed regarding trivialities. I am sure that Ishiguro does not write with the intention of producing such reactions in his readers, and am mindful of the prizes his works have been awarded. Yet I just can't help thinking that as an author he's over-valued, a case of the Emperor's new clothes. I was interested when my 17 year old son had to read "Never Let Me Go" for his English A level, and independently came to similar conclusions, moreover adding that he thought that what I had evaluated as at least an original plot was in fact rather derivative.

Frustration as art, 28 Jul 2008
The most annoying book I've ever read, like Kafka writing a soap opera with all of the good bits taken out.

If getting bounced from storyline to storyline, not making any progress at anything, and the most drawn out, pointless wind up style is so great, then my local town hall should surely get the Nobel Prize.

somewhat puerile postmodernist lit - not my preference, 27 Jul 2008
A previous reviewer who likens experiencing the shifting, distorted context for this novel to that often depicted by Dali fails to take into account the fundamental difference between these two experiences as temporal phenomena; where we can chart our own course through the visual, bowing out the very moment we feel the need to return to the comfort of observable reality, the novel leads us at the author's pace through a series of disconcerting scenarios. This is at once its strength and weakness; with every page I dared myself to take just another few paragraphs of the meandering, disquieting saga narrated by the self-absorbed and entirely unsympathetic protagonist, but having just completed the 253rd of 535 pages I have decided that enough is enough - I get it, the postmodern world is one of disillusion, confusion and ambiguity. Reading the reviews of others has confirmed what I suspected might be the case: that the ending brings no more enlightenment than the implication that I myself am an actor in such a world - that we are all "the unconsoled". On balance I appreciate the novel as quintessential postmodernist literature, but that is all - its progress from one living nightmare-like cliché to the next (the inability to speak when required to do so, the appearance of acquaintances from incongruous times and places, the loss of the use of one's legs when being chased, etc) is ultimately too wearing and too obvious for me to recommend it without the above disclaimer. If you're considering an Ishiguro I would wholeheartedly recommend `The Remains of the Day' instead - a subtle, lovely, atmospheric alternative with all of the reward and none of the frustration.

I felt unconsoled..., 23 May 2008
Meandering...confusing...depressing...Not a patch on "The Remains of the Day".

This book wanders around in slow, dull manner. I often enjoy books where "nothing ever happens" and it is clear that this author is a skilled writer. I just wish he had chosen not to write this book.

Just a bit odd..., 16 May 2008
I LOVED never let me go, but just couldn't get to grips with this one, and gave up half way through. I like my books to have some sort of coherent story, and this was just all over the place, unnerving and irritating!

"... I've worked hard over the years to check the spread of crime and evil wherever it has manifested itself."

Christopher Banks, the protagonist of Kazuo Ishiguro's fifth novel, When We Were Orphans, has dedicated his life to detective work but behind his successes lies one unsolved mystery: the disappearance of his parents when he was a small boy living in the International Settlement in Shanghai. Moving between England and China in the inter-war period, the book, encompassing the turbulence and political anxieties of the time and the crumbling certainties of a Britain deeply involved in the opium trade in the East, centres on Banks's idealistic need to make sense of the world through the small victories of detection and his need to understand finally what happened to his mother and father.

This new novel, however, is the deliberate antithesis of the classic English detective story--the hermetic country-house worlds of Agatha Christie, the classic "locked room" puzzles in which order and sanity is restored at the story's end. Ishiguro mimics the functional style and clipped speech patterns of the genre, ironising its reliance on melodrama and stereotype, while developing a narrative of subtlety, great emotional depth, and political and cultural acuity: what we get is a negative image of classic detective fiction, in which the solved crimes are mentioned in passing and the real mystery is played out in the psychology of the detective himself. The act of detection, Ishiguro suggests, is one we all perform on our own past, struggling to marshal clues and evidence whilst trying to construct the story of ourselves; the one mystery Banks seems unable to solve is his own.

