A review by caribbeangirlreading
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

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

3.0

A Pale View of Hills is Kazuo Ishiguro’s debut novel. It starts out as a very simple story about a middle-aged woman reminiscing about the past. Sometimes those memories are clear as day, sometimes they are quite hazy. And sometimes the dreamy memories feel more like nightmares. This was a very slow read. The language is stilted. It reads like just like the narrator, someone who grew up speaking another language and still translates into English in her mind. There are flashes of the brilliant writer Ishiguro will become, but in the end, it was a boring read. The character development could have been better and some of the side stories should have been either fleshed out or deleted altogether. The one positive thing I can say is that the ending of the story blew me away. 

I’m still glad I read this. I will continue to read Ishiguro’s novels in the order they were published. Next up, An Artist of the Floating World. 
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