Magic is when you’re reading one thing, but something much deeper is going into your head.
Reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s NEVER LET ME GO, I was first caught up in the story details, the intimate memories of the main character, Kathy, and the vivid pictures Kathy paints of her childhood, her friends, her teachers - and the mystery that surrounds them all.
As the story moves along, I find I’m unable to put the book down, even though Kathy is still describing her life’s memories. There’s something about Ishiguro that makes her memories become something more. (I can’t give details because of a spoiler situation.)
I can say that Kathy is a true innocent. And when she tells us of her life, we can only see the more global picture later on, as the picture widens. The profound implications of Kathy’s life don’t hit us right away. And because we see the world through her innocence, the final, nightmarish impact is even more shocking.
This was my first Kazuo Ishiguro book, and now I intend to read them all!
Is Ishiguro similar to Murakami? I love Murakami and have been thinking of getting into Ishiguro
Very different. Sir Kazuo Ishiguro is British, as is his perspective. He’s totally worth reading but nothing like Murakami.
Ishiguro is more of a British writer than a Japanese one.
Funny things is, Murakami is seen as a not-very-Japanese writer, too. (Even though he is Japanese, of course.)
Maybe just superficially. Both craft worlds and stories where you know something is concealed, and that thing is probably dark and scary. In Murakami novels the reveal tends to be something exotic and weird. In Ishiguro it’s often some reality or truth that was right there all along but nobody could or would see it. That’s a super broad generalization from reading about 4 Murakamis and about 3 Ishiguros, but they all fit the pattern.