
Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) - lermontov
http://bombmagazine.org/article/1269/kazuo-ishiguro
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jackschultz
In these types of threads people always jump in and suggest their favorite
books of the author. In my case, it's Remains of the Day and An Artist of the
Floating World, the two novels they talk about in the article. I've been such
a fan of Remains of the Day after reading it a couple years ago that I've
bought it a couple times and shipped it to friends to make sure they read it.
I read An Artist of the Floating World earlier this summer and that stuck with
me as well. Fantastic fantastic. I've also read Never Let Me Go but it didn't
quite do it for me, something felt off in a way that's difficult to express
and not worthy of talking about here.

I'll say this though, make sure to read Remains of the Day and then move to
Artist of the Floating World. Both about WWII and people's opinions and
feelings from what happened in their world. Not the longest of novels, so
reading them back to back is the way to go.

~~~
malkia
I've read the book (Remains of the Day), after reading a post here few years
ago. Haven't read the one though (yet).

<edit> \- yes I did! Thank you [http://hn.algolia.com](http://hn.algolia.com)
\- here is my post saying that I did (lol) -
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7541291](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7541291)
\- but I can't find the post which mentioned it (must've been here)

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scrumper
Commenting here mainly as I don't want this to drop off. It's a good interview
with a really very wonderful writer.

HN'ers unfamiliar with his work might really enjoy Never Let Me Go, a very
affecting novel which you could plausibly call sci-fi.

~~~
shoo
I've read "The Remains of the Day" and "Never Let Me Go". Enjoyed the former.

I found the latter irritating to read -- roughly, many of the characters are
"not in a great situation" when it comes to the role society has assigned them
-- yet they are all accepting (perhaps that is too strong) or passive. No
volition to change the status quo.

That doesn't mean it is a bad book, or bad literature, but reading pages and
pages of characters focusing on interpersonal drama when they are trapped in
this hideous situation pissed me off!

~~~
dantillberg
This is a major reason I so love Never Let Me Go. So much of our dystopian
fiction chronicles characters that heroically resist the terrors thrust upon
them.

But Never Let Me Go tells a much more human story: these characters, like so
many of us, are swept up helplessly in the torrents and terrors of their
world. And it's not that they're _unable_ to change the tide -- they don't
even know that it's an option.

It is, for certain, quite frustrating -- just as it is in the world outside
the book's covers.

------
dkarl
_I feel like a change. There’s another side of my writing self that I need to
explore: the messy, chaotic, undisciplined side. The undignified side._

His next book was _The Unconsoled_ , which is on the way to my mailbox. I'm a
bit scared of it. It's supposed to be a glorious mess and impossible to enjoy
if you try to make the wrong kind of sense out of it. I'm extra nervous (and
also excited) because I didn't get much out of _The Buried Giant_ (or haven't
yet, anyway.)

~~~
hmahncke
If your part-way through The Buried Giant, it has a solid ending (IMHO) - like
Never Let Me Go, the characters realize that they have made some foundational
assumptions that aren't quite right, but unlike that novel they do have the
opportunity to change those assumptions - for better or worse

