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Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

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Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall - Ishiguro, Kazuo
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'It was our third time playing the Godfather theme since lunch...' In a sublime short story collection, Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love, music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the 'hush-hush floor' of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning. Gentle, intimate and witty, this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense ...

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall 2010, Vintage Books USA, New York, NY

ISBN-13: 9780307455789

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ISBN-13: 9780571245000

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Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall 2010, Vintage Books Canada

ISBN-13: 9780307397881

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Select 		Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall 2009, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, NY

ISBN-13: 9780307271020

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Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall 2009, Random House Audio Publishing Group, New York, NY

ISBN-13: 9780739381762

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Select 		Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall 2009, Knopf Canada

ISBN-13: 9780307397874

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Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall 2009, Books on Tape

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All Editions of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

2010, Trade paperback

ISBN-13:

9780307455789

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

2010, Paperback

ISBN-13:

9780571245000

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

2010, Trade paperback

ISBN-13:

9780307397881

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

2009, Hardcover

ISBN-13:

9780307271020

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

2009, Audiobook CD

ISBN-13:

9780739381762

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

2009, Hardcover

ISBN-13:

9780307397874

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

2009, Audiobook CD

ISBN-13:

9781415965450

Books by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Customer Reviews

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PDrizzle

Jan 14, 2010

Extremely Disappointing

I read most of Ishiguro's past work and especially loved Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go and An Artist of the Floating World. I liked his very British formalism and the way he seemed to allow only fleeting impressions of sentiment to enter his stories. The reader had to work to reveal the conflicting emotional undercurrents of these works.

But after reading Nocturnes, I have to wonder if the books I liked so much were really as good as I thought they were the first time around. Every single story in this collection is sappy, overly simplistic and uninvolving. The fact that the bookend stories are set in Venice immediately put a bad taste in my mouth as I consider Venice, despite its beautifully tragic architecture, to be one of the tackiest cities I've had the misfortune to visit. The stories follow in that mold: no sort of insight or sympathetic characters to be found. The fact that two stories revolve around schmaltzy Vegas-style performers whose careers have seen better days makes me wonder if Ishiguro actually likes this type of distinctly American cheese.

I'd warn everyone to stay away from this book. I took little or no pleasure from reading it, and I probably won't look into any future works from Ishiguro. So disappointing that I felt the need to read something of substance immediately afterward to remove the sour memory of Nocturnes from my brain.

1 Silent Rating

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