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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
What an absolute joy of a novel. Masterfully written and entirely intriguing, though I understand why it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
It is the kind of novel that you have to trust and just follow along - much like you would a dream. This is, in fact, the stylistic structure the novel purposefully follows and perhaps the sense of confusion it creates within many a reader is on its own a testament to its success. But in short, if you are the kind of person who wondered at the end of "Inception" whether it was all real or just Cobb's imagination, rather than focus on the thematic resolution and conclusion of the narrative, you would not enjoy this.
Personally, this was my favourite aspect of the novel and what made it an exceptional reading experience for me. It took some time getting used to but once I understood where it was purposeful, it was something I could trust would take me where I needed to be.
It is fascinating to me how excellently Ishiguro achieves the precise sense of confusion yet absolute resolution in confidence in one's dreams in literary form. From the way it makes perfect sense for Ryder to have once seen his schedule and to have completely missed it in the next paragraph, to the way he cannot help himself from reacting and acting a certain why, out of nowhere, to the confidence with which he goes from a room that was at the other end of town straight back into the hotel without question (he once even remarks it was just "one of those buildings"), to the humour in the absurdity of it all. In my mind, it also played strongly on several cultural references - Escher's work, a perhaps less lyrical Borges, and the structure of Dante's "Inferno" (almost every Canto ending with Dante passing out due to the untenable horror of Hell compared to Ryder's falling asleep at the end of each section), in particular come to mind.
And like any dream, it is our (Ryder's) subconscious trying to put our (Ryder's) life into order and unburden the mind from the matters that torture us (Ryder) during our waking hours. In that sense, the novel can be read Ryder encountering different versions of himself from different periods of his life (I believe this is something that Ishiguro himself has suggested; it comes off clearly in my opinion and it is the way I feel I understood it for the majority of my reading time). It is an exploration of what has been and what could have been.
Regardless, "The Unconsoled" is the kind of the novel of which any reader could find their own interpretation should they only allow it to speak, trust and listen.
It is the kind of novel that you have to trust and just follow along - much like you would a dream. This is, in fact, the stylistic structure the novel purposefully follows and perhaps the sense of confusion it creates within many a reader is on its own a testament to its success. But in short, if you are the kind of person who wondered at the end of "Inception" whether it was all real or just Cobb's imagination, rather than focus on the thematic resolution and conclusion of the narrative, you would not enjoy this.
Personally, this was my favourite aspect of the novel and what made it an exceptional reading experience for me. It took some time getting used to but once I understood where it was purposeful, it was something I could trust would take me where I needed to be.
It is fascinating to me how excellently Ishiguro achieves the precise sense of confusion yet absolute resolution in confidence in one's dreams in literary form. From the way it makes perfect sense for Ryder to have once seen his schedule and to have completely missed it in the next paragraph, to the way he cannot help himself from reacting and acting a certain why, out of nowhere, to the confidence with which he goes from a room that was at the other end of town straight back into the hotel without question (he once even remarks it was just "one of those buildings"), to the humour in the absurdity of it all. In my mind, it also played strongly on several cultural references - Escher's work, a perhaps less lyrical Borges, and the structure of Dante's "Inferno" (almost every Canto ending with Dante passing out due to the untenable horror of Hell compared to Ryder's falling asleep at the end of each section), in particular come to mind.
And like any dream, it is our (Ryder's) subconscious trying to put our (Ryder's) life into order and unburden the mind from the matters that torture us (Ryder) during our waking hours. In that sense, the novel can be read Ryder encountering different versions of himself from different periods of his life (I believe this is something that Ishiguro himself has suggested; it comes off clearly in my opinion and it is the way I feel I understood it for the majority of my reading time). It is an exploration of what has been and what could have been.
Regardless, "The Unconsoled" is the kind of the novel of which any reader could find their own interpretation should they only allow it to speak, trust and listen.
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Audiobook performed by Simon Vance
From the book jacket: It is the story of a man named Ryder. He is a pianist of international renown who has arrived in a European city he cannot identify to give a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. In the days before the concert, he is led in and out of the lives of seeming strangers, but his fleeting recollections of them and of his purpose among them are invariably overwhelmed by their inexplicable knowledge and expectations of him.
My reactions
Ishiguro is a brilliant writer, but this was a really challenging work. It is the stuff of dreams, or perhaps nightmares. People come and go, and Ryder (not to mention the reader) is left trying to puzzle out what is happening. He sets off with one purpose and gets waylaid time and again. As an example, one evening he goes to a movie, only to be introduced to a group of men who are playing cards and having loud arguments about local politics. Or he goes to a fancy dinner in his dressing gown and slippers. Or he’s in the middle of town and then driving for a long time into the countryside where he parks in a field, then enters a gallery which, he later discovers, is actually attached to his hotel (which is in the middle of town).
I was kept constantly off balance by these strange sequences. And really never did wrap my mind around whatever Ishiguro was trying to say. I appreciated the work more than I enjoyed it. And I’m not sure I would recommend it to most people I know.
I listened to a good portion of this on audio, narrated by the marvelous Simon Vance. But I think this is a book that is best tackled in text format, and I read about 30 percent of it rather than listen.
