Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Buried Giant

Man, this book. I feel I'm going to have this settling in my mind a while. I'm just going to share the lines I underlined in my copy, as I can't think of how to discuss it.

'I wonder if what we feel in our hearts today isn't like these raindrops still falling on us from the soaked leaves above, even though the sky itself long stopped raining. I'm wondering if without our memories, there's nothing for it but for our love to fade and die.'

'Yet are you so certain, good mistress, you wish to be free of this mist? Is it not better some things remain hidden from our minds?'
(...) 'We'll have the bad ones come back too, even if they make us weep or shake with anger. For isn't it the life we've shared?'

'I'll never , never give her up.'
(...) 'You've known a long time now there's no cure to save her. How will you bear it, what now lies in wait for her? Do you long for that day you watch your dearest love twist in agony and with nothing to offer but kind words for her ear?'

'How can old wounds heal while maggots linger so richly? Or a peace hold for ever built on slaughter (...)? I see how devoutly you wish it, for your old horrors to crumble as dust. Yet they await in the soil as white bones for men to uncover.'

Content Warnings

booitsnathalie's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

booksjessreads's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I am struggling to summarise my thoughts for this novel into a coherent review, but I think this deserved three stars because the intellectual ideas behind this novel were good, but they were not carried out in a way that was interesting or engaging with the reader?

The setting was so magical and was definitely what drew me in to begin with. It was told in a folklore-ish way and was set in an ancient, fantasy world which felt so cosy and mysterious. Axl and Beatrice were also lovely characters, and whilst I was not completely drawn to them all of the time, their bond and love for one another was inspiring and loveable. However, I felt the story was super slow. I listened to the audio alongside this, and I even felt it was difficult through that. I also felt the third-person narrative did not suit the other stylistic choices that Ishiguro had chosen to tell the story with.

However, I still really enjoyed the themes running through the book, such as the idea of collective identity and memory and the complexity of emotions. I think the ideas behind them were really clever, but I just wish the book had been engaged with in a better way.

Content Warnings

mariekeroos's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Amazing

Content Warnings

jwells's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious reflective sad

Literary fantasy that packs a punch, if a reader is willing to meet it on its own terms. It doesn't follow fantasy genre rules for who a protagonist should be, what an action scene should be like, or even what the most important part of the story should be.

I cried more at the end than I did over Never Let Me Go. YMMV.

Content Warnings

More...