A review by jennygaitskell
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

5.0

This is a remarkable novel. It is a quest that begins at dawn, in a moment of clarity. Old Axl agrees to go with his beloved Beatrice to meet their son in a village they believe to be nearby. In the post-Arthurian land, nothing is certain. Almost everybody is bewildered by their short memory, and addled by fear of sprites and demons and ogres and dragons and buried giants, only some of which are superstitions. Sir Gawain and Wistan still have their wits, the last Knight from the west and the young Warrior from the east, but their motives are hazy. Axl and Beatrice are drawn into their schemes, and their journey becomes one into memory, personal and collective. It's ending, at dusk, blows the mist from what has gone before.

It's rare that I forget that I'm reading, but this writing had me enthralled. Rich with metaphor, subtle, reflective, melancholic. It also had me in tears. I was inspired.