A Pale View of Hills

by Kazuo Ishiguro | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 067972267x Global Overview for this book
Registered by msjoanna of Columbia, Missouri USA on 3/20/2007
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by msjoanna from Columbia, Missouri USA on Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Received in a box of books from a family member. Looking forward to this one.

From the back cover:
The highly acclaimed first novel by the author of The Remains of the Day and An Artist of the Floating World, [and also of Never Let Me Go], this book is the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her eldest daughter. In a story where past and present confuse in a haunting and sometimes macabre way, she relives scenes of Japan's devestation in the wake of WWII, even as she recounts the weirdnesses and calamites of her own life.

Journal Entry 2 by msjoanna from Columbia, Missouri USA on Sunday, April 8, 2007
I found the book haunting and wonderful. As soon as I finished it, I was tempted to immediately reread the whole thing. Instead, I went back and just reread portions. But the images are ones that will stay with me. What's left unsaid seemed as important as what was actually said.

This book was selected from the Raiding Bookshelves Swap by AceofHearts. I hope you enjoy it.

Journal Entry 3 by wingAceofHeartswing from Mississauga, Ontario Canada on Saturday, April 28, 2007
received in the mail while I was at the Charleston Convention

Journal Entry 4 by wingAceofHeartswing at Mississauga, Ontario Canada on Saturday, February 12, 2011
A Pale View of Hills tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living in England.
Etsuko's youngest daughter is visiting her from London after the suicide of her oldest daughter. Etsuko tells the story about the time when she was living in Nagasaki just after WWII. She is pregnant with her daughter and living with a cold and domineering husband. She embarks on a strange friendship with a mysterious woman and her young daughter.

Ishiguro interweaves the present and the past, England and Japan in a delicate narrative. The reader does get caught up in the story but the ending is what you make of it. I love Ishiguro's style of writing but I find the conclusions are a bit wanting. Things are not 'neatly wrapped in a bow'. I think this book could be re-read to get 'more' out of the story.

Journal Entry 5 by wingAceofHeartswing at Mississauga, Ontario Canada on Sunday, April 10, 2011
Taking to the Meet-Up for RockyHorror who won this in a swap

Journal Entry 6 by rockyhorror1978 at on Sunday, April 10, 2011
Thanks for bringing this book to the meetup. Great to see you and Lauren as always!

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