Norwegian Wood

I'm out of order here (there are two other books before this I haven't written about yet, but I am just on my forth day of summer holidays and haven't even begun to think about writing until today).   I just finished this book.  It moved me so much, I didn't expect that.  I just got to the end, just finished off the translator's notes and a wave of emotion overtook me, I even leaked a tear or two.  Wow. 
This is a departure in a way from his other books, but then it isn't.   I had a peek at what other Goodreads members had to say about it, but just a peek because I don't really care what other people have to say ( I won't waste a moment on that ever again),  I think that Norwegian Wood is perfect.   This is pure Murakami and I can see why it launched his career so powerfully.   

Osamu Tezuka

The creator of Astro Boy and one of my earliest exposures to the science fiction genre (it probably had something to do with my enduring devotion to stories about robots as well!).  I have fond memories of watching the show when I was a kid, and I had goosebumps when the first episode was showed to the new manga and anime group (Mangamaniacs!) at work. 

Tezuka's work was mentioned often in my course about Japanese sub-cultures and he is considered the godfather of manga and anime.  It's true that his work has inspired many artists in Japan today (including one of my favourites Akira Toriyama!).  What is fascinating to me is the scope of his work.  Not only did he create unforgettable characters for children but he also wrote for adults too.  I think back to my course and the professor's comments about the fact that there is an immaturity contributed to Japanese people today; possibly because there is such a huge industry of manga and anime.    I disagree.  I think that in the past twenty years graphica and animation have progressed so much in quantity and quality, that it is indeed something that should not be attributed just to the popularity of a younger generation.  I have read, over the past eighteen months, story lines that would never be suitable for a child to read.   Grownups need their comics too!  This is something that deserves further research, as I feel that I have a minute idea of what Japan and it's people are all about.

Back to Tezuka.  I have as yet read only eight or so of his stories, and I am impressed with his talent for illustration and his ability to shape a story that is engaging and unique.  Last year I challenged myself to read a volume of manga each day (365!), with the intent of reading all of my library's collection, so I had to drop reading Tezuka's works for a while.  Trying to read the library's collection was a challenge too because I also had commitments to what my online manga club wanted to read,  and after starting a new club at work there where different choices in this group as well.  As yet, I still have at least a third of the collection to go.  But I want to go back and read the rest of Tezuka's collection soon.  Though if you glance at the picture I posted above, you can see just how immense a task that will be. 

I loved how sometimes Tezuka would insert himself into the narrative of the story, it created a personal connection to him which I think endured him to his audience. 

I adore him for his imagination!  It touched more people than he could possibly have ever known. 
When Mangamaniacs began a year ago, Astro boy was the first story we looked at.  I will, from time to time bring him back into rotation in our club, because I think it's important to see the origins and the inspiration for what was to follow, in both manga and anime.  Of course there is lots more to talk about when it comes to the vanguard of manga and anime, and I look forward to doing that!

Nocturnes

Ishiguro's first collection of short stories all with the theme of "music at nightfall".  I loved this.  Familiar as I am now with how Ishiguro writes, this was a special gift.  I was actually giggling (nervously) at one point when one of the characters in his stylized anxiety inducing stories went over the edge and fell in to what could only be "Basil Fawltyland".
What is usually gently built upon during the length of a full sized novel is delivered in a brief one-two punch in his short stories.  I really hope that he will write more in the future because these were perfect.

Book Twins

Okay... my title is a little tongue in cheek (I'm thinking of Ishiguro's Japanese  novels).  Both of these books are about kids in extraordinary circumstances.  I have been looking forward to Never Let Me Go as it has been on so many lists of books to read.  By this time I feel I have a handle on his writing style and I revere him for his genius and subtlety.  Any writer who evokes emotion and stimulates thought is a god in my humble opinion and Kazuo's books will be re-read on a yearly basis.  These two books in particular will have to be re-read before I can truly write properly about them.  For now I have labeled them The Ishiguro Bildungsromans.  

The Unconsoled

The Unconsoled was a very puzzling read for starters, but when I gave up trying to make any sense of it, I found it easier to follow.  There has always been a pattern I have found throughout an Ishiguro book where you are always left feeling anxious for the protagonist.  What this anxiety is about is not always clear like in this book, but it is there nevertheless.  Is this a signature trait?  I think it must be.  
As with any book I read I assume that the protagonist is the only sane one in the room... but I believe that in this book he, Mr. Ryder,  was the one that had some problems.  A quote from the back of the book:

"From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go is an audacious novel that is at once a gripping psychological mystery, a wicked satire of the cult of art, and a poignant character study of a man whose public life has accelerated beyond control."

