893. The Unconsoled

The Unconsoled
Kazuo Ishiguro
1995
Around 535 pages

Kazuo Ishiguro is a great writer, and while this didn't entirely fit my personal tastes, I can still appreciate it as an outstanding work teeming with captivating prose. 

Ryder, an acclaimed pianist, arrives at a city for the most important concert he has ever given, except he doesn't know where he is, and he can't remember agreeing to perform the concert in the first place. In other words, it's your standard issue nightmare. My dreams love taking me to airports, only to realize that I can't find my passport. They're classics for a reason.

This is a very Kafka-esque story, although Kafka was briefer than this. Personally, I don't love dreamlike or hallucinogenic narratives. I feel like the stakes are pretty low if any moment our main character can just wake up and declare it was all a dream, not that Ishiguro was guilty of this. His writing is always a little slow, but contains so many brilliant observations about humanity that I don't mind that much.

Not my favorite, but it's fair to say that our streak continues!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Received strong negative reviews upon publication, but has come to be known as one of Ishiguro's best works.

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