Book Review: Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
September 16, 2012 21 Comments
Subtitle: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall
This is a collection of short stories by a favorite author of mine. While short stories are not something I tend to read, as I prefer longer stories (the size of a book), I was drawn to this book because of its author. By Ishiguro I already read the brilliant Never Let Me Go and the very brilliant The Remains of the Day. I also read When We Were Orphans.
These five stories are all narrated by male musicians, in the first person. In all cases, the story leads them into a strange situation: accompanying a serenade in a boat in Venice, in the kitchen of a hotel with a musical award in a turkey, etc. These situations are at the limit of what is believable, slightly surrealistic. Because of the situations the main characters find themselves in, it’s also quite funny.
Some of the secondary characters return in another story, which I always enjoy. Lindy Gardner, who is serenaded by her husband in the first book, has moved on from that husband in one of the other stories, and it’s fun to see what happened to her next.
I loved the first three stories, but didn’t think the fourth and fifth were at the same level as the other three, in terms of story. The writing is good throughout the book, as one would expect from Ishiguro. The stories are all between 30 and 70 pages long, so they are not very short, and there is a clear building up of the plot.
A short story reader should definitely read this and lovers of Kazuo Ishiguro’s work shouldn’t miss out on this either.
Rating: 4 (out of 5)
Number of pages: 222
First published: 2009
I got this book: from a bookswap last year
Genre: short stories, contemporary fiction
Have you read this book?
Did you enjoy it?
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I enjoyed this too, and it was only my 2nd collection of short stories I’d read. I thought they were all well written, interesting and had a story you could get into even if it was only for a little while. I really must read more Ishiguro… I’ve only read one other (The Unconsoled) and that was weird if well written.
Have you seen the book trailer to this? I don’t normally like them… but this one I feel is really good. I already wanted to read it before anyway, but seeing the trailer made me bump it up my pile.
Fiona, that’s what I thought – the stories were long enough that you could get into them and get acquainted with the main character. I enjoyed that. I want to read *The Unconsoled* – I think it’s partly about a dream? I can’t imagine I’ll like that but I just want to try because I like the other books by Ishiguro.
I didn’t see the book trailer before, thanks.
It’s like being in a dream – or just a really confused mind. Very well written – I can’t say I liked it, but that I’m still drawn to him as an author I think says a lot. Also, I have a feeling I’d like it more if I read it now. I am much more into those kinds of skewed stories where you don’t know what’s real and what’s not real.
I don’t usually enjoy that kind of dream-like writing, Fiona, but I will give the book a try anyway.
I’ve read one short story by Ishiguro (A Village After Dark) and was very impressed by it. I plan to read more of this books at some point.
He’s a brilliant writer, Athira.
I haven’t read anything by this author yet, and this sounds very good. The setting alone is enough to convince me. 🙂
Give it a try, Stephanie. The writing is very good and the stories are engaging.
I only read this, The Remains of the Day (which I love this year) and Never Let me go. It is a problem with short stories, most of the time it doesn’t stick to me but I’m glad you like the first 3 of this book. Thanks for the review.
Jo, I find short stories awkward because they’re finished so quickly! I prefer to dive into a story that goes on for some time. But… these stories were all quite long so I did enjoy that.
I agree with you. I like “Longer” short stories too. 🙂
I’ve only read The Remains of the Day, but adored it, and do plan to seek out more of Ishiguro’s work. I love short stories, so I’d imagine I’d enjoy this. 🙂 Thanks for the review!
You’ll probably love this, Stephanie!
I loved this when I read it & if I remember correctly I said it reminded me of Leonard Cohen’s Dance me to the end of love.
Did Cohen write stories, Gary? I had no idea!
In reference to the title mentioned it is a song, but yes Cohen was a poet & writer before becoming successful as a singer song writer.One book that springs to mind is Beautiful Losers. Bit late on this reply but hope it helps 😉
Thanks, I only knew him as a singer.
When I finally get round to reading Ishiguro, it will be this this book first. I like what you’ve said about the stories interlocking and having that common thread of strangeness, though the length of the stories surprise me, I had thought it was much shorter.
Ishiguro’s writing is wonderful, Charlie. I hope you’ll pick him up soon.
This was my second Ishiguro and I felt a little disappointed by it. Not all stories were as entertaining. And it’s not quite at the same level of Remains of the Day or Never Let Me Go.
While I’ve read Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and have a certain affinity for short stories, I have to admit that not only was I relatively unimpressed by Nocturnes, the book outright frustrated me. Even as a musician myself, I was generally unable to connect to any of the stories or the characters, and felt that the collection overall fell decidedly flat. Even the way the stories tied together didn’t really fit together nicely in my mind…