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Kazuo Ishiguro
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The Unconsoled (Vintage International) |
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No copies available |
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English |
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| Date: |
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| ISBN: |
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0679735879 |
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| Reviews: |
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Rise (Philippines) (2008/05/04):
My personal favorites of Ishiguro's are 'An artist of the floating world' and 'The unconsoled.'
In 'The unconsoled,' his longest novel, a multitude of characters berates the protagonist at every turn. The nagging characters need something from Mr. Ryder, the hapless pianist. They always follow him and ask from him several favors, breaking the peace of mind that the artist strives for. With fantastic events and comic set-pieces in an otherwise conventional Ishigurian landscape, one would think that Ishiguro has lost touch with reality, lost his much-admired restrained prose, and his cool. This is the novel that broke free from the conventions the novelist introduced in his previous works. The inventiveness of a writer is always suspect, especially when he lets loose. Every incident in 'The unconsoled' is calibrated to give readers discomfort, make them squirm in their seats. Combined with black humor, a bored psyche is injected to immerse the reader into a profound sleepiness. Do the wickedness and whackiness of a story provide comforts to ease our uncertainties?
Ishiguro immerses us in a parallel universe of Kafkan displeasures, dystopia, and nightmare concerto. There are hints of Bernhard's irritation and Sebald's pragmatism. The readers - victims? or gloating participants to the onslaught against the central character? - the readers are left to puzzle over a Rubix cube. The more you try to figure out the solution, the more it gets frustrating. The story hurtles toward inevitability, a climax of awkwardness, chaotic and powerful.
Throughout the ordeal, the readers are left with no option but to read on, helplessly, asking themselves if “not less is more?” Against their will, they are stuck in the writing, more Ishiguro’s writing. Perhaps therein lies the consolation.
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| URL: |
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http://bookmooch.com/0679735879 |
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