Friday 3 September 2010

'Nocturnes' by Kazuo Ishiguro

As ever, Kazuo Ishiguro has presented us with a conundrum. Do we read this work as a set of stories about music? Or do they hold a much deeper meaning? On the surface, we are presented with five tales about getting older but gradually we are forced to confront what that means to each of the characters in these stories.

Ishiguro is on much lighter form in this than in his previous work Never Let Me Go. As proof, there is a frankly hilarious incident in the fourth story involves a turkey and an award for 'jazz musician of the year'. All the stories have such moments, yet all of them invoke a sentimentality for lost youth.

We are confronted by musicians who feel lost in a world where their skills are not in demand. Ishiguro seems to have endless patience for their insecurities. All his characters feel thoroughly human. That is a great credit to the time put into this work. Four years in total.

There are five short stories in this collection:

Crooner reads much like the biography of a member of the rat pack. It is told from the point of view of an observer, a young Polish man just after the fall of the USSR. The young man idolises the crooner of the title yet he bears witness to the collapse of his marriage. His ignorance of Western values becomes clear in his reaction to the divorce, brought about as a result of practicality rather than dislike.

Come Rain or Come Shine is an evocation of a friendship that has long worn past its use. A middle-aged EFL teacher returns to Britain to visit friends, finding himself on the recieving end of some intense and unwanted scrutiny from them. Just as suspected, this is as much a defence mechanism for the couple involved as it is genuine criticism. We are confronted with the ridiculous pace of modern life and how some of us are unbending servants to it.

Malvern Hills follows a musician on an unwilling jaunt to his sister's hotel. After an unfortunate spat with a Swiss couple staying there, he leaves temporarily for the hills with his guitar. The couple follow him and reveal that they are perhaps not quite as aggressive as first appearances suggested. As they talk, they reveal the disappointments of their lives that have led them there. Ishiguro draws on the accounts of many professional musicians about the difficulties of touring in demonstrating how this affects family life.

Nocturne picks up the thread of the last story as a struggling jazz musician is persuaded to have cosmetic surgery to improve his career prospects. During his downtime at a hotel following this, he finds himself confronted by the wife from the first story Crooner. She is drastically changed and both of them find that they are unable to sleep in their current state. On a walk around the hotel, they attempt to recreate some of their better moments yet they are too different to co-operate for long.

Cellists is perhaps the most fascinating of all of them. During the holiday season, a woman invites a young Cellist over to play for her. Through subtle prodding of his technique she reveals a great knowledge of the instrument. Yet, she has not played in many years. He finds that afterwards he cannot play as well without her present. This story explores with fascinating clarity what it is to continue living whilst knowing that your best days are behind you.

The collection is a very worthwhile read. Perhaps not as moving as Remains of the Day or as tragic as Never Let Me Go but extremely impressive nonetheless.

1 comment:

  1. Hello Tom !

    I just read Nocturnes and I thought your review is very interesting and made a lot of sense to me. I have blogged about my feelings after finishing the book and I've quoted you :)


    Good job!

    ReplyDelete