The Unconsoled

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by Kazuo Ishiguro

Random House, Inc

Due/Published October 1996, 544 pages, paper

ISBN 0679735879

A big new novel from Ishiguro that centers on a pianist named Ryder who has arrived in a Central European city to give the most important concert of his life. But . . . he seems unsure of what he is doing there or why so may apparent strangers seem to know him, or why so many people want something from him. So much for the setting, the rest is Ishiguro's art. 

Review

The Unconsoled meanders around a famous pianist on tour in a European city who is scheduled to give an important performance. This rather straight-forward description, however, belies the circuitous writing style that characterizes the book. As in Nicholas Baker's Mezzanine we seem off on fascinating tangents much of the time. The style contributes to a dominant theme of the book: how little in life is straight-forward or even under our control. Although this book plays with the concepts of memory and identity formation that are central to much of Ishiguro's oeuvre, this is in many ways a startling departure from (and completely different progject than) Remains of the Day.