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

Ishiguro reached into my brain and rearranged the structure with this writing, he literally changed my brain chemistry after reading this one. very complicated characters and works backwards into the past off a post-war Japan with little genuine or non-narcissistic detail from the main character. perception of motherhood, cultural assimilation, and overall ability to connect to a reader without revealing any true emotion is impressive - worth the read

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hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition

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4.0

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booksjessreads's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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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emmacb's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Having tried to read another book by this author and sort of lost interest halfway through, I didn't have high hopes but wanted to give a celebrated writer another shot! I enjoyed this book, but would have liked to learn more about some of the events in the story.
I know the focus is on the characters recollection of past events, but I still would have liked to know more about

what happened with her and her husband in Japan, then in America and how that affected her daughter,

rather than leaving it completely unresolved for the reader

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