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Carlos Alberto Gómez
(c) La Nación
After the success of
"The remains of the day", Kazuo Ishiguro wanted write something different,
"something a bit more strange, a wild book", a book far away
of realism. This book is "The Unconsoled" his most recient novel. But this
book is not wild or strange, is a novel that happens in an oniric atmosphere
where all obey to the dream´s logics, and the mind starts to walk
free.
He took six years to write it. In this novel absolutely anything may happen without seeming strange in any way. For example, there are musical rehearsals that seem to last forever or an abandoned mother who suddenly says that the father of her child is a complete stranger whom she has just met.The situations, at times absurd, are accepted as naturally as we do so in dreams.
Readers often feel perplexed and surprised, due to constant absurdity and surrealism. Ishiguro has used various techniques to keep the novels characteristic and mysterious climate. For one thing, he tells the story in first person, becoming the main character himself. On the other hand, what happens doesn´t seem to have any consequences at all, that gives the impression that facts are interchangeable. But the main topic is what fascinates all readers.
Ryder,the main character, is a pianist who lives in a small town in central Europe. It is sometimes even depressing to read, because there are paragraphs and paragraphs of grotesque and unconvenient happenings. The best part of the novel , in which Ishiguros´s genious is completely showed, is a scene of a concert towards the end of the book.
volver
Carlos Alberto Gómez
(c) La Nación