The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro Review…

I give this 1 out of 5 stars… buckle up

Oh god this book. This painfully quaint and politely awful book. This books is so posh and British, the characters would murder you and then say, “Jolly good chap, sorry old boy. Top of the morning.”

Basic premise: Fantasy version of England is under fog of memory loss and no one can remember past a few hours. the protagonists Beatrice and Axl are the old couple who leave their valley to find their son who left them many years ago. The reader is reminded MANY times that their son is waiting for them and they must go to him. Every new person they meet along the way, they have to tell they are going to their son who is waiting for them.

Stuff happens and they end up traveling with a stereotypical, perfect hero named Winston, and a boy named Edwin whose only characteristic is he hears the voice of his mother who abandoned him and that he’ll be a warrior one day.

King Arthur exists in this world but he is dead and one of his knights is still charged with slaying the dragon. That’s about all there is to this story.

My Thoughts: 

The story wasn’t awful or poorly done. It would be a good simple story for people who are new to fantasy or who don’t like high fantasy. 

I didn’t enjoy the lack of interesting mystery or original storytelling. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I couldn’t relate to the story or characters. 

This story had zero tension or excitement but I was so on edge and stressed reading this because I was convinced that there was going to be a massive twist that ripped this quaint little story apart… but it never came. it ended exactly how I anticipated with no suprises. The dragon was slain by the hero, the couple survived and were on their way to their sons grave… btw yeah he’s dead and this was revealed in the most boring bit of dialogue. 

The characters could’ve compensated for the lack of an interesting story but they remained flat, dull and predictable. You will find no gray morality much less any evil or twisted characters. It’s just lovely, perfumed, unyielding, POLITENESS. I never thought I could hate a wholesome and cute old couple but I just couldn’t deal with the fact that these characters were so unnervingly nice it was creepy… 

I could go on nitpicking and I know this sounds like I hate nice stories but I was so bored and was waiting for a twist, I finished this story out of spite. 

“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.”

—  Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

Throwback to the time I photographed Kazuo Ishiguro for Shinchosha publishers.

“You say you’re sure? Sure that you’re in love? How can you know it? You think love is so simple? ” ― Never Let Me Go

aaknopf:

Join Kazuo Ishiguro on his U.S. tour for the release of The Buried Giant. He’ll visit 13 cities over 2 weeks. Click here for the details.

Sixth & I and politicsprose are lucky to host the DC stop on the Man Booker Prize-winning author’s 13-city book tour. Grab your tickets to see Kazuo Ishiguro on Sunday, March 22 at 5:00 pm here. 

Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (2005)

I found I was standing before acres of ploughed earth. There was a fence keeping me from stepping into the field, with two lines of barbed wire, and I could see how this fence and the cluster of three or four trees above me were the only things breaking the wind for miles. All along the fence, especially along the lower line of wire, all sorts of rubbish had caught and tangled. It was like the debris you get on a sea-shore: the wind must have carried some of it for miles and miles before finally coming up against these trees and these two lines of wire. Up in the branches of the trees, too, I could see, flapping about, torn plastic sheeting and bits of old carrier bags. That was the only time, as I stood there, looking at that strange rubbish, feeling the wind coming across those empty fields, that I started to imagine just a little fantasy thing, because this was Norfolk after all, and it was only a couple of weeks since I’d lost him. I was thinking about the rubbish, the flapping plastic in the branches, the shore-line of odd stuff caught along the fencing, and I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I’d ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field, and gradually get larger until I’d see it was Tommy, and he’d wave, maybe even call. The fantasy never got beyond that—I didn’t let it—and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasn’t sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be.

I am finally reading a book by kazuo ishiguro ^-^ this is the French translation of never let me go !

strange book…

Lazy Sunday with another Kazuo Ishiguro ! ( I didn’t like never let me go as much as I thought I would so iam giving this one another chance )

Andrew Garfield and Carrey Mulligan as Tommy and Kathy in Never Let Me Go (2010)

Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro

Faber & Faber, 2021
Design: Pete Adlington

Our personal list of 2020’s best-selling fiction (available online, of course).

How many have you read? What are you reading?