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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ishiguro has a wonderful way of imbuing emotion into simplicity. I’ve seen people criticize his books for this — romanticizing and rambling on about ‘nothing’ — but I love the way he elevates the mundane in a poetic and dreamlike fashion. And “The Unconsoled” is the epitome of a jumbled, fugue-like narrative.
The narrator, Mr. Ryder, exists in a distorted, bizarre, anything-is-possible and nothing-is-consequential dream state where two strangers he’s first meeting are also his wife and child, and the tram outside the café leads him into the countryside where he passes through a cupboard and ends up back in the café. You get the picture. The plot progress exceptionally slowly; at times, single paragraphs of dialogue or description span across multiple pages. All the characters feel like a single product, with the same formal, proper speech and rambling, run-on sentences, as Mr. Ryder is constantly getting lost, postponed, or sidetracked on his way.
This book is often tedious and frustrating to push through, but that feels like the sole intent. While the reading experience is quite slow, I was impressed by the way Ishiguro harnesses the nonsensical, projecting the narrator’s confusions onto the reader with how subjective and non-lucid the journey is.
What an accurate depiction of the self-preoccupied people who wants everybody listen and understand them, yet failing to do so themselves. What a relief to finish the book. On my humble opinion, this is far from Ishiguro’s best works.
A rare Ishiguro miss, for me anyway. I was intrigued for a while by the mysterious conceit and eager to see where it led but had to give up around p220 when it all just sort of drifted into sheer incoherence (which, from a quick skim ahead appeared to go on for the remaining 300 pages).
ik weet niet of ik m alleen maar nice vind omdat ik gwn best wel lang ermee bezig ben geweest en omdat ie lang is of omdat ie actually goed is dus moet nog even nadenken over een rating
challenging
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I love Kazuos writing and although I enjoyed the pacing and the descriptiveness of the text I was bored and it was a slog
mysterious
reflective
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:
No
Wow. This was one of the strangest, most disconcerting and disorienting books I've ever read. I'm not sure I loved it, but I think it is an amazing accomplishment and will think about it for a very, very long time. I don't want to say more....
Felt like a fever dream and was bored. I might come back later.