An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro

“If o a sunny day you climb the steep path leading up from the little wooden bridge still referred to around here as ‘the Bridge of Hesitation’, you will no t have to walk far before the roof of my house becomes visible between the tops of two pingko trees….”

This is how the book starts. As you can see just with a few lines, Ishiguro’s writing style is incredibly elegant. The last paragraph is also lovely literature but hopefully you will find that out after reading this review. Sometimes you feel you can visualize what it happening in this book which is a trait of a great writer.

The novel, which takes place in post-Second World War Japan, centers on a retired artist as he looks back to his career, comes to terms with his mistakes and revises his convictions as well his relationships with mentors, disciples and colleagues. It is very simple but at the same time with profound meaning.

I find interesting that when you read a novel that you end up liking you sort of develop certain feelings (sympathy, empathy, resentment, etc) towards its main character. I could certainly do it with this novel that with the beautifully composed writing and interesting themes makes a valuable reading.

This is the second novel I read by Kazuo Ishiguro with the first being his more famous “The Remains of the Day” (which I only finished two months ago). There are some common topics between the two: the main character, in this case a butler that used to word for an English Lord in his Oxfordshire mansion, also reflecting upon the past, his career (and its meaning and sense of purpose) and his relationship with his employer and staff.

I will probably try to read more by Ishiguro in the future. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the two novels is the way they reflect on the reader stereotypes (of the Japanese idiosyncrasy and the English post-war society) without I believe actually seeking so.

If I have to recommend one of the two I would go for “An Artist of the Floating World”. Both are very good books but “The remains of the day” only grew in me as a reader towards the end as it failed to engage me. Instead, I greatly enjoyed the former since the first sentences copied above.

Bonus track: the movie “The Remains of the Day”, with a cast including Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson and Christopher Reeve, is also very good indeed. Did you watch it? Did you read anything by Ishiguro?

How to decide the next book to read

Someone could think that I am a bit like the main character in “Sex and the City” who always coming to new questions for her newspaper column. As seasons went, these questions in what once was an original TV series became increasingly irritating. But believe me that this is a genuine question I pondered for some time.

During this week I came across a couple of answers. The first was in this Guardian article on the page 99 test. The idea is "open the book to page ninety-nine and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you" (Ford Madox Ford). A new website (page99test.com) is coming up shortly to carry out this idea in which after reading the page readers would be invited to whether they would be interested in reading the rest. Similarly, in page99test.blogspot.com they invite American authors and university professors (I believe) to test the idea on selected books. I just performed the page 99 test back trying it with a few books I read (and a couple I couldn’t finish) and it seems a like a good idea.

Of course, in the internet age you can have this question answered for you. Which book will show you books according to your preferences. I tried it briefly and not so sure whether it would work. But it could be a useful tool anyway. The number of books considered is simply amazing.

Another online option is What should I read next? Just input a book you liked and given other people’s reading list you will get several suggestions. I think it is overall not bad although some of the replies are nonsense (a “The Catcher in the Rye” search leads to Freud’s “The Interpretation of Dreams” and “Harry Potter”, really?).

For similar sites, please see this great post.

In the last week I learnt that Amazon released “Kindle for PC” as a free application. Therefore, you can download on your computer the sample of every book in Kindle form in Amazon (apart from the free books that they offer) and read for free usually the first pages / couple of pages in order to have a better idea on a book you are interested to get hold / buy.

(some of my book shelves)

My approach? Not different from most people’s I guess. I follow suggestions from friends and also go for books that draw my attention in newspapers reviews / internet reviews. Then, when I like an author I like to read most of his/her books and see how these vary and his career developed. However, this led me to several disappointments in the past. Normally, following suggestions or authors I enjoy I get most books from my local second-hand charity shop and buy the rest (those which are no likely to appear in that shop) brand new. Normally this means I have a pile to read and I am never short of options. But in the future, for books that I am not so sure about, I’ll try the options described above.

Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth

I finished reading today Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth. It is one of the funniest books I ever read. Almost plot-less it is interesting enough to grip you. The story is a long psychoanalysis session in which Alex Portnoy “deals” with his obsession with sex, traumatic relationship with his over-worried parents, Jewish identity, inability to sustain meaningful relationship with women, Diaspora vs. Israel amongst many others issues!

“The legend engraved on the face of the Jewish nickel– on the body of every Jewish child!– not IN GOD WE TRUST, but SOMEDAY YOU'LL BE A PARENT AND YOU'LL KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE”

"American society [...] not only sanctions gross and unfair relations among men, but it encourages them. Now, can that be denied? No. Rivalry, competition, envy, jealousy, all that is malignant in human character is nourished by the system. Possession, money, property--on such corrupt standards as these do you people measure happiness and success."

"Dreams? If only they had been! But I don't need dreams, Doctor, that's why I hardly have them—because I have this life instead. With me it all happens in broad daylight!"

According to Wikipedia, this novel published in 1969 caused a great deal of controversy given its direct treatment of sexuality and numerous and detailed references to masturbation.

It is the second novel I read by Roth with the first being Indignation. Indignation is also quite clever in the sense that it is narrated by a dead person telling the last years of his life. There are common themes with PC (growing up in a Jewish family, trouble rapport with parents, love for baseball). It was also quite an engaging read but I enjoyed PC more as it showed me again that books can be entertaining, inspiring, thought-provoking but also very funny. I will certainly try to read more by Philip Roth in the future.