Booklog: Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro
Booklog - not a review, just a note to remember the book by.
Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
Taking advantage of a special offer in Foyles on the Southbank in London, I thought I'd give this book a go. At the time I didn't really realise (in my oblivious way) that Kazo Ishiguro is pretty big at the moment, what with Never Let Me Go being made into a film and all; I just pretty much liked the sound of the synopsis:
In a sublime story cycle, Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love, music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the 'hush-hush floor' of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning. Gentle, intimate and witty, this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of life's romance, even as one gets older, relationships flounder and youthful hopes recede.
"You have to understand, I am a virtuoso".
There are five short stories, and I've not read much in the way of short stories, but I enjoyed these as little snippets of relationship that are either starting, ending or just floundering around in between. The theme of music is pretty engaging, and I guess let's Kazuo paint a picture with an extra [and consistent] additional feature.
The story I think I enjoyed the most is "Cellist" about a young aspiring musician who seems to fall in love with a random American tourist who mentors him with his music from her expensive hotel room - though she is not, one learns, a professional cellist herself. Intriguing in the way it's written for sure.
Final thoughts: I've read a few reviews that don't think much of this book, but I'll agree with the praise they heaped onto the back cover - it's good. I'd not have finished it if it weren't as there would have been no motivation to get through to an overall end. No, it was good and will be one I'll pass around to the odd unsuspecting reading victim.
For a proper review, read what The Guardian or The Torgraph thought of it.
Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
Taking advantage of a special offer in Foyles on the Southbank in London, I thought I'd give this book a go. At the time I didn't really realise (in my oblivious way) that Kazo Ishiguro is pretty big at the moment, what with Never Let Me Go being made into a film and all; I just pretty much liked the sound of the synopsis:
In a sublime story cycle, Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love, music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the 'hush-hush floor' of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning. Gentle, intimate and witty, this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of life's romance, even as one gets older, relationships flounder and youthful hopes recede.
"You have to understand, I am a virtuoso".
There are five short stories, and I've not read much in the way of short stories, but I enjoyed these as little snippets of relationship that are either starting, ending or just floundering around in between. The theme of music is pretty engaging, and I guess let's Kazuo paint a picture with an extra [and consistent] additional feature.
The story I think I enjoyed the most is "Cellist" about a young aspiring musician who seems to fall in love with a random American tourist who mentors him with his music from her expensive hotel room - though she is not, one learns, a professional cellist herself. Intriguing in the way it's written for sure.
Final thoughts: I've read a few reviews that don't think much of this book, but I'll agree with the praise they heaped onto the back cover - it's good. I'd not have finished it if it weren't as there would have been no motivation to get through to an overall end. No, it was good and will be one I'll pass around to the odd unsuspecting reading victim.
For a proper review, read what The Guardian or The Torgraph thought of it.