victorianabigail 's review for:

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

4.0

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Ishiguro is my favorite living author, and while I wouldn't put this book in his top tier--which consists of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go--it's probably my favorite of his others. That said, I've read it a few times and still don't fully understand exactly what he's trying to get across here. It's a very surreal book, and Ishiguro does such a good job creating the surreal mood and world that it keeps me absorbed, even when I don't understand the specific meanings of the individual dreamlike moments and scenes. There are a lot of recurring tropes throughout the book--dysfunctional couples and dysfunctional parent-child relationships, all of which parallel each other; the use of good music as a substitute or stand-in for functionality and love, whether in interpersonal relationships or larger civic structures; the need for exaggerated forms of hospitality--and while I'm not sure what all of them mean in relation to each other, I do get the sense that there is a meaning, and I like the experience of spending time in the novel's world.