Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Japanese born, British author Kazuo Ishiguro is one of the most critically acclaimed contemporary fiction authors writing in English. Enjoy 5 Best Kazuo Ishiguro Books to Read.
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5 Best Kazuo Ishiguro Books to Read
The Remains of the Day
Winner of the Booker Prize 1989
After all what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished?
In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the English countryside and into his past…
A contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro’s beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House, of lost causes and lost love.
A Pale View of the Hills
In his highly acclaimed debut, Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. Retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer night in Nagasaki, when she and her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But then as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko – a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy – the memories take on a disturbing cast.
Never Let Me Go
In one of the most memorable novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewered version of contemporary England.
Narrated by Kathy, now 31, Never Let Me Go hauntingly dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School, and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world.
A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.
Klara and the Sun
The novel tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.
A thrilling feat of world-building, a novel of exquisite tenderness and impeccable restraint, Klara and the Sun is a magnificent achievement, and an international literary event.
An Artist of the Floating World
1948: Japan is rebuilding her cities after the calamity of World War II, her people putting defeat behind them and looking to the future. The celebrated painter Masuji Ono fills his days attending to his garden, his two grown daughters and his grandson, and his evenings drinking with old associates in quiet lantern-lit bars. His should be a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to the past – to a life and a career deeply touched by the rise of Japanese militarism – a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity.
Recipient of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nagasaki-born Kazuo Ishiguro’s writing career began with 1982’s acclaimed novel A Pale View of Hills. His third book, The Remains of the Day (1989), firmly secured his reputation as a writer with an unparalleled control of character and nuance; its standing was later confirmed by winning the Booker Prize for that year.
If anything, Ishiguro’s reputation has only grown over the years, scoring another triumph in 2005 with his dystopian masterwork Never Let Me Go which was again shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
If you enjoyed 5 Best Kazuo Ishiguro Books to Read, check out our Top 10 Modern Japanese Books