A Book I Just Finished and Liked--A Post by Dale Wisely

Poststructural Pub
1

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go

I’m a big fan of Kazuo Ishiguro’s first three novels, A Pale View of Hills, An Artist of the Floating World, and The Remains of the Day. I was somewhat disappointed by When We Were Orphans and, like most sensible people, I read the first 25% of The Unconsoled two or three times and never finished the book.

In this book, Ishiguro returns to the form that served him well in his first three novels. We have a first-person narrator and a dark secret which slowly is revealed to us (and, in a sense, the narrator) gradually. Never Let Me Go is not a science fiction novel, but it involves a view of the future (or an alternate view of recent history–I’m not sure exactly which) of the kind one might normally see at the center of science fiction novels. Like all of his books, it is carefully crafted and features wonderfully subtle methods of revealing the character of characters.

This novel was the runner-up to last year’s Booker Prize.

As soon as you finish listening to your new copy of Scott Dunbar’s blues CD “From Lake Mary,” I recommend you read one of Kazuo Ishiguro’s books. If you’ve not read any, I’d suggest one of the first three novels, listed above.

More than 15 years after I read it, I still rate A Pale View of Hills as one of my top 5 favorite books. I’ve read it four times. I see used copies on amazon.com for under a dollar.

2

I finally got around to Peter Carey’s “True History of the Kelly Gang.” Like discovering Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer’s “Drum Hat Buddha” cd long after everyone else, this was one of those late revelations all the better for almost but not quite having missed it entirely. This novel is a really good ride, very inventive, moving and effective in its development of an original narrative voice.

Dale may well be right about the best blues cd, but I do hope you all own that first Paul Butterfield album?

3

I’ve just finished “The Great Bridge” by David McCullough, a great history of the Brooklyn Bridge, can’t recommend it enough. I’m currently reading “Case Closed” by Gerald Posner about the JFK assassination. It’s interesting so far.

4

I read Nick Bantock’s Griffin & Sabine when it first came out, but never really followd up on the rest of his books. I am finding lots of them cheap on Amazon, now. I just finished The Forgetting Room. I like that he doesn’t always colour between the lines. :wink:

djm

5

I’ve been looking for a way to explain the way Ishiguro’s novels work–and ran across this helpful excerpt from “The Guardian.”
Looking at Ishiguro’s oeuvre, a series of clear and coherent themes emerge. Barry Lewis of Sunderland University has written a critical study of Ishiguro’s work and notes that “notions of identity and how an individual sustains a sense of self as historical circumstances cast a new light on events is something he returns to time and again. It links to the sense of how memory might be used as a tool to keep your dignity and maintain a sense of self.” (emphasis added)

6

I’ve got to re-read Sharon McCrumb’s “Ballad of Frankie Silver”, about my ancestor who was the last woman hung in NC. Supposedly she killed her husband and cut him up. They found bits of him and buried them as they were found, so he has three graves, side by side. Two days ago I went to the gravesite . It’s been so long since I read this that I’ve got to go buy it to refresh my memory.

In this photo you can see the three original plain rock headstones. Fairly recently they have added a regular stone with his name and dates.
](http://img69.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10007546hn.jpg)[/img]

7

-Finally read V.S. Naipaul’s “A Bend in the River”. Good writing about painful subjects, written well enough consciousness of its fictional character vanished. Uncomfortable reading in the way “Bonfire of the Vanities” is uncomfortable: unsparing, brightly lit treatment of characters’ faults & motives. -Good writing but wearing to read.

-Back to “Curious George” and Aubrey/Maturin tales to warm up a bit.. :slight_smile:

8

I finished re-reading “A Confederacy of Dunces” and am now reading “A Picture of Dorian Gray” for the first time.

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I really liked The Remains of the Day and I’m sure I read the other two in the first group you mentioned. I don’t remember them well at all though. I’ll have to try A Pale View of Hills again—I must have missed something there. Sometimes you can read something and it just isn’t the right time. I think I’d like to start at the beginning with him and read in order.

I think Peter Carey is an excellent writer. V.S. Naipaul is one of my favorites as well. Some of his books are quite difficult, e.g. The Enigma of Arrival, and a bit beyond me, although I have not given up on them, but many, both fiction and travel, can be enjoyed by an every day sort of reader like me.

Right now I’m reading Dickens. My nieces hated A Tale of Two Cities so much I decided to re-read it, and I’ve gone on through Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and now Bleak House. I am enjoying them tremendously. I’m not studying them, just reading for pleasure.

I have A Confederacy of Dunces somewhere in my pile. For some reason, I always felt like I wouldn’t like it but I finally forgot what the reason was so I got it since it seems to be an often mentioned book. I’m looking forward to it.

