Book Review - A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

Date: August 21, 2007
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Title: A Pale View of Hills
Rating: 5/10

How I got a hold of this book: There is a book exchange at work. Basically a cardboard box where employees can discard their books.
Where I read this book: Metro, home.

This book made me feel: Like I was missing something. Maybe I didn't search deep enough to extract the best of it.
Why I like it: It became interesting in the last 20 pages. More revelations with twists.
Why I don't like it: The dialogue was choppy as there was not enough support in detail outside of the dialogue or background to what was said, or even something in the future that explained what was going on in the dialogue.
The plot in five words: Reconstruction/family/secrets/fear/endings

This book made me think of: Ian McEwan because his endings are slapped together like the dialogue in this book.
Memorable character: Jiro
Memorable quote: But now instead here's all this talk of democracy. You hear it whenever people want to be selfish, whenever they want to forget obligations.

Person I met while reading this book: I saw Becoming Jane multiple times, and I didn't know of Tom LeFroy before.
Something memorable that happened in my life during the time it took to read the book: Since I saw Becoming Jane multiple times I was inspired to write, and to learn more about women in that time period.

If I could recommend this book to one person, it would be to: A book club because I think a lot of the action as metaphor for the time period would make an interesting discussion.
How this book changed my life: I don't want to write dialogue like this. It's good to know what I don't want to do.
Will I read it again: Not likely
Notes: There are quite a bit of small violent acts, or references to domineering personages. A father-in-law seems harmless enough until non-relatives bring up his past. A neighbor drowns kittens easily. A loosening of family ties possibly blamed on the affects of war. However, these ties could have been challenged before the war if there wasn't so much fear. Main character using the term "we" while possibly holding a rope that reminds a child of children hanging from trees. These characters go through the book, and then a revelation near the end confined to one paragraph. I guess that's the way, but so much of the book was choppy, the fluidity of these revelations was energizing.