If Ishiguro's concerns as a writer remain broadly the same as in previous novels such as his Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day--the complexities, instability and elusiveness of memory, dramatised through a first-person narrator--this new book shows how flexible and powerful the form has become for him. Banks' quest is both deeply personal and resonantly emblematic of us all:

...for those like us, our fate is to face the world as orphans, chasing through long years the shadows of vanished parents. There is nothing for it but to try and see through our missions to the end, as best we can, for until we do so, we will be permitted no calm.

When We Were Orphans is an astonishing book, rich and profound on many levels, and one that will live clearly in the memory of all who read it. --Burhan Tufail

Not natural Kazuo Ishiguro territory, 03 Dec 2008
I read and loved "An Artist of the Floating World", so i thought I'd try another Kazuo Ishiguro. I was disappointed by this book, as the territory has been explored elsewhere ("Parts: The Clonus Horror", or "The Island", anyone?). I guessed the twists very early and was surprised at how clumsily they were delivered, which left me with the general style of the book.

Some reviewers in other media have commented that the author's distant style is a reflection of the restless detachment the characters feel from life, even during intense love. This seems like a poor excuse for using exactly the same style as in "Floating World" in a totally diffent setting. The characters all seem totally passive and very hard to believe. The odd three way romance at the end seems like a messy conclusion to an imperfect book.

Kazuo Ishiguro's skill seems to be in exploring quiet emotions over very short periods of time, especially nostalgia and regret. This was a brave experiment with controversial material in a foreign setting. Although it was critically well received and successful I found it tiresome. It gets two stars instead of one as it did leave me with a sense of the futility of the whole human experience, although I'm not certain this was intended.

Written from a unique perspective, 07 Nov 2008
The way the novel is written is deliberately stunted in order to build up the contrast in the reader's emotional response to what happens in the final chapter to that of the narrator Kathy. This makes for a tough journey in getting to that point but I believed it to be worth the effort.

Good imagination required, 13 Oct 2008
In order to fully appreciate this book, you need a good imagination. The general idea is excellent and i can really see what the author is driving at, however, it left me feeling frustrated and, i'm ashamed to say, rather bored. The story is very understated and is told through the eyes of 31 year old Kathy, a carer in a dystopian England. I was left feeling hungry for more information rather than just glimpses into the world they were living in. I never really got a sense of the horror that they faced, however, i do appreciate that they had a true acceptance of their fate and saw it as completley normal which i guess adds to the darkness of the book. On the whole, the idea was superb but the narrative was boring at times and quite repetitive. I didn't warm to any of the characters particularly and was left feeling quite empty at the end. As i said a good imagination is a must!!

A strange, disappointing read, 31 Aug 2008
This is a strange book. The plot unfolds very slowly - in places, too slowly - at first with hints, then with a little more; tasters of what's to come. And yet in the end, I felt there were too many unanaswered quesitons, and I felt cheated. The characters are two-dimensional and never really come alive. For me, a good novel has to have 3 main ingredients. It has to have at least one really sympathetic character, it should be well-written, and it must hold my attention. The best this novel did for me was to hold my attention, but only because I wanted explanations and answers, and in the end these were not forthcoming.

Adding my voice to the sound of disappointment..., 25 Aug 2008
I was excited to see this work by Kazuo Ishiguro, having read a good number of his previous novels and enjoyed them. Unfortunately, "Never Let Me Go" falls short of Ishiguro's usual high standard.

Whilst the premise of the story has great potential, the plot lacks pace and the delivery struggles to hold (my) the reader's interest. Who is the intended audience? I wonder. Not seasoned adult readers, surely.

I found "Never Let Me Go" a slow, tedious read, and while I did find myself wanting to discover if there were indeed any dark mystery, I resorted to speed reading to reach the end - a sure sign, for me, of a certain lack of quality.

Sorry to say, when there are so many spectacular reads out there, and so little time, this one gets a thumbs down from me.

