dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

by far my least favourite of ishiguro's works, might have to give it a second shot?
challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

it took me 3 yrs to read this sorry mom i do read the books you get me for christmas:(
emotional reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
hopeful relaxing medium-paced

3.5 stars that I’m rounding up to a 4. I’ve had a few of those in a row, which is so fun…

This feels very much like The Remains of the Day version 1. It doesn’t feel as subtle as Remains, but it covers very similar thematic ground. It’s just set in Japan, from a Japanese man’s perspective. Still covers post WWII complicity via a narrator who is traditional and somewhat repressed.

I *loved* that we came full circle on the art burning. That was just perfect to me.

I read another review that explained the ending - I definitely had the wrong impression. Or maybe what I thought is an alternative. My sense of his daughter’s comments on his career at the end were that he had misinterpreted where he had gone wrong. Instead of the art he produced being the major problem, it was the cooperation with the government to target artists. That he had mistaken the power of his art. I do like that interpretation, but I think others make sense, too.

Ishiguro does a really excellent job creating moments that feel so awkward even though they’re minor. He creates conversations where you feel the subtext so strongly. But I felt stretches of boredom here I didn’t feel in Remains, which made the experience less moving.

I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator left a lot to be desired. He voiced the protagonist so straightforwardly. I was hoping for some hints of insecurity or strain, but didn’t get any of that. Might’ve been a better one to read as a print book!
challenging reflective sad slow-paced
reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes