One of the most celebrated writers of our time delivers his first cycle of short fiction: five brilliantly etched, interconnected stories, in which music is a vivid and essential character.
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One of the most celebrated writers of our time delivers his first cycle of short fiction: five brilliantly etched, interconnected stories, in which music is a vivid and essential character.
Read Less
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Very Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
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Seller's Description:
Used-Like New in Like New jacket. First Edition, First Printing. Not price-clipped ($25.00 price intact). Published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Octavo. Blue boards stamped in silver. Book is like new; clean with no writing or names. Sharp corners and spine straight. Binding tight and pages crisp. Dust jacket is like new with very light shelf wear. 221 pages. ISBN: 9780307271020. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions or if you would like a photo. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Southampton, New York. We Buy Books! Individual titles, libraries, collections. Message us if you have books to sell!
I read most of Ishiguro's past work and especially loved Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go and An Artist of the Floating World. I liked his very British formalism and the way he seemed to allow only fleeting impressions of sentiment to enter his stories. The reader had to work to reveal the conflicting emotional undercurrents of these works.
But after reading Nocturnes, I have to wonder if the books I liked so much were really as good as I thought they were the first time around. Every single story in this collection is sappy, overly simplistic and uninvolving. The fact that the bookend stories are set in Venice immediately put a bad taste in my mouth as I consider Venice, despite its beautifully tragic architecture, to be one of the tackiest cities I've had the misfortune to visit. The stories follow in that mold: no sort of insight or sympathetic characters to be found. The fact that two stories revolve around schmaltzy Vegas-style performers whose careers have seen better days makes me wonder if Ishiguro actually likes this type of distinctly American cheese.
I'd warn everyone to stay away from this book. I took little or no pleasure from reading it, and I probably won't look into any future works from Ishiguro. So disappointing that I felt the need to read something of substance immediately afterward to remove the sour memory of Nocturnes from my brain.