If you’ve followed my CBR Reviews these past three CBRs, then you know of my affinity for literary fiction. Particularly Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels. I’m teaching Never Let Me Go this spring to my ENGL 1002 students (and they actually *like* it, hooray!), and I’ve read all the others. It’s been ten years since Ishiguro’s last novel, and his collection of novellas/short stories, while perfectly serviceable, were nowhere near good enough for his fans as they greedily awaited his next novel. Last year, he announced that The Buried Giant would be coming out this year. My grad student friends and I all collectively freaked out. The minute my library placed its order, I was on.that.waiting.list. It arrived for me yesterday afternoon, and I have photographic evidence of my fangirling:
I might be a little obsessed.
I spent the last 24 hours devouring The Buried Giant like a hungry wolf, and for me, it did not disappoint.
The novel begins like an Arthurian quest that quickly transforms into an examination of memory, loss, and the dark aspects of love. Axl and Beatrice are an elderly couple who sense that their memories have been clouded. So they determine to seek their son, long living in a different village. They encounter a preteen boy kidnapped by ogres and rescued by a Saxon warrior, as well as an aging Arthurian knight facing his possibly final quest. The knight and the warrior seek to slay a dragon, whose breath is paralyzing the land with her magical mist. And nothing is as it seems.
Ishiguro draws on themes of memory, imagination, and loss in all his novels, and this one works with those themes, but in an entirely different kind of novel. This novel reminded me A LOT of The Unconsoled (in a good way), for it deals with the frustration of forgetting and the incredible pain that comes with remembrance. His relationships are complex and nuanced, and tears streamed down my face as I finished the novel.
I wish I could give this novel 6 or 7 stars. It’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read this CBR.
While I didnt quite love Never Let Me Go, I really like Ishiguro. And I love your review and your enthusiasm. How could anyone resist this book after that write-up? Putting it on the list!
I can’t read your review yet (I love going into books blind), but I’m just writing to say I got this from the library yesterday and I can’t wait to start it! I will hopefully fangirl just as hard when I’m done. I love Ishiguro!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear this is good! ROTD is one of my all-time favorite books. Now I just have to wait for my library to get me my copy.
A write-up in time left me felling meh about this book but your enthusiastic fangirling has sold me!
I’m really regretting the books I have started and haven’t finished or have to read by a deadline for class because I really want to get started on this book RIGHT NOW.
I haven’t read any Ishiguro yet, is this a good place to start?
Personally, I’d start with The Remains of the Day or Never Let Me Go. Those are his best, though I know here at CBR, there’s disagreement on NLMG. I *loved* The Buried Giant, but I’m also a huge fangirl, and I was expecting a high-fantasy-quest to not *actually* be a high-fantasy-quest, if you know what I mean.