From the Bookshelf of The Roundtable…

The Buried Giant

Kazuo Ishiguro

Start date: March 1, 2022

Finish date: March 31, 2022

Discussion: 2022 Fantasy Tournament

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What Members Thought

Jan 01, 2015 Lark Benobi rated it liked it

Shelves: uk, male-identified-authors, 2015, knopf

I've read every other Ishiguro book with joy, especially A Pale View of Hills, a lyric masterpiece. This book however reminded me of the way I wrote in high school, when I was in my D&D phase.

I learned from reading this book that it's evidently very hard to write about knights and ogres etc. or maybe even to write about a medieval society in general without falling into some kind of parody of bad fantasy writing, even if your goals are literary. Ishiguro here adopts a stultifyingly dull cadence ...more

19 likes · Like · see review

Apr 11, 2015 Petra rated it liked it

“If that’s how you’ve remembered it, Axl, let it be the way it was. With this mist upon us, any memory’s a precious thing and we’d best hold tight to it.”

True, true. If the mist lies over the land and erases memory, hang on and believe in the snippets of memory that are left to you. They are all you've got left of your earlier life; they are dear. What and who would we be without our memories?

This is a strange book. There's no excitement or thrilling moments. There's the everyday. Even the figh ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Jul 28, 2015 El rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: library-borrow, fantasy, 21st-centurylit, read-with-ears

First and foremost, I listened to the audio version of this, which is something I have not done very often, so I'm not very good at the whole reading-with-the-ears thing. It's one thing when something is playing during a long drive (Manhood for Amateurs worked very well for me that way once), and it's something else entirely to be all doing regular-day things and trying to listen to a book. And pay attention. And actually feel much about it. At least for me. Because my eyes are more powerful tha First and foremost, I listened to the audio version of this, which is something I have not done very often, so I'm not very good at the whole reading-with-the-ears thing. It's one thing when something is playing during a long drive (Manhood for Amateurs worked very well for me that way once), and it's something else entirely to be all doing regular-day things and trying to listen to a book. And pay attention. And actually feel much about it. At least for me. Because my eyes are more powerful than my ears, apparently.

The idea behind this was to get me to take really long walks. I don't mind walking, I don't mind long walks. But I do get distracted and think about things I should be doing, and it's not quite the stress-relieving technique I would often like it to be. So I thought if I listened to a book on audio while I walked, it would distract me from other thoughts and I could be super-long-distance-walker person. Like walking from where I work all the way home. I did this a total of two times in the middle of summer before I realized my heels were destroyed into two very large and bloody (and sweaty) blisters because I don't know how to buy walking shoes, evidently. Also summer. Hot. Gross.

So I put it aside for a while until my blisters healed, and listened occasionally on the bus ride home from work. I finished it that way riding home from downtown after a 10-hour day of being on my feet most of the time, and rather stressed the rest of the time. It was good to have a distraction, but my mind also wasn't in it. Even the ending felt a bit drab to me.

While it was nice to have something to listen to in my ears that wasn't just some angry grrrl music from the 90s like I normally would do, I found that it was difficult for me to really get into the story. But upon further reflection I think it was hard for me to get into this story, and I may not always have that trouble with an audio book. I had no issue with the narrator (who I just pretended was Michael Caine because Michael Caine has a lovely voice), but the story was not as exciting as I had hoped.

For all intents and purposes, this should be a great story. Axl and Beatrice are losing their minds (okay, there's a fog in their land, but you know fog always means there's something wrong in the mind, right?), and they go off to try to find a son they think they had once because again, memory. Adventures are had (supposedly), but I found said adventures sort of repetitive and fairly uninteresting.

I also have to comment that Axl called his wife princess throughout the story. Okay, once is sort of cute, almost charming. But every time he speaks to her? In a book this length? Especially in audio format? It's ridiculous. It made me want to do really bad things to Axl.

Overall, this was fine, and I know others really dig it. I felt it was sort of sloppy and didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. Maybe I would have appreciated it better if I read it with my eyes and wasn't distracted by those blisters. Though one would think walking a great distance would be the perfect time to listen to an Arthurian-type legend/fable/allegory thing about, well, walking. ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Nov 19, 2019 Christopher rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, british, 21st-century, fantasy, vergangenheitsbewaltigung

I really had no idea what this was when I started it. Turns out, it's an Arthurian fantasy, or at least Arthurian-adjacent. Arthur is dead, but there are still some of his knights running around. There are ogres and pixies and dragons.

It somehow straddles a line between being really faithful to the tone of Arthurian legends and being a postmodern allegory about personal and collective memory. Portions feel like they're taken straight from Le Morte d'Arthur, others from a Grimm fairy tale, others ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 03, 2014 Pamela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A beautifully written novel, set in a mythical Britain, where Saxons and Britons live in an uneasy peace after many years of war. An elderly couple of Britons, Axl and Beatrice, set out on a journey to find their son who left their village years before.

