Scan barcode
cady_sass's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Suicide
Moderate: War, Child abuse, Sexism, Abandonment, and Gaslighting
More...