Book 23 - Kazuo Ishiguro "An Artist of the Floating World"

Kazuo Ishiguro "An Artist of the Floating World" (Faber & Faaber)




In Japan after the decimation of WWII, the country is beginning to rebuild itself and Masuji Ono, a retired painter, fills his days with his house and garden, his two adult daughters, and spends his evenings in the last remaining bar in the district. But in the quietness of his retirement, he also finds himself reflecting on the past and re-evaluating his life as an artist and his role in the rise of militaristic Japan.

Ishiguro is a master of subtle prose. This novel is never a dense read and the narrative flows smoothly and yet there are deep and swift currents beneath the surface that will catch the reader and leave them asking questions about Masuji Ono if they care to dip deeper. The novel is a character study of a man who has lived his life, done his best for his country, and then found himself on the wrong side of the line. At the same time, it is also a reflection on the realities of post-war Japan and the effect of their loss (and subsequent American occupation) on the national psyche. With elegant and evocative writing, Ishiguro once again creates a beautiful novel that haunts the reader after the final page.

Book 24 - Ali Smith "Pubic Library"

Ali Smith "Pubic Library" (Hamish Hamilton)





Sometimes a collection of previously published stories is just that. Which is fine. But for Ali Smith it can also be an opportunity, a chance to leverage the public attention that greets her works these days to a laudable end. The laudable end in this instance is a celebration of the public library in the UK (and elsewhere). And so Smith leads into each of her stories with a few pages of thoughts, reflections, reported conversations, or emotional connections to or about public libraries. She draws on her wide circle of peers, including writers like Helen Oyeyemi and Miriam Toews. But she also turns to librarians and others who have worked in libraries for their thoughts. It is an interesting project. Commendable, surely. The desecration of the public library system in the name of “austerity” is hard to read as anything other than an attack on the weak, the vulnerable, and the underlying bonds of community and society. (Actually, why public libraries weren’t attacked more viciously back in the 80’s is now hard to fathom.) But I’m unconvinced that what Smith accomplishes here is anything more than a platform for raising the spectre of their demise. There is a pressing need for reasoned argument, political and social, for the defence of the public library. But warm and fuzzy expressions of how much a library meant to any particular person in their youth is unlikely to impact the kind of people and the kind of thinking that has led to the present decline. Well, I don’t think so at least.

Turning to the twelve stories contained in this collection, you will find the Smith you expect. The writing is full of life, delighting in wordplay, bouncing so quickly from one idea to the next that you have to race just to keep up. As per usual, the voices of precocious adolescent girls ring most true. But sometimes Smith stretches to adults (with a suspiciously youthful tone). There is a lot of monologuing here. But that’s perhaps to be expected when the focus is on an individual’s captivation by words and poetry and novels and dreams, as opposed to the revelation of character through interaction and action. For my part, I enjoyed the stories. (I enjoyed the public library reflections too.) And for wit and wisdom, Ali Smith can always be gently recommended.