Frankly, I felt really daft while reading the book because while I saw these traits the quote spoke of, it didn't really explain to me why this book was so disjointed.  Why this town that Mr. Ryder was visiting was so freakingly full of odd, self-involved characters and inconsistencies.  Was this a town of nutballs?  It really seemed that way.  There is no help from beginning to end to give you a clue either except there is a part in the book close to the end when Mr. Ryder, is faced with an impenetrable wall and his feelings, his frustrations are expressed in a way that make you realize that it is he that is walled in and he cannot get out, and that the confusion of everything previous stems from him not from everyone else (they are still odd, self-involved characters which want something from Mr. Ryder and I got the mental picture of him being pulled in many different directions but not really being aware of it).
I think that when you understand that, it all clicks into place.    But that is all I think I can say about the book, except that when I read it again (and I will!) I will have a new perspective to help me see what was so baffling before.
So, even when it's not making sense, Kazuo Ishiguro's writing is a force to revel in, to embrace, because he reaches a level of consciousness inside me that nothing else does, not even myself.  After reading just four of his books I am amazed at how he draws me in and doesn't let me go until the end.

Remains of the Day

I am surprised that I have not already written about this book... but I am glad that I did not because I have a different way of looking at it now with comparison to what I have already read by Ishiguro.
When I first read it, I had already seen the movie with Anthony Hopkins, and Emma Thompson (two of my most favourite actors!), and I already loved it.  This is unfortunate, because the movie predisposed me to see things that aren't too apparent with the book (unless you already know what to look for).

Second time around I began to see a theme with what I have read so far in A Pale View of Hills, An Artist of the Floating World and Remains of the Day.  They are all retrospective novels, they all look back in to their past (and they are bittersweet).  Also, the protagonist does at some point try to make a change, but really it is too late to do so and learning to live with events and their consequences is inevitable and unusual in each story.  Of course, it is only a stressful situation for the lead character, and once the book concludes you do see that it isn't really as bad as you once thought it was, but I love how you are drawn in to the story and carefully held there until it is over.
Remains is a departure from the first two books, a story that is heavily steeped in a British culture that is almost extinct now (or the book would have you believe so),  it was extremely interesting to read about the life of a servant in a large country estate, and about the measures he took to be an excellent butler.   I am in awe of how Ishiguro has taken me from Japan in the first two books to England in the third and has immersed me in the distinct cultural experience of each country.  I am very excited to see where he will take me next!

The Japanese Novels

To my great pleasure I have been able this year to buy all of Kazuo Ishiguro's works.  It is something I have been meaning to do since I read Remains of the Day years ago.  Since May I have had this lovely stack of shiny new books by my reading chair.

       

I have been slowly rationing out the reading of them over a few months, but I plan on reading the lot this year, and I am alright with that, because these are books that I will come back to again and again.

A Pale View of Hills is Ishiguro's first novel, and the first of two books known as his Japanese novels.  I should admit that a few years ago I had read An Artist of the Floating World, and that when I had finished I was embarrassed because I didn't know much about that time (post World War II).  So I have made a point of getting informed about Japan.  I have studied customs, food, history and geography.  I really wanted to understand these novels, get the cultural references etc.  It is still not an easy job to do, and Ishiguro is the first to say that he did not write in the Japanese style (what ever that is), but just about characters in Japan.  I want to understand and to know more about the Japanese art of storytelling, but I have barely begun reading Japanese authors (I have a list of who I would like to read next!)
This time around, I felt I had a better grasp of what Japan is about (but still a very small understanding of such a rich and beautiful culture!).  So reading this book, I was happy to see that I had a better awareness of it's content (there was a lot of "Oh, I know what this is!" instead of "Huh?").

Continuing on to a re-reading of An Artist of the Floating World, I was able to see the theme of both of these novels, and to understand what they were trying to tell me.  They are both retrospects of significant times in the lives of both protagonists with a the humanizing admission that they were not perfect, that they made mistakes and that they could live with that fact in later years.  Ishiguro is a writer who carefully leads you along the same path as the protagonist, he gently supports you through the crisis of each person, and then helps you to see that there is and can be an acceptance of and a resolution to each circumstance,  but not perhaps what you were expecting or hoping for.   Both books are almost delicate in the delivery of their stories.  If this is a Japanese story telling trait, I have no idea, but I hope it could be.  I can't wait to find out!