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

I liked the central theme of the book (that being how we cannot outrun and escape our past) but i really couldn’t bring myself to care about how it was presented… I also didn’t care about any of the characters, especially those in Nagasaki

I also get that for it being more of an internal struggle and psychological exploration and not a plot based one , it still bothers me a bit to not know what happened to the characters and how Etsuko ended up where she was

I also wish there were more exploration on grief … I know it was supposed to make me feel sad about the character when she is being so compliant and without a voice of her own against all people around her, but it just made me more frustrated and annoyed by her.
I know a lot of this criticism is just personal bias , but if anyone shares that bias i hope this review was helpful

Content Warnings

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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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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piscero's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

sadiaa's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

It's easy to read but like most Japanese novels, nothing really happens. The pov changes throughout the book to the past when estuko was pregnant and had spent the summer with Mariko and her mother, to the present when estuko is dealing with the suicide of her daughter kieko.

Mariko is kieko, it's just brushed over with no explanation

. It's a shame that the ghost woman storyline was not explored more, whilst we find out who the woman was, there's no resolution. Ultimately the book ends with us feeling sorry for estuko as the book ends with her being left alone.
Despite this I enjoyed the book and will be reading more from Ishiguro.

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