Reviews with content warning for War - A Pale View of Hills

I read this a long time ago, but I do remember this being quite a difficult read to get through. I felt it was very telling of Nagasaki during the time in which it was set, especially surrounding the cultural norms of women and childbearing. I did like elements of the writing, but the story was quite monotonous and at times it felt hard to read. I think it has been interesting to see the way in which the writing style of the author has evolved and it was nice to read and appreciate his earlier works. This book was just not my favourite but it has not made my estimations of Ishiguro sink. I just thought it was quite average.

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hannahvlfnt's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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cady_sass's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

This just didn’t do it for me. I’ve loved some of Ishiguro’s other work, but this feels very distinctly like a novel on required reading list in a high school or undergrad English class. That may sound dismissive but I don’t mean it to be so- classic lit has a very specific audience, and I am not that audience, but this writing begs to be analyzed and scrutinized like you would a classic. The dialogue does not flow naturally and can be a bit painful to read at times, which is likely very intentional to portray the difference between Japanese and American conversational dialect, but made it tough to stay engaged. It’s short, I’m glad I read it, but I wouldn’t recommend unless dissecting a piece of literature is your vibe.

There is definitely something to be said about the dichotomy of failures in motherhood between Etsuko and Sachiko: one failed their daughter by way of gross (willful) negligence, and the other by smothering over-parenting, although never explicitly described but heavily implied. The novel flips back and forth between present day, Etsuko living in England and interacting with her youngest daughter in the wake of her eldest daughter’s suicide, and Etsuko’s memory of living in post-WW2 Japan while pregnant with her eldest daughter and befriending a single mother. The two women are very unlikely friends and could not painted more differently. Sachiko is, for lack of another word, a sociopath. She is absolutely horrible to everyone in her life and is only concerned with herself, at everyone else’s expense. Etsuko is caring and nonjudgmental, helpful and generous, often stepping in and “mothering” Sachiko’s troubled and neglected daughter, Mariko. By the time the novel is over, you’re left to wonder if Sachiko and Mariko even existed at all, and wonder perhaps Etsuko was the villain all along.

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josman's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sketchydelusion's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.5

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laurenkimoto's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

Just eerie vibes the whole time but I would expect nothing less from this man

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caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition

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mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

A Pale View of Hills is Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel. It starts out as a very simple story about a middle-aged woman reminiscing about the past. Sometimes those memories are clear as day, sometimes they are quite hazy. And sometimes the dreamy memories feel more like nightmares. This was a very slow read. The language is stilted. It reads like just like the narrator, someone who grew up speaking another language and still translates into English in her mind. There are flashes of the brilliant writer Ishiguro will become, but in the end, it was a boring read. The character development could have been better and some of the side stories should have been either fleshed out or deleted altogether. The one positive thing I can say is that the ending of the story blew me away.

I’m still glad I read this. I will continue to read Ishiguro’s novels in the order they were published. Next up, An Artist of the Floating World.

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