Reviews

An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro

mhewza's review

4.0

In the space of one sentence, Ishiguro has you trance-like in the middle of one event and then places you in the middle of a completely separate event, without ever letting you notice the transition between the two.

skuzxs's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

unreliablereader's review

4.0

Elegant enough for me. Full of ambition, dignity, guilt, political and generational change.
The unreliable narrator is always a bonus. The Remains of the Day vibes were there.

hedgehogshannah's review

reflective slow-paced

4.0

black_girl_reading's review

4.0

An Artist of the Floating World was totally classic Kazuo Ishiguro and also felt an awful lot like a companion novel to The Remains of the Day in the best way. About an aging Japanese artist forced into retirement at the end of WWII due to the propaganda he created for regime, Masuji Ono finds himself reflecting on his life, and his new reviled position in society, while largely avoiding honestly examining his own experiences and choices during the war, and the impacts of this on his life (see? Classic Ishiguro). Ono struggles to maintain relationships with his remaining living adult children, who resent him and what his fall from grace has meant in in their lives, he tries to grow close to a grandchild enamoured of American culture, and he largely ignores the emotional implications of the deaths of his his wife and son during the war. Ono also faces colleagues from the pleasure district (the floating world of the title) whom he fell out with over his choice to support the government campaigns with his art, many of whom went to prison for their resistance to the war, and finds himself in the impossible position of needing things from them while also refusing to accept responsibility for his choices. Ono is truly alienated from himself, his now destroyed art, and the world. This book was as foggy and winding as any Ishiguro, and much more of the story was told in what wasn’t said than in what was. This subtlety and ambiguity was emphasized for me as I know so little of pre and post WWII Japan - I would love any balanced reccos for books about this time. I love that Ishiguro always hints at darker things without fully entering the shadows, and that he always dances over the line of what is forgivable and what isn’t, leaving the reader with so much power to shape their own reading of the story, and to decide things for themselves.

eheslosz's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I really appreciate Ishiguro's writing; it's very sparse and simple and understated but so much is said without being said. Very good at "show not tell". And so good at dialogue – the tension beneath polite comments! There were two moments in particular (which were actually linked and paralleled each other) where I felt physical tension in my body whilst reading.

agathe02's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

jendella's review against another edition

4.0

I’m discovering that really enjoy Kazuo Ishiguri’s approach to storytelling. This book is like looking at various different sketches and vignettes, as the narrator reflects on his past and his present, and they carefully layer together to build a picture that is delicately constructed and really intriguing. Maybe if you don’t have patience the patience for a slow-builder, it won’t be for you, but it’s set in Japan post-WWII and is about a country rebuilding itself and a people reckoning with their past, all told through the story of Ono, a man whose fate was once tied to the vision of a Japan long gone, and, for better or for worse, has survived the upheaval.

rosalindamg's review against another edition

2.0

I don't really get Kazuo Ishiguro. When reading him I feel as if I'm supposed to decipher riddles. I understand his words but not the point he's trying to make. if any.
There are, in my opinion, far superior and more subtle books that treat most of the same topics; for instance the Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki. There are authors whose passages of quotidian things are more enjoyable and beautiful, such as Haruki Murakami.

Ishiguro is just not for me.

cheryl1213's review

4.0

This is the second of the two Ishiguro books I recently purchased after revisiting Remains of the Day. As with the other, this is a fairly short book. Set in Japan, it is narrated by an aging artist who is reflecting on his potential involvement in the movements that led Japan to WWII. He revisits a good deal of his life, spurred by the marriage negotiations (the book's phrase...it is still more a deal between families than a love-based concept) for his younger daughter and concern about how his past might reflect in the current light.

I enjoyed the book. Ishiguro really likes to see how individual people are impacted by national upheaval and how they come to terms, especially when they are on the "wrong side" of history. I didn't really love it, but I looked forward to the book at night and was compelled to keep reading. As with many of my preferred books, there are no perfect characters here and the narrator does contemplate his own flaws (though I think he misses a big one...but that's fine since I think the author helps u see it, partly through comments from his daughters).

I'd give it 3.5 stars and would round up to make the "full star only" rating site folks happy.

P.S. Won a second Goodreads drawing!! And three Harper books en route!
P.P.S. I am exhausted after so many health challenges but seem to be avoiding any new ones (knock on cyberspace). I am taking it easy this week, letting myself rest in bed extra and cutting down the cardio. I need some self-TLC.