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!

  • Averagetigergod@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m not recommending The Unconsoled, but I am saying I have read all his books and it was my favourite. But I don’t think it’s something to recommend because it’s a weird outlier. Still, if you intend to read all his books then I hope you enjoy it.

    • KimchiMaker@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I’m reading it at the moment. I’m about halfway through and I don’t know what the hell is going on hahaha.

      I suspect the last line is going to be: And then I woke up after a particularly long and intense dream, retrieved my schedule from my bag, and began my visit.

    • UltraFlyingTurtle@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      If you haven’t read it, Ishiguro’s short story, “A Village in the Dark”, may have been a precursor for The Unconsoled. He doesn’t write many short stories so he may have been toying with some of the ideas in that novel by writing that short story first.

      I posted this in another comment, but author Ben Marcus reads Ishiguo’s short story as a guest reader on the New Yorker Fiction podcast. Here’s the link.

      I especially love the discussion of the story at the end of the podcast, between Marcus and the New Yorker fiction editor. It’s a very surreal story and I really liked it but I didn’t quite understand why until I listen to their discussion.

      I had shied away from reading The Unconsoled because of the polarizing reviews, but their observations of Ishiguro’s story made me want to read the novel, which I will definitely do now.