Week 94 - An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

[Leslie]

Week #94 brings us to the 1986 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World.

Robert McCrum starts off his article with:

"Kazuo Ishiguro is best known for The Remains of the Day, his Booker prizewinner; The Unconsoled, a very long novel of hallucinatory strangeness; and Never Let Me Go, a contemporary favourite widely taught in schools. But the pitch-perfect novel that both expresses his Japanese inheritance and also captures the haunting beauty and delicacy of Ishiguro’s English prose is his second work of fiction, An Artist of the Floating World.

This, as its title suggests, is a tour de force of unreliable narration, set in post-second world war Japan, during the American occupation. Masuji Ono, a respected artist in the 30s and during the war but now retired, is garrulously recalling the past, from a highly subjective point of view."

You can read the full Guardian article here.

[Leslie]

I haven't heard of this book before. However, I loved The Remains of the Day which is the first book by Ishiguro I have read!

[Diane S ☔]

One I own but have not read. Never let me go is the first of his I read and it has haunted me ever since.

[[deleted user]]

I have read Never Let Me Go which I enjoyed and would like to read The Remains of the Day. I hadn't heard of the chosen book before today

[Gill]

I think Ishiguro is one of the greats. I read this when it first came out; it's probably time for a re-read.

[Greg]

I quite enjoyed Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day - maybe I should try this one next!

[Shirley]

Greg wrote: "I quite enjoyed Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day - maybe I should try this one next!"

Yes, me too! Will definitely have to try this sometime!

[LauraT]

Leslie wrote: "I haven't heard of this book before. However, I loved The Remains of the Day which is the first book by Ishiguro I have read!"

Me too!!!

[Pink]

Greg wrote: "I quite enjoyed Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day - maybe I should try this one next!"

I'm the opposite. Read and didn't enjoy either, Ishiguro is just not for me.

[Greg]

At least you gave him a try Pink :)

[Pink]

Definitely Greg, I may even read something else by him in the future, as I recognise there are good things about his books, but overall I don't get on very well with his writing style.

[Pink]

Thanks for the suggestion Sandy, that might be a good idea for me.