One Of The Greatest Novels In British Literature.., 10 Nov 2008
Many of the best novels have essential qualities, they are thrilling, moving, highly readable and beautifully written. However, while The Remains of the day has ALL of the above, theres one major quailty that really made this novel resonate and touch me like no other book i have ever read. That quality is that this book allows you to re-evaulate your own life. It gives you a new perspective of life, and choices we make, and ultimately teaches us to follow our hearts and by what we feel its right. So that by the end of our days we can look back and not regret making such tragic choices as Stevens does. This book has truly touched me and moved me like no other. Althought the movie adaptation was terrific, you have to read this book to truly get a grasp of the genius this book is. In an era where the word 'Masterpiece', is so easily thrown about, The Remains of The Day, is truly and deservedly a MASTERPIECE.

Brilliant, 15 Oct 2008
I bought this book after seeing the film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Most unusually the film is as good as the book and they're both brilliant. Strictly speaking not a great deal happens in the story but there are tremendous under-currents going on all the way through which hold your attention. This is probably the best book I've read this year.

Beautifully written, 01 Oct 2008
I loved this absolutely beautifully written book and read it in one sitting. Narrated by an English butler, Mr Stevens (we never know his first name), it is a truly moving tale. From the day he sets off on his journey, the story captivates you until the final pages. I loved his definitions of the word 'dignity' and I would thoroughly recommend this as an excellent, enthralling read of times gone by. I wished it had been longer! It won the Booker prize and for once, you can see why.

Faultless, 25 Sep 2008
In short, yes! To all the articulately phrased 5 star reviews above. The Remains of the Day is one of the 20th century's great books. Absolutely essential on the bookshelf. A great gift. Utterly beautiful and clever and sly and absorbing. 5 stars aren't really enough. (Does this volume control go to 11?)

My favourite book of all time, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book on a long plane journey back from Hong Kong when I was 18. Though I had been in Asia for 9 months, I was immediately thrust back into the pre-world war II of gentrified England; stultified, polite and controlled. It astounds me how Japanese-born Ishiguro creates so well the character of Stevens, the middle-aged painfully correct and repressed butler. You bleed for him as his own inhibitions hold him back from criticising his master and accepting he is in love.

One of the final scenes in Weymouth makes me cry everytime. It is Stevens realisation of all he has loved and lost and nothing I have read since has ever been able to compare to that bitter-sweet tang of understanding that it is too late to try again.

Absolutely masterful.

Subtle and elegant, 25 Jun 2008
Written in Ishiguro's trademark style, this is an elegant, understated and subtle novel. Narrated in a somewhat rambling and not always reliable way by an elderly artist, this is the story of a society rebuilding itself after the horrors of war. The narrator, a former propagandist for Japan during World War II, must come to terms with his own sense of guilt and try to make sense of the sweeping changes brought in by a new generation.

Ishiguro captures the essence of Japan well, and does a good job of conveying the underlying values and social niceties of a society very different from the modern western one. The narrator is a well constructed character - realistic and far from perfect, and throughout the book the reader comes to sympathise with him to some degree. The other characters, particularly his disapproving daughters and lively grandson, are very believable and I enjoyed reading their interaction.

At times the meandering, rambling nature of the narration can get irritating, but apart from that this is a well constructed, fascinating novel.

A Japanese 'Remains of the Day', 30 Jul 2007
`An Artist of the Floating World' is basically the Japanese version of Ishiguro's Booker winning novel `The Remains of the Day'. As in The Remains of the Day the narrator is an unreliable witness with the shadow of pre-war culpability looming over his head. And as with The Remains of the Day the quiet individual has been drawn into the political events which transformed the world. Now retired, Masuki Ono passes his days in quiet seclusion, awaiting visits from his two daughters. He is a widower living alone, his wife and son having been killed during the war. But now it is 1948 and Japan is changing, collective guilt has seized the Japanese psyche, officials in the old regime are committing suicide and a new generation is emerging.

But as Ono works to finalise the marriage of his youngest daughter the issue of his pre-war allegiances arise and he is forced to come to terms with his responsibility for the militarist direction the 1930's took.

