Posts Tagged Ishiguro

BookieMonster’s Further Do Likes

To continue my list of Do Likes (which so far contains Terry Pratchett) let me introduce you (as if you need an introduction) to Kazuo Ishiguro.

Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro is a Japanese born English writer who has combined a spare Japanese style of writing with stunningly perceptive insights into human emotion, particularly an English-type repression, and elevated his novels into true art forms. As you can tell, I think he is brilliant and every book of his I read leaves me thinking “How does he DO that?”.

His books are grounded in character and it is his amazing abilities at characterisation that make him THE pre-eminent literary talent of our time (yes, that’s totally my opinion, but then I’m writing this! :P ). Story is always told through character and his writing has a strong filmic quality – by that I mean those moments in film where the picture is at odds with the dialogue – where the story and the emotion is being told visually and the through the disconnect of visual and speech. Somehow Ishiguro manages to replicate this exact same feeling and emotion but purely through words. He weaves this tapestry of words said and words unsaid and you think no-one should be able to do this in a book. That’s why I love his writing as much as I do.

Favourite book? Generally The Remains of the Day or Never Let Me Go are choosen by most as his best work, but personally my favourite is When We Were Orphans. This is not his most perfect work but for me it is the strongest representation of the quality I talked about, it is so multi-layered and the central character is so flawed and yet so human that it literally takes your breath away.

I don’t universally recommend Ishiguro to everyone. If you don’t like to think about what you’re reading, or if you do like your stories tied up in a nice bow and finished off with a flourish then Ishiguro is not the writer for you. But if you think life is not about appearances, real life is not about happy endings or even any kind of easy ending at all, everyone has a story to tell and everyone will tell you only their side of the story – then I hope you will love his books as much as BookieMonster.

Tags: , , ,

Nocturnes reviewed…but don’t look for it online…

There was an excellent and extremely positive review of Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro (my latest anticipatory acquisition) in Saturday’s Canvas mag from the NZ Herald, which I was very keen to share with you all, except for one tiny problem – for some reason the NZ Herald haven’t seen fit to put the book reviews from Canvas on their website. 2 days and counting, and no reviews.

:|

Tags: , , ,

Kazuo! Kazuo! Kazuo! The Remains of the Day – the musical!

In “weirdest story of the day” category …. Gilbert & Sullivan, Sondheim, Lloyd Webber and now Ishiguro? Apparently somber love story The Remains of the Day has been approved by author Kazuo Ishiguro to become a musical. Personally, I can’t quite see it, but then perhaps that’s because I’m a bit of a literary snob-nazi and taking a quiet, powerful, introverted and heart-achingly sad love story with no happy ending, and turning it into an all-singing, all-dancing extravaGANza seems somewhat… odd, to say the least. There aren’t perhaps better suited book choices?
But I should reserve judgement. And for my final pun… I know I think Ishiguro’s writing is lyrical but… (bada boom).

Tags: , , ,

A progress report…

So, I know you’ll all be excited to know that further to my previous post on coveting the new Ishiguro title I am now the proud owner of a copy of Nocturnes.

It’s sitting by my bedside, awaiting opening. I will not open it yet! I will allow it to taunt me with its promise!

I hope it’s good. :)

Tags: , , ,

Three joys

Three things made me extremely excited in the weekend:

1. I found out there is a new Kazuo Ishiguro book in paperback – Nocturnes : Five Stories of Music and Nightfall. This makes me so excited I can’t begin to tell you! Every Ishiguro book is like this jewel inside a treasure box that I don’t want to open, because I know it will be so perfectly beautiful that I will cry and the world will be a totally different place. Yes, I like him THAT much.

2. I have acquired a copy of Marcus Zusak’s I Am the Messenger. I am so, so, SO hoping that this will be as good as The Book Thief, which was brilliant. Or even a little bit as good, which would still be very, very good.

3. I have also acquired a copy of The Bolter by Frances Osborne, which I am also very excited about. Mainly because I think the phrase “The Bolter” is fantastic and the whole London Jazz Age era visions it conjures up are just fun with a capital F(lapper).

Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro

So it was a good weekend for me! I have done what I do with all new books, and that is put them to one side and look at them longingly a lot, whilst choosing to read other books that I am not as interested in and that I know won’t be as good. Why do I do this? I don’t know, but I think it’s an attempt to draw out the process – once I start reading I know I will read fast and then it will be over too soon. As an extreme example, I haven’t even bought the Ishiguro! I just know it’s sitting, waiting for me in the bookshop…

Tags: , , , , ,

© 2009-2010 BookieMonster All Rights Reserved