Rating: 
Summary: REFINED!!!
Review: REFINED!***** FIVE STARS One can easily underestimate KAZUO ISHIGURO'S AN ARTIST OF THE FLOATING WORLD. It is after all a novel so refined, so exact, and economic that a reader, like myself, would find it, at times, a burden to read. It is a gentle book that requires patience, but a book one can highly suggest. It is post-war Japan, and Masuji Ono (a nationalistic, Japanese painter) is now enjoying a well-earned retirement. The progression of his daughter's (Noriko) marriage arrangement however forced him to examine a lifetime touched by Japanese militarism and patriotic pride (in a climate that, of course, prohibits such sentiments). Ono's interactions with other characters (past and present) are also moments of significance. One notable example is the scene when Ono and Mrs Kawakami were discussing the golden days of the Kitabashi district they loved: - "You know (Kawakami), you really must think seriously about... moving elsewhere now. It's a great opportunity." - "But I've been here so long" - You could open (a new bar)... In the Kitabashi district, or even in Honcho. You can sure I'll drop in whenever I'm passing by." - Mrs Kawakami was quiet for a moment, as though listening for something amidst the sounds the workmen were making outside. The smile spread over her face and she said: This was such a splendid district once. You remember? - I returned her smile, but did not say anything. Of course the old district had been fine. We had all enjoyed ourselves and the spirit that had pervaded the bantering and those arguments had never been less than sincere. But then perhaps the same spirit had not always been the best. Like many things now, it is perhaps as well that the little world has passed away and will not be returning... This compelling book won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The author, Ishiguro, also won the Booker Prize for the novel "THE REMAINS OF THE DAY", which is another achievement.
Rating:
Summary: The sometimes uncomfortable power of art
Review: What happens when legitimate art turns into propaganda and can propaganda be considered legitimate art? What happens to the artist who ventures into propaganda when his side loses the political battle? Can he still create art for art's sake?
These are some of the questions explored in An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro's excellent novel of postwar Japan and the musings/fate of a renowned artist who, having served the imperial cause during the war, is now very much suffering for it. Ishiguro writes with an excellent blend of economy and descriptive language that wastes no words or passages on tangents or irrelevance. He creates postwar Japan so vividly it is a true "you-are-there" read. Very rarely are authors capable of weaving such realism into a non-contemporary setting. It's also a very fast moving story, in spite of the fact that in terms of action there is very little. You come to know and understand the characters so completely that it simply adds to the effect of the realism. A classic work by a very talented writer.
Rating:
Summary: The sometimes uncomfortable power of art
Review: What happens when legitimate art turns into propaganda and can propaganda be considered legitimate art? What happens to the artist who ventures into propaganda when his side loses the political battle? Can he still create art for art's sake?
These are some of the questions explored in An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro's excellent novel of postwar Japan and the musings/fate of a renowned artist who, having served the imperial cause during the war, is now very much suffering for it. Ishiguro writes with an excellent blend of economy and descriptive language that wastes no words or passages on tangents or irrelevance. He creates postwar Japan so vividly it is a true "you-are-there" read. Very rarely are authors capable of weaving such realism into a non-contemporary setting. It's also a very fast moving story, in spite of the fact that in terms of action there is very little. You come to know and understand the characters so completely that it simply adds to the effect of the realism. A classic work by a very talented writer.
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