Kazuo Ishiguro's first and only short story collection is filled with melancholy, regret, disillusionment, and (thankfully) humor. Most of the storiesKazuo Ishiguro's first and only short story collection is filled with melancholy, regret, disillusionment, and (thankfully) humor. Most of the stories take place as the day comes to a close in moments when characters feel most unfulfilled and in need of creative realization. We meet principled guitarists, hustling cellists, delusional music instructors, and content social climbers battling themselves just to be happy. I love the quiet, unexpected journeys Ishiguro takes us on and the empathy with which he approaches his less-than morally upright characters, but I did feel like some of the plots were contrived. Music could have played a much bigger role here than it did, too.
Standout stories: "Malvern Hills" and "Come Rain or Come Shine."...more
There was so much going for this book. It's curious and intellectual about the topic of AI, asking us to think deeply about what makes humans human. CThere was so much going for this book. It's curious and intellectual about the topic of AI, asking us to think deeply about what makes humans human. Can AI ever become human? Is human affectation truly irreplicable? Can fact-checking "uploads" ever come close to unburdening us of the weight of memory? Though conceptually engaging, the book got lost in its own web of ruminations. I almost wish the plot focused on a single narrative voice, Sam or Aviva perhaps, to buttress us to the novel's most foundational ideas of death, anxiety, connection, and ennui. It would have been more rewarding if we had gotten a chance to see the fullness of Sam or Aviva's private worlds rather than try to balance the four unequal (and often repetitive) perspectives we got. The ending, as a result, seemed to deflate rather than bloom.
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!...more
Good Girl includes some interesting themes of immigration in Germany, the surprising embrace of right-wing ideology by young people, the origin of hatGood Girl includes some interesting themes of immigration in Germany, the surprising embrace of right-wing ideology by young people, the origin of hating one's ethnicity, toxic relationships, the artistic struggle, etc. But overall I found the novel's plot to be thin. Frankly, I don't think it offered anything new to the "using drugs/partying to distract yourself from unresolved trauma" genre. You pretty much know exactly why all these insufferable characters are choosing to do what they're doing from the get-go. I think if there was something unique about their psychology/pathology then I would have appreciated this more....more
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