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A review by erinlcrane
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
4.0
3.5 stars that I’m rounding up to a 4. I’ve had a few of those in a row, which is so fun…
This feels very much like The Remains of the Day version 1. It doesn’t feel as subtle as Remains, but it covers very similar thematic ground. It’s just set in Japan, from a Japanese man’s perspective. Still covers post WWII complicity via a narrator who is traditional and somewhat repressed.
I *loved* that we came full circle on the art burning. That was just perfect to me.
I read another review that explained the ending - I definitely had the wrong impression. Or maybe what I thought is an alternative. My sense of his daughter’s comments on his career at the end were that he had misinterpreted where he had gone wrong. Instead of the art he produced being the major problem, it was the cooperation with the government to target artists. That he had mistaken the power of his art. I do like that interpretation, but I think others make sense, too.
Ishiguro does a really excellent job creating moments that feel so awkward even though they’re minor. He creates conversations where you feel the subtext so strongly. But I felt stretches of boredom here I didn’t feel in Remains, which made the experience less moving.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator left a lot to be desired. He voiced the protagonist so straightforwardly. I was hoping for some hints of insecurity or strain, but didn’t get any of that. Might’ve been a better one to read as a print book!
This feels very much like The Remains of the Day version 1. It doesn’t feel as subtle as Remains, but it covers very similar thematic ground. It’s just set in Japan, from a Japanese man’s perspective. Still covers post WWII complicity via a narrator who is traditional and somewhat repressed.
I *loved* that we came full circle on the art burning. That was just perfect to me.
I read another review that explained the ending - I definitely had the wrong impression. Or maybe what I thought is an alternative. My sense of his daughter’s comments on his career at the end were that he had misinterpreted where he had gone wrong. Instead of the art he produced being the major problem, it was the cooperation with the government to target artists. That he had mistaken the power of his art. I do like that interpretation, but I think others make sense, too.
Ishiguro does a really excellent job creating moments that feel so awkward even though they’re minor. He creates conversations where you feel the subtext so strongly. But I felt stretches of boredom here I didn’t feel in Remains, which made the experience less moving.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator left a lot to be desired. He voiced the protagonist so straightforwardly. I was hoping for some hints of insecurity or strain, but didn’t get any of that. Might’ve been a better one to read as a print book!