Intriguing, Mystifying, Totally Absorbing 2010-03-05

Reviewer: Oldie But Goodie

If you, like me, delight in reading books that go beyond just stimulating the visceral senses, Kazuo Ishiguro is an author whose books you want to add to your library - for repeated readings, I dare say.

Ishiguro's tale-telling in the first person narrative is spell-binding. The title can have multiple meanings, depending on which aspect of the book you are focusing on. I know I will definitely need to reread this novel again to put all the pieces together.

Is Sachiko Etsuko's projection of herself? Is Mariko representative of Keiko? To hear Etsuko switch to the first person when talking to Mariko near the river at the end of the novel really packed a punch. Had I considered such at other points in the book? Yes. But, to have it simply pop out there at the last minute was like cold water being splashed on my face.

The reference to Etsuko hanging onto something that caught on her foot while crossing the river was obviously a metaphor to her hanging onto the past. Mariko running away, right after asking why Etsuko was hanging onto that, was that Keiko fading in her memory or Etsuko questioning herself?

Our memories certainly do fade with time and can become quite unreliable, particularly if we are reviewing decisions and behaviors we would rather not recall. Given Keiko's suicide most likely being connected with Etsuko's decision to move to the United States certainly is reason for her to want to rewrite history to alleviate guilt.

I saw the cover from an earlier release of this book and it shows a Japanese woman - just her head - wearing a mask. This reinforces the ending of this book ... that Sachiko is really a mask Etsuko wears in her mind as she tries to live the irrevocable decisions of her past.

I finished reading A Pale View Of Hills three weeks ago and am still mulling it over in my mind. I plan to reread it again, looking for the subtle clues Ishiguro has surely placed throughout the book, but until then I will simply enjoy the experience of mulling over this literary work or art.

A novel done in brush strokes 2010-01-28

Reviewer: Laurie A. Brown

Ishiguro has written this novel with the spare grace of a Japanese painting- a brush stroke here, another there; you must infer the rest. Past and present shift and blur at times. One is not entirely sure how many women there are in this story, or who is who.

Etsuko, a Japanese born woman living in Japan, is dealing with the recent suicide of her elder daughter. With her younger daughter staying with her, she reflects on her own past in Japan, when she was a young wife, pregnant with her first child. Living in Nagasaki, the city so recently devastated by the American bomb, she becomes friends with Sachiko, a woman who-along with a young daughter- lives in a shack that has no electricity or water, spends her days working in a noodle shop and her evenings with an American service man who she expects to take her to live with him when he is shipped back home. This life is very different from Etsuko's- she is married to a man who expects instant obedience from her and spends her days cleaning and cooking. Sachiko's daughter, Mariko, is a fey child who does not go to school and spends her time by herself or with a batch of kittens, sometimes speaking of a woman that no one else sees. And there is a child murderer on the loose....

How accurate are Etsuko's memories? Is there more to her past than she admits in her mind? Does she have some connection with the murderer, or with Sachiko? These things are unresolved. Memory can be like that; many times one doesn't see the past in a clear cut way. In the 24 hours since I finished reading this book, I've wondered over and over about these things and am no closer to the answer, but the wondering is a pleasant thing.

What the hell happened in this book? 2009-11-23

Reviewer: Wendy R. S. Oconnor

Okay, I really loved this book. I have read most of Ishiguro's other books, so I am used to the "more questions asked than answered" type of tale. But I finished this one, and I can't figure out what the hell happened. Is there really a Saichiko, or is the creation of Saichiok Etsuko-in-England's device for recalling the rearing of her first daughter, Keiko? Or, did Etsuko take Mariko to England with her, and there really was no pregnancy? What's with the two references to Etsuko coming to Mariko at night with a rope around her ankles? Foreshadowing Keiko's suicide? Or, is she the child murderer? What about the woman in Nagasaki who drowns the baby in the canal just after the bomb has been dropped? Did this really happen? How does this relate to the drowning of the kittens? Etsuko talks about "Keiko" being "so happy that day at the harbour..." Keiko? Mariko? A different trip? I would really like to be smart enough to figure out this book, and sophisticated enough not to need concrete answers, but I'm neither. I also don't have the time to figure this out - I have to cook a Thanksgiving Dinner for 15, and I am really busy. So, someone, please explain this book to me!!!

Wait...what just happened? 2009-10-28

Reviewer: J. Mays

Part current story and part flashback, this is the story of Etsuko and her two daughters, born of two different fathers. One is part of her "old life" in Japan, and one seems to be more modern like her second husband. And at the time of the story, one has killed herself, leaving the mother and daughter left behind to puzzle out what happened.

Large portions of this shorter novel are set in the past, when Etsuko still lives in Japan, is newly married and expecting her first child, and she meets and befriends a forward-thinking and somewhat eccentric single mother who has a rather strange daughter of her own. Etsuko seems torn between admiring and being irritated by the behavior of her friend and her later-life reflections bring the story to a surprising conclusion.

Surprising...and confusing for me. In fact, I had to stop and back up a few pages because I wasn't sure I'd understood what was being said clearly, and to be honest, I'm still not sure. I think I read it right, in which case other parts of the book now confuse me, but I wasn't inclined to go thumbing back through the rest of the book to figure it out. As a result, I was left with mixed feelings about how to view the book in terms of like/dislike. I really enjoyed the writing itself and would not shy away from reading something else from this author, but this particular story left me feeling a little disgruntled. I'm not sure I like that.

Haunting, Beautiful Prose 2009-10-09

Reviewer: N. M

The story starts with Etsuko, a Japanese lady living in Englad, thinking about her eldest daughter's, Keiko, suicide. Her 19 year old daughter, Nikki, is visiting her in her country home from London, and during the days of her stay, Etsuko remembers past events, when she was still living in Japan. The flashbacks go back to a certain summer in Nagasaki, after the atomic bomb was dropped there. To the summer she met Sachiko and her daughter Mariko.

I finished this book, and yet I badly want to reread it. I think I 'got' it but yet there are so many little pieces of this story that need to be reread to be properly digested.

I have read a book of his before, "Never Let Me Go" and loved it. This book is a bit different, but Ishiguro's style is still as flawless. His way with words give them a unique appeal. You feel the emotions dripping with every sentence and his language is simple, yet profound. Loss, death, trauma, memories are interweaved with his words. The flashbacks seemed to be sudden at times, but you know it's deliberate, you know they are supposed to be like that.

I would recommend this book to any Ishiguro fan. I can't wait to reread this and read more of his books.