About this title: As Japan rebuilds her cities after the calamity of World War II, the celebrated painter Masuji Ono should be enjoying a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to a life and career deeply touched by the rise of Japanese militarism, a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity.
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. 0571209130 Mass Market Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Edition: Edition Unstated
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1990
ISBN-13:9780679722663ISBN:0679722661
Description: Very Good- As issued No Jacket. Spine lean, edgewear to covers, bump to heel of the spine, and some other light shopwear. Novel by author of The Remains of the Day. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780679722663ISBN:0679722661
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Near Fine++ soft cover. First Vintage edition. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 206 p. Vintage International (Paperback). Audience: General/trade. Near Fine++ soft cover. First Vintage paperback edition. 206 pages. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Thorndike Press, Waterville, Maine
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9780786235650ISBN:0786235659
Description: Good. 0786235659 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall Ex-Library This is a Large Print Edition. This is a former library book with the usual marks, stamps, stickers and is in Good+ condition. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books; Vintage International Ser., New York
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780679722663ISBN:0679722661
Description: Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 206 pp.; 21 cm. Tight, clean copy. "This is the story of an artist as an aging man, struggling through the wreckage of Japan's World War II experience. Ishiguro's first novel. / Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. He is the author of five novels, including The Remains of the Day, an international bestseller that won the Booker Prize and was adapted into an award-winning film. Ishiguro's work has been ... read more
"This a lovely calm book about a Japanese artist's experiences in the years following the end of ww2 and his reflections on what the events of those years did to the people he once knew. Falls just short of being a 4 star book as often it reads as if it is in translation. I'm fairly sure it isn't in translation (Ishiguro grew up in England I think) but sometimes English coming from the mouths of people in such a different culture seems a bit odd, a problem not unique to this novel of course.
A gentle easy read and an insight into a world we don't get to hear much about - the scars left on Japan and its people following 6 years of conflict and its attempts to enter the modern world."
"Kazuo Ishiguro published this book, to great acclaim, before his popular success The Remains of the Day. For a while it seemed to me that the narrator was going to be the same kind of character as the other book's narrator, and that the story was going to be an equally painful look backwards at the life of a person who failed to do the proper thing at the crucial time.
This book is set in Japan in the years that followed the end of World War II. The narrator, Masuji Ono, is a successful retired artist, the mysterious nature of whose work is a problem for the reader to figure out throughout the book.
Like The Remains of the Day, this book is written in the first person, in a stilted and distant manner, as if the narrator is describing someone else. In one scene this style seems to be a way for Ono to detach himself from the strong emotions he is remembering, and it has the striking effect of heightening the drama for the reader. "I suppose I remained silent for some moments," he writes. "I must have stood up at around this point, for when I next spoke, I recall I was standing across the room from him, over by the veranda screens."
For all Ono's scientific detachment, it appears that others do not see Ono the way he sees himself. Ishiguro is a genius of progressive disclosure; what you learn through circular digressions is continually surprising and never absolutely satisfying. What is said and what is not said are equally important.
One remarkable thing about the book is the multiple story lines that repeat and subtly echo each other. Ono is working through the problem of his past at the same time he is facing the problems of his adult daughters' lives moving forward. And his reflections on his time both as a student and a teacher present a subtly contrasting recapitulation of themes. As he related to his teachers when he was young, so he realizes his students must have related to him when he taught. Some of the dialogues seemed fuguelike within themselves, in their repetition and elaboration of phrases.
The artistry of the writing is apt for the main problem that the narrator explores: the nature of art. Is it enough to flawlessly depict the "floating world" of momentary pleasure? In a crucial conversation Ono and one of his teachers debate the opinion of another artistic friend: "The best things, he always used to say, are put together of a night and vanish with the morning," says the teacher. Can art be good or bad morally, as well as technically and aesthetically good or bad? How does it serve society?
It was a sad book in many ways, but there was also happiness and humor. I enjoyed the story of a man's interesting life, the fascinating interplay between the generations, the description of postwar Japan's collective sorrow, and the philosophical debates about art."
"This is a great book -- similar to Ishiguru's other novels in the sense that it is a skillfully crafted character study of a man who has been deeply affected by his role (on the wrong side) of a significant and shameful historical event. This event, much like in _Remains of the Day_ and _Pale View of Hills_, is never directly explained, lending an element of mystery or intrigue to the narrative and forcing the reader to piece together a past to make sense of the present. While I enjoy this narrative tactic, and Ishiguru does it well, with this novel, I actually wish I had been given a more direct explanation of the historical situation alluded to, as I am less familiar with Japanese history, and therefore not entirely certain I understand the situation he was involved in that shaped him so profoundly. Still, definitely a good read, especially for Ishiguru fans."
"I know very little about post-WWII Japan, and all that I knew came from the perspective of Americans. It was fascinating, therefore, to read this story from a Japanese author who was born in the post-war era. It is about an artist who gained a measure of respect and renown while working as a loyal supporter of the Japanese emperor. After the war, he struggles with the changes in Japanese society as well as his loss of esteem in society - particularly among the younger generation who tended to blame people like him for the bombings and hardships they had to endure.
The floating world was described specifically in the novel as the world of pre-war nightlife. This had been the theme of his early artwork - yet the artist had begun to take a turn and paint subjects that were more earthy and real. I think the title "Floating World" is not actually the artist's subject, but rather the shifting tides of thought and values in society.
I enjoyed the authors use of words to paint pictures in my mind of his family members, acquaintances, and the "pleasure district" both in its pre-war glory and in its bombed-out remnants after the war. The best illustrator in the world could not have painted scenes as vividly as the author did with his writing.
The only thing that bugged me about the book was the artist's ramblings - and not even the ramblings so much as his penchant for saying that he had strayed and what he had meant to talk about was . . . This was OK the first couple of times but it grated on me a little with repeated use after that. A minor criticism of what, on the whole, is an excellent book and one that I will probably return to again in the future. I suppose that's because of what the artist ultimately learned in his life's journey.
ALERT - SPOILERS:
Despite his rise as a person of influence and his subsequent fall and suffering (loss of wife and son, strained relationships with his daughters, and estrangement from some of his collegues), the artist Ono ultimately experiences "a profound sense of happiness deriving from the conviction that one's efforts have been justified; that the hard work undertaken, the doubts overcome, have all been worthwhile; that one has achieved something of real value and distinction." In the words of his friend, "We at least acted on what we believed and did our utmost." Ono finds peace in realizing that the fact of the final consequences - success or failure - is not as important to the human spirit as was the fact that he was willing to take action despite the risk."
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