Comments on: Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro

By: Biblibio

Biblibio — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:50:24 +0000

Now I really have to read this. I really liked “The Remains of the Day” and Ishiguro’s writing style; it seems like a book entirely suited to my personal tastes (music and time) must be read. Good to know that the characters are well-developed – I’m also often suspicious of short stories for that reason…

By: Dorothy W.

Dorothy W. — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:01:10 +0000

I’m really looking forward to reading this book. I’m glad you liked it, even if some of the stories didn’t really have an ending. I love Ishiguro’s other work, so I hope I like this too.

By: Stefanie

Stefanie — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:14:33 +0000

I was wondering about his new book. It sounds good, especially the one you mention the character using the neighbor’s dog as an excuse for the mess!

By: Margaret

Margaret — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:20:01 +0000

Meghan, I prefer his novels, in particular The Remains of the Day, is one that I would recommend. I found Never Let Me Go almost too unbearable to read though.
Rhapsody & Diane, they are sad and after I read the first two I put the book down for a while until I felt more in the mood to read it.
JaneGS, I don’t know enough about music really to comment, except to say that the stories follow a pattern and return again and again to the same theme. There’s no crescendo!
Roxane, I know exactly what you mean and it’s so good to have your views on these stories. I couldn’t believe that people would behave like that either as the second story progressed. I nearly didn’t bother reading any more after that and left the book for a few weeks.

By: Roxane

Roxane — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:08:29 +0000

I am reading those short stories at the moment. After reading the first two stories I feel the sense of the characters looking back on their lives with some regret and some melancholy. None of them give out a sense of having control over their lives. They followed what had been dictated to them at one time or another. The second story was really painful to read. I didn’t like the way the so called married “friends” were treating their guest and using him to make them feel better. I was wondering the whole time if people like that really do exist in real life and how lucky I was to not have met their kind before. It was almost like a parody. I was glad when it ended but I still feel sad for those three characters. Anyway I have started the third story and again another bitter sweet almost pathetic story is unraveling. I might keep the rest to sleep until spring as the mood is copying what transpires from the outside of my window. A bit too much at the moment. Thank you Margaret.

By: JaneGS

JaneGS — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:19:56 +0000

As a fan of short stories, this sounds like a good, but as others have noted, a sad collection. I do like the music theme–it would be interesting to see how it played out, so to speak, in the writing.

Somehow I still haven’t read anything by Kazuo Ishiguro, so this might be a good place for me to start.

By: diane

diane — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:34:09 +0000

These stories do sound a bit sad, but I still think I would enjoy them.

By: rhapsodyinbooks

rhapsodyinbooks — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:22:39 +0000

These stories seem so sad! I know life can indeed be sad, but sometimes I prefer reading material that is a little more upbeat, I think!

By: Meghan

Meghan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:50:56 +0000

I liked these stories too, but they definitely didn’t have the same impact as his novels. Everything he writes is quiet and beautifully written, but I felt like these were just snapshots, sometimes without an ending. As you say, there’s nothing dramatic here.