reviews of the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro

I’m not asking for action, it’s perfectly possible to have a book that’s slow, literary, concept-focused and interesting ( ahem). It’s not that it’s slow and too literary either. There is nothing inherently wrong with this – if the other elements were good enough, I would not have minded. By two thirds in, I started skimming and considered not finishing.Ī lot of fantasy reminiscent of Tolkien is essentially a description of a more or less eventful hiking trip, and this is no different. Or to put it plainly: despite liking the concept, I was bored to death the whole way through. Saying a book can’t be SFF because it’s theme-heavy is absurd.Įrasure of memory is handled well, and there are a lot of interesting questions – is it better for a terrible event to be forgotten if it means peace? Or should the truth come to light because it’s more right to face it, even if it will mean more blood spilled? What does memory mean when it comes to love? But that alone is not enough. Regardless, I could never question whether it belongs in the genre or not if anything, it’s back to its very roots. And Tolkien, as any fantasy fan knows, was not a fan of allegory at all. Though there is one significant difference: The Buried Giant has pretty strong undercurrents of allegory – according to some interviews, Ishiguro apparently even considered setting it in Bosnia. Whether this is intentional or not doesn’t matter at all.

More so than any of the writers commonly considered to be imitating him, who may have the tropes but not the feeling. The quiet English countryside, the atmosphere, the focus on the journey…at the first glance, it reminded me a lot of Tolkien. On their meandering (oh so meandering) journey they start to learn about the mist itself, what it is, what it means, and which memories is it covering up. The gist of the plot is this: an older couple from a village plagued by a mysterious mist that eats memories decides to go visit their son who lives a while away. Unfortunately, the end result is flatter than soda that’s been left outside for three days. “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?” Older protagonists are always a nice change of pace. I’m always looking for more books that deal with consequences of a big event (such as a war) rather than the event itself. The Buried Giant had, in theory, all the makings of a book I could enjoy. I came to this book primarily as a long-time fantasy fan – even though I had read Never Let Me Go many years ago, I have few memories of it.

Reviews of the buried giant by kazuo ishiguro