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I get a lot of breaks in the course of my working day and get to read about three novels a week. I am very lucky to live beside a very good public library so this little hobby does not really cost me anything.
At the moment I am half way through Pride and Prejudice which I last read about twenty years ago. Wonderful stuff, oozing elegance and wit.
I usually read a detective/cop thriller then a classic. Dickens has been getting a good look at recently alongside Ian McEwan -probably one of the best writers out there today - and a bit of Peter Carey whose Oscar and Lucinda is an absolute joy.

Should I ever be exiled to a desert island , the collected works of Thomas Hardy, including his collected Poems , would be all I would need.

And a few whistles, of course.

Slan,
D. :slight_smile:

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I’m slowly working my way through Dickens. I really enjoyed “Great Expectations” but I couldn’t get into “Oliver Twist”, something about the style of writing annoyed me. Or maybe it was just Oliver.

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I had a good edition of Oliver Twist that had a lot of commentary in the back—one of those Norton Critical Editions. It was the first novel he published after The Pickwick Papers and many of the commentaries said that this was apparent. I didn’t enjoy every part of it as much as I have in the later books I’ve read. It is a strange and interesting book though. Oliver and the “good” people are boring, the “bad” people are interesting. It seems like most people would not think of Oliver as being even remotely like a real person—I mean how could any child be so angelic, let alone one raised in such terrible and loveless circumstances? I think there are a lot of really great scenes and characters in that book if you can sort of think of Oliver as a vehicle for taking you to some interesting places and as a vehicle for social commentary and not think of it so much as being about Oliver as a real person developing in the world. That is just my thought, not necessarily a correct one!

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I read few of Hardy’s novels long ago and another thing I want to do is to read them again with a little more life experience behind me. I guess I should try the poetry as well. I know you mentioned it before. I imagine I could find an edition of the poems that had comments for dunderheads, that might help me. Oh, there is so much still to read! And re-read!

14

Sounds interesting. I think I saw a Modern Marvels on History Channel about that.


I finished Dorian Gray last night. Very good reading. Now I’m in the mood for some more late 19th century English stuff.

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THE RUINED MAID

by: Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

" 'Melia, my dear, this does everything crown!
Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town?
And whence such fair garments, such prosperi-ty?"–
“O didn’t you know I’d been ruined?” said she.

“You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,
Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks;
And now you’ve gay bracelets and bright feathers three!”–
“Yes: that’s how we dress when we’re ruined,” said she.

– “At home in the barton you said thee' and thou,’
And thik oon,' and theäs oon,’ and `t’other’; but now
Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compa-ny!”–
“Some polish is gained with one’s ruin,” said she.

– “Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak
But now I’m bewitched by your delicate cheek,
And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!”–
“We never do work when we’re ruined,” said she.

– “You used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream,
And you’d sigh, and you’d sock; but at present you seem
To know not of megrims or melancho-ly!”–
“True. One’s pretty lively when ruined,” said she.

– “I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,
And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!”–
“My dear – a raw country girl, such as you be,
Cannot quite expect that. You ain’t ruined,” said she.

“The Ruined Maid” is reprinted from Poems of the Past and Present. Thomas Hardy. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1902.

http://www.poetry-archive.com/h/the_ruined_maid.html

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Megrim vs megrims turned up some interesting results.

djm

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Oh, lord. I read Jude the Obscure and hated every moment of it. I’m willing to blame it on my age, if you are. :smiley:

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I read 2/3 of it about a year ago. It may not be your age. I occasionally pick up a classic I’ve never read–more or less out of guilt–and I…start it.


Dale

19

That’s one of the books I want to try again. I’ve known people who just went wild over that book. I read it just a few years ago and it didn’t affect me. I guess really I didn’t enjoy it. I’m sure there is something there, based on the judgement of so many others, but whether or not I can find it I don’t know.

I thought for me age did make a difference in reading A Tale of Two Cities. It didn’t affect me much when I was in high school and, as I mentioned, my nieces hated it. After re-reading it recently, I think it is a strange choice for the first book by Dickens to have students read. It is fairly difficult reading for at least the first couple chapters, as in really having to go over and over sentences. The moving moments, or the parts that I was really affected by I think were related strongly to experiences I’ve had as an adult. I’m thinking especially about the despair of Sidney Carton and also the scariness of mobs, why people join them, the complete loss of rational discourse. I might have given them Great Expectations. I think the reading is not as difficult, particularly right at the beginning, and it seems like high school students would be more able to relate to Pip’s growing up and experiences in the world.

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My first attempt at Dickens was David Copperfield. I was 14. It bored me. Last year I tried to read it again. It still bored me.

My other attempts at Dickens have been A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. No luck. Maybe someday.

I’m actually thinking about reading romance novels so I can try my hand if there are any more contests.