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Atonement, those who remember suffer Neo-medievalism

it is funny how all the reviewers of this book (besides one) had read the book very superficially and jumped very quickly over key moments like, for example, the father cutting Klara to draw out some liquid from her sistem and this action leading in some errors in Klara's behaviour and view of the world. So yeah, you guis don't do the book any justice especially by recounting it so superficially when it is a masterpiece, a novel with too many layers and profundities.

Fun fact, I was gifted Never Let Me Go and back then I had no idea that the book and the author were kinda famous... I found it kind of mid tbh, I rated it 3/5 stars. I'm kind of only now discovering how famous this is and there I was thinking it was just a random ass novel lmao

The theme that runs right the way through the book of make-believe, and toying with these ideas is so powerful. They all pretend like they've grown out of certain beliefs, or that they don't really believe in something - that it is only a bit of light hearted fun, but underneath they secretly pin all of their hopes on it and then laugh at themselves for being silly. It's really quite sad. It starts off with the little games they play in childhood, and their little ideas about one thing or another, like guarding their favourite teacher from being kidnapped, or avoiding the woods because of the danger that lurks there. But it starts to get really tragic when Ruth tries to convince herself that she might end up getting a normal job and living a normal life, and the idea about deferrals, or acting as if their possibles showed them anything about what they might become. They get these ideas to try and make their horrible reality seem a little bit brighter, but in the end, its just grim and deep down they knew, but kidding themselves for a while was their only chance to forget. And the whole secret about where they grew up and what we thought was going to be so bad, was actually the only good thing that anyone ever did for them. Slowly they all die after having to accept reality. And then the way it ended with Kathy allowing herself to dream again for a moment that things really were how they imagined as children, and that Tommy would turn up in Norfolk, was really heartbreaking, she must've been so alone.

Omg I just finished TESS and it has been one of the most dreadful readings for me! Ill give Hardy another try though.

thanks So much for talking about my favourite book! i feel it is a Tremendous Book that is about Maybe All of our Lives?❤

An absolute clunker of a book. Terrible. Where is the beautiful language and imagery? e.g. The Great Gatsby "We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosy-coloured space, fragilely bound into the house by French windows at either end. The windows were ajar and gleaming white against the fresh grass outside that seemed to grow a little way into the house. A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling, and then rippled over the wine-coloured rug, making a shadow on it as wind does on the sea." Ted Hughes talked about buzzards encircling each other as though "magnetised" - there's nothing so magical and instantly memorable in the way KI writes. The plot is like something designed by a draftsman on a drawing board - black pencil on white paper - straight lines everywhere - there's no artistry in the implementation. The adults are like cardboard cutouts. Read the first 10 chapters and think of the Enid Blyton Famous 5 novels - it's that level of plain storytelling - the kids uncover a mystery during the summer holidays... He tries to paper over the cracks by having the narrator say things like "I don't know why we didn't question X, Y or Z at the time... we just didn't". At times it sounded to me, when Kathy H was explaining, as though someone was outlining a plot for a book or film. Look at the first few pages of Muriel Sparks The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and see how quickly the dialogue creates such a vivid and credible character; Kathy H sounds like a 15 year old throughout. As for the cryptic donors and guardians at the start - seriously!? - how tedious. Cloning for a source of organs could be in interesting TV debate but it hasn't been successfully turned into a good novel imho. All in all - a dreadful read imho. The Remains of the Day OTOH... that love-that-cannot-speak-it's-name is a beautiful storyline although, once again, I have some reservations about the quality of the writing.

Klara and the sun was my first book I read of his and I LOVED it ..

I've just read two. Never Let Me Go absolutely rocked my world and i can't stop thinking about it and feeling the feelings of that world. Klara i read compulsively and was very intrigued where it would go, but then it didn't go anywhere. I'm disappointed, im really hope i will enjoy another of his novels as much as NLMG

I found he captured the acient dialogue extremely well

just read this myself, i really enjoyed hearing your thoughts, i hope you're well :-)

Never let me go was my favourite book ever and so i came here to see what other Ishiguro books id pick up

My number 1 is the remains of the day, hands down... poor Stevens😢

Similar to the trial by Kafka

They were told, but not told. Not told in a way that they would actually understand. I was raised in a cult. I lot of things I learn about the cult are things I already knew, sort of. A lot of the "weird" things seem justifiable IF the church is true and good. But what if it's not? Is the control over members excessive? Is it actually destructive and traumatizing and really only intended to benefit those at the top?

video chapters in the future would be great in the future :)

It had the potential to be a much stronger book if the childlike regression Christopher experiences due to trauma was more starkly revealed.

what a great and varied selection you offer. i've read some and loved almost all (banana yoshimoto and mieko kawakami are some of my all time favorite authors). i have kirino's books on my tbr for a year now and you just gave me the extra push to finally pick them up! really enjoyed hearing you talk about these titles. wishing you well ~

I'm going to start a petition to get you to come back

The cat violence put me off Kafka On The Shore.

This is a book that will stick with you forever. I'm rereading it for the umpteeth time. It never gets old.

Funny spin of the title at the end there. Interesting! 12:20

I just finished the book and I had the same thoughts as you. I was surprised at the last scene at the end of chapter 10 where Etsuko says to Mariko “we can always come back” as if she’s the one who’s leaving the country with Mariko. At that moment it occurred to me are they the same person???