The question arises: what is the role of an artist in the wider political arena? Should the artist live solely for the reproduction of beauty, existing solely in a floating world divorced from society at large? Or should he become a conduit for change, a leader of public opinion? In the modern world where every rock star/artist/writer is expected to produce politically conscious work this is a valid and fascinating question.

An Artist of the Floating World produces a beautiful mirage, something like a Monet painting, with ideas and flawed characters flowing together in a silent, uneventful and almost heartbreaking novel. If you liked Remains of the Day then you will love this. It is absolutely fascinating to see the cultural comparisons between two such reserved societies on the verge of change. Kazuo Ishiguro is a rare gem of a writer and his earliest work is the most sparse of his career, he is a master of understatement, so I shall take a leaf out of his book and say nothing more. I enjoyed this book, you may too.

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

A Brilliant Journey, 22 Mar 2007
This novel doesn't have an obvious plotline but instead effortlessly follows the trail of recollections in an old man's mind. This is a beautiful book giving an insight into pre and post-war Japonese society. It explores the views of both the "old" and "new" generations and highlights the complex and delicate social interactions that seem so alien to the modern, Western world.

A must read!

Art and artists, 16 May 2006
'An artist's concern is to capture beauty ... But however skilfully he may come to this, he will have little influence. It seems to be founded on a na?ve mistake about what art can do and cannot do.'
This statement of the main character in this book is also na?ve. The artist is also a member of the community he lives in and he can use or not use the 'little' influence he has.
As his father said: 'Artists inhabit a world which gives them every temptation to become weak-willed and depreaved.'
Another voice adds: 'Artists are on the whole an astonishingly decadent crowd often with no more than a child's knowledge of the affairs of this world.'

The main character in this book 'betrays' his profession by producing work that is 'unflinchingly loyal to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
His talent is abused by those who wish to found a military dictatorship: 'Then the military will be answerable only to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor.'
He even becomes an official advisor to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities and denounces na?vely ('a talking-to for his own good') one of his pupils, who, being unpatriotic, is arrested and tortured.
But, unlike other war criminals, the painter ultimately admits his responsibility: 'I too was a man of some influence, who used that influence towards a disastrous end. Brave young men died for stupid reasons, but the real culprits are still with us. Artists are the only ones who care now, not army officers, politicians or businessman.'

Kazuo Ishiguro wrote a penetrating meditation about the influence of art on a floating world, but also about the human role of the artist in a floating world.
With his indirect, suggestive, restrained floating scenes and sentences the author produced a masterpiece.

Not to be missed.

It doesn't matter how old someone is, it's what they've experienced that counts, 05 Apr 2008
Under the surface of apparently harmless conversations, the author uncovers Japan's `very strict and very patriotic' old world of `discipline, loyalty, such things held Japan together once. People were bound by a sense of duty. Towards one's family, towards superiors, towards the country.'

But, in fact, it was a rigid, cold world without pity (symbolized by the merciless drowning of the kittens), where `children were taught terrible things. They were taught lies of the most damaging kind. Worst of all, they were taught not to see, not to question'. It was a world without democracy, where women could not study.

It all ended in disaster: `And that's why the country was plunged into the most evil disaster in her entire history.' A general disaster of war ('Towards the end we were all living in tunnels and derelict buildings and there was nothing but rubble') and atom bombs (`I know it was a terrible thing that happened here in Nagasaki'), and painful personal and familial disasters (suicides, even of a child).

In his brilliant indirect, but nevertheless emotional, suggestive style Kazuo Ishiguro wrote a masterpiece.


Shadows Across The River, 10 Feb 2008
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. "A Pale View of the Hills" is his first book, and he has gone on to win the Whitbread Prize (with "An Artist of the Floating World") and the Booker Prize (with "The Remains of the Day").

"A Pale View of the Hills" is told by Etsuko, a Japanese widow now living in England. Keiko, Etsuko's daughter from her first marriage, was born in Japan though had later moved to England with her mother. She later moved to Manchester, where she had recently committed suicide. Niki - her daughter from her second marriage to her E