Pale view of hills by Kazuo Isghiguro

This book is short, but it is dense with emotions and things left unsaid. It follows a narrator (now living in England) as she recalls a summer in Nagasaki and her strange neighbor. Yet somehow, the plot is not the main point.

The way it explores the societal damage after the war, the sudden changes (rapid westernization under American rule), the depths of motherhood, and the remnants and ghosts of war is astonishing—almost making it unbelievable that this is the author’s debut novel.

I loved the slightly unreliable narrator; by the end of the book, I wasn’t sure which memories and which people were actually real. But somehow, that uncertainty did not frustrate me or detract from the pleasure of reading it.

I would highly recommend reading books or watching documentaries about World War II in Japan to fully grasp the quiet despair conveyed in this book. Even without that background, it is hauntingly beautiful and might be my favorite work by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Have you read any of books from Ishiguro?