Just finished reading it. It struck me as a story told by an unreliable narrator, who has mental health issues. Perhaps paranoid schizophrenia. When she's more lucid earlier in the story, she claims to have been married and had a child, now in her ex-husband's care. Later, when she's mentally unwell, she claims to have been in a relationship with a married man, who forced her to have an abortion. So, what is the truth? The lucid or the deranged admission? At the end, I felt some foreboding about Joe and their unborn baby's future.

Thr whole way through I kept thinking and hoping and expecting " This has got to get better." But I was disappointed. It felt like a waste of time. The book can provoke good discussions, but I did not like it. I much more enjoyed the movie The Island with similar themes.

Really enjoyed your video

This was so extensive and wonderfully critical. What a lovely video essay! ❤

absolutely love this

What I wonder is...Were Iris and Alex truly in love? In the Blind Assassin book they seem to not be fully honest with their feelings. There are several instances were each character is frustrated or longing for something from the other without stating it clearly. This to me makes his death even more sorrowful. Even though real Iris seems to be far more practical minded than the girl depicted in the novel and she mentions their affair almost as a side note, just one of the pieces that helps to wrap it all together. Did she actually loved Thomas and if so, can we assume her LOVE was reciprocated? Was it truly her in the Blind Assassin or a version of her intentionally fabricated to resemble Laura?

This was a great and concise analysis. I didn’t really enjoy this book until the end when I started crying my eyes out. I am giving it a second go. I think my experience will be different this time around.

IMHO, the best choice, anything by Sayaka Murata and Yoko Ogawa

I think it’s interesting about your point about it could be a “utopian.” Yes, the Crakers are superior in so many ways, no existential dread, not needing to eat anything but plants, sex only to procreate, yet those are all the things that make us ~human~ food and culture, contemplating our own existence, romance. The part that stuck out to me in the book was the part when Crake edited out humor as “unnecessary”

Can we all just agree that men geeking out about books is just seriously got 🤗

Nice summary. I've just finished this book, and something you didn't touch on which I think is worth mentioning is the influence of his father, and the cycle of becoming your parents. Stevens inherited his father's ambitions, imprinted on him not by the stories of the perfect butler his father told him, but by how proud it made his father to recount these tales. Stevens wanted to make his father proud by becoming that butler himself. We know his father was an incredibly stoic man, and none of Stevens' skills in running the house seemed to impress him. It was only on his deathbed that he revealed how proud he was. This confirmed to Stevens that he was living his life correctly, and propels him to lean into his own emotionlessness even more, even though he doesn't see his father as a happy man. It's another example of him 'leaving his fate in the hands of great gentlemen', but in a way he's not even aware of. He wasted his life by never challenging the assumption that those with power know best - but those indoctrinated rarely do... which links back into the political themes of the book.

I'm currently reading Alias Grace. I'm close to the end of the novel. It has certainly been an interesting read.

Started reading, well, listening to the audio book, and felt so utterly confused. Wasn't sure if I was missing something. Came to TH-cam to gain some clarity. I'm now even more confused. My biggest confusion atm, who the hell is narrating the book? The book starts with what appears to be poetry and random snippets of, well, I'm not entirely sure. I can't say I have ever been so confused by a piece of literature in my life.

Never Let Me Go is #1

Thanks !!!

Reviewer it's specifically says in the book that the boatman will take both together which is something both you and I forgot but axl didn't

Not a good review because one you forgot to give a spoiler warning two no accurate analysis of the final important scene which is exactly why I was watching three you get the story of ishiguro's wife wrong

I really loved 'The Testaments'. I agree that hearing Offred's personal account and experiencing her imprisoned existence along with her is more compelling. ps. It seems to me the gender ideology - encompassing puberty blockers for children, very destructive surgery, and the enforced speech codes surrounding pronouns 'Trans Women are Women' are all a much bigger threats to women's rights than Donald Trump. I'm not a Trump fan (& I'm 'Pro Choice'), but IMO Trump's critics should get a sense of perspective. It seems to me that Gilead much more similar to rigid Muslim regimes & societies than anything existing in the U.S. (even in its most socially conservative periods in the past.)

Thanks for the review. I read this one awhile back and enjoyed it.

In fairness Soseki Natsume wrote ‘I am a Cat’, and Junichiro Tanizaki has ‘A Cat, a Man, and Two Women’, so can’t necessarily dismiss Japanese works just because they feature a cat 🐈

I started Ishiguro with this one and just loved it. I did find it incredibly hopeful but I'm not sure why, given her eventual abandonment . Klara's innocence was so compelling. That she was set aside is very sad but somehow did not blot out her lovely positivity. She still shines in my heart! 💜🧚‍♀️💜 PS I have just finished Never Let Me Go. I guess Klara and the Sun could be seen as a rehashing of certain themes and devices but it was so, so hopeless. Klara and the Sun is a step beyond that ievitable blotting out of sentient beings.💜😔💜

Excellent discussion. Thank you!💜🧚‍♀️💜

I got this book and I assumed things would get intense as the story progresses, but I 'm only halfway and am really disappointed so far. Came to see if there were any good reviews/ spoilers for the book and your video summed it up pretty well for me. Thanks man!!

i have to present an analysis for this book for a school project...🫠🫠🫠 undoubtedly hard because I'm in a time crunch, but thank you for helping clear things up!

Please talk about Japanese books all day and post videos about them! =D

Please do more of these videos and more recommendations! Love it!

Just the premise for the plot sounds like the dull idea that an infertile imagination would generate through some mechanical process of "creative brainstorming". Like a guy who has no inner drive to write.