Kazuo Ishiguro

The Unconsoled is an extraordinary study of a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control

The Unconsoled

What an absolute joy of a novel. Masterfully written and entirely intriguing, though I understand why it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

It is the kind of novel that you have to trust and just follow along - much like you would a dream. This is, in fact, the stylistic structure the novel purposefully follows and perhaps the sense of confusion it creates within many a reader is on its own a testament to its success. But in short, if you are the kind of person who wondered at the end of "Inception" whether it was all real or just Cobb's imagination, rather than focus on the thematic resolution and conclusion of the narrative, you would not enjoy this.

Personally, this was my favourite aspect of the novel and what made it an exceptional reading experience for me. It took some time getting used to but once I understood where it was purposeful, it was something I could trust would take me where I needed to be.

It is fascinating to me how excellently Ishiguro achieves the precise sense of confusion yet absolute resolution in confidence in one's dreams in literary form. From the way it makes perfect sense for Ryder to have once seen his schedule and to have completely missed it in the next paragraph, to the way he cannot help himself from reacting and acting a certain why, out of nowhere, to the confidence with which he goes from a room that was at the other end of town straight back into the hotel without question (he once even remarks it was just "one of those buildings"), to the humour in the absurdity of it all. In my mind, it also played strongly on several cultural references - Escher's work, a perhaps less lyrical Borges, and the structure of Dante's "Inferno" (almost every Canto ending with Dante passing out due to the untenable horror of Hell compared to Ryder's falling asleep at the end of each section), in particular come to mind.

And like any dream, it is our (Ryder's) subconscious trying to put our (Ryder's) life into order and unburden the mind from the matters that torture us (Ryder) during our waking hours. In that sense, the novel can be read Ryder encountering different versions of himself from different periods of his life (I believe this is something that Ishiguro himself has suggested; it comes off clearly in my opinion and it is the way I feel I understood it for the majority of my reading time). It is an exploration of what has been and what could have been.

Regardless, "The Unconsoled" is the kind of the novel of which any reader could find their own interpretation should they only allow it to speak, trust and listen.

What an absolute joy of a novel. Masterfully written and entirely intriguing, though I understand why it might not be everyone's cup of tea.

It is the kind of novel that you have to trust and just follow along - much like you would a dream. This is, in fact, the stylistic structure the novel purposefully follows and perhaps the sense of confusion it creates within many a reader is on its own a testament to its success. But in short, if you are the kind of person who wondered at the end of "Inception" whether it was all real or just Cobb's imagination, rather than focus on the thematic resolution and conclusion of the narrative, you would not enjoy this.

Personally, this was my favourite aspect of the novel and what made it an exceptional reading experience for me. It took some time getting used to but once I understood where it was purposeful, it was something I could trust would take me where I needed to be.

It is fascinating to me how excellently Ishiguro achieves the precise sense of confusion yet absolute resolution in confidence in one's dreams in literary form. From the way it makes perfect sense for Ryder to have once seen his schedule and to have completely missed it in the next paragraph, to the way he cannot help himself from reacting and acting a certain why, out of nowhere, to the confidence with which he goes from a room that was at the other end of town straight back into the hotel without question (he once even remarks it was just "one of those buildings"), to the humour in the absurdity of it all. In my mind, it also played strongly on several cultural references - Escher's work, a perhaps less lyrical Borges, and the structure of Dante's "Inferno" (almost every Canto ending with Dante passing out due to the untenable horror of Hell compared to Ryder's falling asleep at the end of each section), in particular come to mind.

And like any dream, it is our (Ryder's) subconscious trying to put our (Ryder's) life into order and unburden the mind from the matters that torture us (Ryder) during our waking hours. In that sense, the novel can be read Ryder encountering different versions of himself from different periods of his life (I believe this is something that Ishiguro himself has suggested; it comes off clearly in my opinion and it is the way I feel I understood it for the majority of my reading time). It is an exploration of what has been and what could have been.

Regardless, "The Unconsoled" is the kind of the novel of which any reader could find their own interpretation should they only allow it to speak, trust and listen.

*Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel Klara and the Sun is now available to preorder* By the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go Ryder, a renowned pianist, arrives in a Central European city he cannot identify for a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. But then as he traverses a landscape by turns eerie and comical - and always strangely malleable, as a dream might be - he comes steadily to realise he is facing the most crucial performance of his life. Ishiguro's extraordinary and original study of a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control was met on publication by consternation, vilification - and the highest praise.

Kathy Luo

I am mesmerised by the author, it is definitely one of the most well-written books I have ever read.
I cannot say it was easy to read cause of all these mind blur, chaos, and ambiguity. It was like a dream but sometimes more nightmarish than it. There were a lot of symbols which felt like they were coming from main character's subconcious. But I am amazed by how we can have ideas about characters' innermost thoughts. It was not boring but it felt like a never-ending tunnel in the middle of it.
It gave me a jetlag kind of sickening feeling, too. 

beth

Ella

Wingyan Chan

Maurice FitzGerald

Claire Matthews 

Szymon

Alexandra Sergeychik

Deniz Erkaradağ

tim h

Giovanni Garcia-Fenech 

Arriving in a European city with significant gaps in his memory, Ryder, a renowned pianist, is overwhelmed by an onslaught of strangers who seem to know him and of whom he experiences vague, dreamlike recollections. Reprint. 75,000 first printing.

Melody Izard

'Almost certainly a masterpiece.' Anita BrooknerRyder, a renowned pianist, arrives in a Central European city he cannot identify for a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. But then as he traverses a landscape by turns eerie and comical - and always strangely malleable, as a dream might be - he comes steadily to realise he is facing the most crucial performance of his life.Ishiguro's extraordinary and original study of a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control was met on publication by consternation, vilification - and the highest praise.If you enjoyed The Unconsoled, you might also like Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, now available in Faber Modern Classics.

Hux Sessa

Moray Lyle McIntosh

Taina K

Nelleke Priem

liz mcclaran

Bryan

zaeema 🍒

Ryder, a renowned pianist, arrives in a Central European city he cannot identify for a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. But then as he traverses a landscape by turns eerie and comical - and always strangely malleable, as a dream might be - he comes steadily to realise he is facing the most crucial performance of his life. Ishiguro's extraordinary study of a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control was met on publication by consternation, vilification - and the highest praise.

The Unconsoled

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