This is a slow and mysterious tale, to be savoured rather than galloped through. The setting is a mythical fantasy land, where danger can come from ogres and dragons, as much as from knights and warriors. The novel encompasses themes of love, war ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 06, 2015 Wendy rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, literary-fiction

I'm having difficulty coming to terms with this one. It's a well-written and even poetical fable about a loving elderly couple seeking out their adult son and some lost memories in 6th century Britain. While I've heard it described as historical fiction and fantasy, and it does have elements of both, it comes across more as a dreamy, literary medieval parable, closer to Beowulf than Tolkien. There are ogres, monsters and dragons, but they feel more allegorical and never propel the story faster t ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2015 Meghan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, brit-lit, fantasy, historical-fiction, audio-book, own, british

I deliberately avoided all articles on the book once I saw the headlines that said Ishiguro doesn't believe this was fantasy. I wanted to decide for myself if I agreed.

Now that I've read it. I've read the articles. And I will accept the reasonings behind the argument. Although I have to say that I think it's bad for fantasy when you compare it only to Orcs and banqueting and magic. You can have "real" literature belong to the fantasy genre, and I argue fantasy needs more writers who are willing I deliberately avoided all articles on the book once I saw the headlines that said Ishiguro doesn't believe this was fantasy. I wanted to decide for myself if I agreed.

Now that I've read it. I've read the articles. And I will accept the reasonings behind the argument. Although I have to say that I think it's bad for fantasy when you compare it only to Orcs and banqueting and magic. You can have "real" literature belong to the fantasy genre, and I argue fantasy needs more writers who are willing to stretch and expand and elevate it.

But I am willing to accept the argument this isn't fantasy for two reasons: one, this reads more like historical fiction, and two, I found it incredibly dull and awkward and fantasy is better off without being saddled by this.

I applaud Ishiguro's attempt for something new. And in certain places, you could really see what he was trying to do and I went with him willingly. Unfortunately, when we got there, the writing stumbled or wandered off or cut off abruptly and you were left too often wondering if this all is just a big joke on you. I liked the the Paris Review article but while I can appreciate their wanting to compare him to Murakami, this was nothing like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Murakami unabashedly mixes historical commentary in with his fantasy (or rather uses fantasy as a way to make commentary on historical events). Ishiguro seemed unable to commit to the form and so any commentary he wanted to make is lost in the morass.

But mostly, I feel Ishiguro made the unpardonable sin a good fantasy writer knows better than to do--the story is boring. All the articles praising this book claimed Ishiguro does what he does best, which is you don't know where you're going. Somehow I feel they and I have never read the same books because that is my biggest complaint about his writing: I always know where he's leading me. Usually, his writing is adept enough where I can pass it off because I am enjoying the story well enough. But this one was so awkwardly written that every twist felt like you were being returned to the place you just started and I often wondered if the twist was really we never left in the first place.

It's not a terrible story. And I always like a more realistic take on the whole Arthurian legend. And I find it interesting that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was a big influence (as you can see a lot of similarities). But I'm disappointed because I think Ishiguro is a better writer. And I would be interested in what this story could be in the hands of a more seasoned fantasy writer. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2015 Sera rated it liked it

Shelves: library, audio, 1st, fantasy-magical-realism-fairytales

This book is my second of Ishiguro's. I previously read Never Let Me Go, which I didn't really enjoy. I liked The Buried Giant more so, but I still don't feel like I've gotten to the point where I can call myself an Ishiguro fan.

Axl and Beatrice are a husband and wife who go on a quest to find their lost son. Neither of the two can remember much about him or what had happened to him, because there is a fog over the lands that clouds their memories. Along their journey, the two have numerous adve ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 03, 2016 Gill rated it liked it

Shelves: unfinished

I started this book knowing that it was very different from Ishiguro's other books, so the content and style didn't come as a surprise. I read half of it, and it was OK, but I really didn't feel any enthusiasm about reading the rest. I'm not very keen on fantasy type books. I felt a bit as if I was reading a book byNeil Gaiman, except maybe not as good, and the couple of books I've read by Gaiman were shorter.

So OK, but not for me. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2019 Heather(Gibby) rated it really liked it

This was the fourth book I have read by Kazuo Ishiguro, and although this one is fantasy, it is written equally brilliantly.

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 22, 2022 Rosana rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2022, fantasy

I finished this book a few days ago and I have been digesting it slowly. The more I think of it, the more I like it, and the more I admire the writing of Kazuo Ishiguro. However….

Under the disguise of a fantasy book, what we have is a more nuanced parable on life, forgetfulness, forgiveness and relationships. Like a fairy-tale, magical elements as ogres, dragons, and knights are the foreground of the story telling, while much deeper philosophical questions are subtly layered in the background.

Ca ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2015 Erika rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-general

Ignorance is bliss. No, really.

Do you trade autonomy/agency for peace? No easier a question than trading freedom for security. If we knew the answer, we wouldn't argue over the TSA so much.

Still. I suppose I am Cypher; I would have taken the blue pill. ...more

1 like · Like · see review