Product Description

Ryder, a renowned pianist, arrives in a Central European city he cannot identify for a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. But then as he traverses a landscape by turns eerie and comical - and always strangely malleable, as a dream might be - he comes steadily to realise he is facing the most crucial performance of his life. Ishiguro's extraordinary study of a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control was met on publication by consternation, vilification - and the highest praise.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13546 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Customer Reviews

Ishiguro is a modern Kafka.
This brilliant masterpiece is an utterly unique novel - unlike anything I have read among books written in the past fifty years. The story - of a concert pianist arriving in Central Europe only to find himself constantly walking into various unresolved emotional aspects of his life - brings us into contact with great seriousness and sadness, wonderful farce and is unremittingly strange and bizarre. Ishiguro writes brilliantly, and conveys the alienation and dissociation from the world brilliantly in his prose and his unique dialogue.

Oh, and the scene with the broom cupboard is one of the funnisest things I've read in years.

In my dreams
Number 9...number 9...number 9...A surreal labyrinth of a novel, car journeys that take hours and then you return to where you began simply by walking through a door...strangers who you suddenly realise you have known for years...and no sleep, never the chance to sleep...This book will haunt your dreams and make you wander about with a vacant expression muttering under your breath and cause you distress and unease but if you're anything like me you won't be able to leave it alone and when you've finished you'll want to read it again. Like all of Ishiguro's work it contains incomparable insights into the complexities and sadness of human nature. The characters ramble on and on explaining in a pedantic way every fine detail of the subjects that prey on their minds day and night but it is endlessly fascinating and Ishiguro is such a kind writer, you feel nothing but tenderness towards this large cast of lonely and obsessed people.

Gripping, insightful, beautifully written, utterly original
One of the most original books I've ever read. Unexpected events and insights at every turn. Wonderful writing, as I suppose I have come to expect from Ishiguro. Draws you into unforeseen situations, and later, upon reflection, there is much, much more to each interaction than is apparent at first read. While not a hollywood-style neat, happy ending, it was a wonderful reading experience.