A review by thisisacornhyperbole
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
5.0
I tried to read The Buried Giant the year of its release in 2015, but found, like many others, terribly bored by the drawling repetition and foggy nature of the dialogue between our main characters, Axl and Beatrice. Desperate for reading material, I found myself returning to The Buried Giant for a second attempt.
Maybe I am older and wiser, or maybe I find, after surviving through a global pandemic, I have a more relatable experience with trauma and grief. Author Kazuo Ishiguro has offered an exploration of the fantastical possibility of forgetting. Is it truly better/easier to forget the pains and sufferings of our past, as well as the joys and wonders? Or would it dull our entire existence, melding every moment into a subconscious blur of monotony and pointlessness?
A couple random thoughts:
I really loved this book, and after the first 20 pages, I started tearing through it. Without spoiling anything, this book has the type of ending that makes you say "What?!" and reread it to make sure you didn't miss anything. I also found myself reminiscing about the 2004 film, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" which also touches on a lot of these themes of trauma.
This is the type of novel I could see being studied in an undergraduate English program, or alternatively would great book for book clubs and discussion.
Maybe I am older and wiser, or maybe I find, after surviving through a global pandemic, I have a more relatable experience with trauma and grief. Author Kazuo Ishiguro has offered an exploration of the fantastical possibility of forgetting. Is it truly better/easier to forget the pains and sufferings of our past, as well as the joys and wonders? Or would it dull our entire existence, melding every moment into a subconscious blur of monotony and pointlessness?
A couple random thoughts:
I really loved this book, and after the first 20 pages, I started tearing through it. Without spoiling anything, this book has the type of ending that makes you say "What?!" and reread it to make sure you didn't miss anything. I also found myself reminiscing about the 2004 film, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" which also touches on a lot of these themes of trauma.
This is the type of novel I could see being studied in an undergraduate English program, or alternatively would great book for book clubs and discussion.