Publications
Partners
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro (first published in April 2015 by Faber and Faber)
Gone are the unspoken upstairs-downstairs tensions of The Remains of the Day, and the dystopian romantic tragedy of Never Let Me Go.
Instead, the author tempts the reader into a world of fable and magic, where Arthurian knights, trolls and dragons may be just over the next hill.
Into this perilous world we follow an elderly couple Axl and Beatrice, setting off at last on a much-delayed journey to visit their son at his village a few days’ trek away from their communal settlement.
It seems a foolhardy enterprise at best, but even more fraught with danger since they are in the grips of some type of drifting malaise that has fallen over the land. It is a mist that causes memory loss and distances family and neighbours from each other and their shared past.
Even while on their journey they can at times barely remember where they are headed or why it seemed so important to go.
Reviewers have identified a number of literary influences and references in Ishiguro’s book: from Beowulf to Tolkein via Don Quixote and even Shakespeare. (Read this extensive review on the Guardian’s website for more detail on this).
Ishiguro does not attempt to emulate any of these great progenitors of the fantasy genre.
His distinctive prose creates tension and menace without ever losing the humanity of his two protagonists, who are more than they seem, but remain the touch point through which we see a world not quite like ours.
The Buried Giant puzzles and intrigues, and is sometimes frustrating in its oblique narrative that seems as if it won’t resolve into anything satisfying. But eventually, in true and unique Ishiguro style, it does.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Keen on reading this book? Buy your copy now.
Read this book yet? Tell us what you thought of the book in the comment box below.
Sign up for Women24 book club newsletter and stand a chance to win our top ten books from takealot.com.