From the book jacket: It is the story of a man named Ryder. He is a pianist of international renown who has arrived in a European city he cannot identify to give a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. In the days before the concert, he is led in and out of the lives of seeming strangers, but his fleeting recollections of them and of his purpose among them are invariably overwhelmed by their inexplicable knowledge and expectations of him.
My reactions
Ishiguro is a brilliant writer, but this was a really challenging work. It is the stuff of dreams, or perhaps nightmares. People come and go, and Ryder (not to mention the reader) is left trying to puzzle out what is happening. He sets off with one purpose and gets waylaid time and again. As an example, one evening he goes to a movie, only to be introduced to a group of men who are playing cards and having loud arguments about local politics. Or he goes to a fancy dinner in his dressing gown and slippers. Or he’s in the middle of town and then driving for a long time into the countryside where he parks in a field, then enters a gallery which, he later discovers, is actually attached to his hotel (which is in the middle of town).
I was kept constantly off balance by these strange sequences. And really never did wrap my mind around whatever Ishiguro was trying to say. I appreciated the work more than I enjoyed it. And I’m not sure I would recommend it to most people I know.
I listened to a good portion of this on audio, narrated by the marvelous Simon Vance. But I think this is a book that is best tackled in text format, and I read about 30 percent of it rather than listen.
This is like a band following up their breakthrough album with a fatally indulgent triple LP. Ishiguro simply is not in control of the material. This I suppose is the nature of surrealist art, but his dreamstuff is not inspired enough to carry a novel of this length. The "first person omniscient" gimmick was interesting, but I wish he'd deployed a greater variety of rule-breaking techniques, if only to keep my mind engaged. Having said that, I will allow for the possibility I just didn't know how to read this, that there exists some interpretive lens through which the events would seem less arbitrary, the pages-long monologues virtuosic rather than numbingly insistent.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
mysterious
tense
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:
Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The first time I picked up the book, I couldn’t get past the first ~70 pages, I was so confused and disoriented by the structure and Ryder’s lack of memory was stressing me out. I was going to mark it as DNF but decided I’d just push through and skim if I needed to, as long as I got through it (bc I was curious what the point of the book was)
HOWEVER after taking a break and doing some research into this book (I literally went into it blind the first time), I was like oh it’s meant to be a dreamlike vibe, so after returning to the book with a new mindset, it was a lot easier to get through and the transitions, albeit weird, made sense to me in dream-logic
When he was trying to get home from the big dinner I was like damn I bet he’s already in the hotel AND HE WAS LOL. I also started noticing the parallels between the different characters’ stories and I’m gonna need to think about it for a few days but my immediate take is that a lot of the characters are mirrors of different aspects of his life/relationship. It’s the same story from different points in time and points of view.
As for the cons, this is def a hard read, it’s so long, so frustrating (why can’t he just figure out his itinerary?? Why can’t he just prioritize his tasks better??) and some monologues are pages long and repetitive. So for the first ~300 pages I was forcing myself to push through instead of DNF or marking it as a 2-3 star. But after I finished it and thought about it more, I was kinda impressed and amused
To me, the main themes I caught were the relationships in his life, and there’s a lot to talk about there. But it’s not clear to me what the city represents, why so much emphasis is placed on music in this city, why the city is spiralling recently, and why he keeps running into childhood friends. My guess rn is that he’s in some kind of purgatory and the city is manifestation of his life. The childhood characters are maybe there as just fillers so they don’t have to keep creating new faces/personalities/characters LOL and ig some of them (like Fiona) are prob highlighting things that happened in his life (eg not speaking up or being there for someone who was always there for you)
The abrupt changes in scenery were so funny to me bc that’s exactly how I dream lols
HOWEVER after taking a break and doing some research into this book (I literally went into it blind the first time), I was like oh it’s meant to be a dreamlike vibe, so after returning to the book with a new mindset, it was a lot easier to get through and the transitions, albeit weird, made sense to me in dream-logic
When he was trying to get home from the big dinner I was like damn I bet he’s already in the hotel AND HE WAS LOL. I also started noticing the parallels between the different characters’ stories and I’m gonna need to think about it for a few days but my immediate take is that a lot of the characters are mirrors of different aspects of his life/relationship. It’s the same story from different points in time and points of view.
As for the cons, this is def a hard read, it’s so long, so frustrating (why can’t he just figure out his itinerary?? Why can’t he just prioritize his tasks better??) and some monologues are pages long and repetitive. So for the first ~300 pages I was forcing myself to push through instead of DNF or marking it as a 2-3 star. But after I finished it and thought about it more, I was kinda impressed and amused
To me, the main themes I caught were the relationships in his life, and there’s a lot to talk about there. But it’s not clear to me what the city represents, why so much emphasis is placed on music in this city, why the city is spiralling recently, and why he keeps running into childhood friends. My guess rn is that he’s in some kind of purgatory and the city is manifestation of his life. The childhood characters are maybe there as just fillers so they don’t have to keep creating new faces/personalities/characters LOL and ig some of them (like Fiona) are prob highlighting things that happened in his life (eg not speaking up or being there for someone who was always there for you)
The abrupt changes in scenery were so funny to me bc that’s exactly how I dream lols