Item: 1 copy of The Unconsoled, by Kazuo Ishiguro
This is a library book, which I finished this afternoon. It's due back this week and I have been scrambling to finish it. I know that the library would let me check it out again, but to have to go in and ask for more time feels to me like a breakdown of personal standards. When I was a kid, I would check out 7 or 8 books at a time, and have finished them all long before the next trip to the library rolled around. Those were the days.
I liked this book better than I expected to. Most of what I like to read is firmly grounded in reality, from one angle or another. This book has its surreal elements, where time and space get stretched. For example, a banquet hall that was reached by a long drive over mountains and through forests ends up being connected via a corridor to the hotel where the narrator started out. It's rather like Alice in Wonderland in that respect.
The narrator is a renowned pianist named Mr Ryder, who has arrived in an unnamed European city for a performance. From the start, nearly everyone he encounters seems to want a special favor from him -- some of whom seem to be people he is already acquainted with. Not once does he go directly and do the thing he meant to do; he is constantly derailed into being part of someone else's errand. Understandably, he gets close to losing his temper once in awhile.
Most of the time, though, the character has an incredible ability to exhibit perfect poise, making well-mannered remarks in many bizarre and awkward circumstances. I almost envy him that.
I'm not sure how to sum up what the story's about. In spite of the innate courtesy, in spite of his attempts to meet demands from all sides, it seems that this is a man for whom his own life is the only one that's real. It's as if he is no longer recognizes the people he is supposed to be close to, is no longer even capable of registering anyone's humanity besides his own. Stuck in his own losses, he lets multiple chances to express kindess to those who need it go by. At the end, he is excluded from sharing in the grief of a death. Instead, he helps himself to a buffet breakfast on a tram, imagining that he will become friends with a fellow passenger. This is what's known as an unhappy ending.
I liked this book better than I expected to. Most of what I like to read is firmly grounded in reality, from one angle or another. This book has its surreal elements, where time and space get stretched. For example, a banquet hall that was reached by a long drive over mountains and through forests ends up being connected via a corridor to the hotel where the narrator started out. It's rather like Alice in Wonderland in that respect.
The narrator is a renowned pianist named Mr Ryder, who has arrived in an unnamed European city for a performance. From the start, nearly everyone he encounters seems to want a special favor from him -- some of whom seem to be people he is already acquainted with. Not once does he go directly and do the thing he meant to do; he is constantly derailed into being part of someone else's errand. Understandably, he gets close to losing his temper once in awhile.
Most of the time, though, the character has an incredible ability to exhibit perfect poise, making well-mannered remarks in many bizarre and awkward circumstances. I almost envy him that.
I'm not sure how to sum up what the story's about. In spite of the innate courtesy, in spite of his attempts to meet demands from all sides, it seems that this is a man for whom his own life is the only one that's real. It's as if he is no longer recognizes the people he is supposed to be close to, is no longer even capable of registering anyone's humanity besides his own. Stuck in his own losses, he lets multiple chances to express kindess to those who need it go by. At the end, he is excluded from sharing in the grief of a death. Instead, he helps himself to a buffet breakfast on a tram, imagining that he will become friends with a fellow passenger. This is what's known as an unhappy ending.
posted by Karen at 5:50 PM
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