The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

I'm going to get this out of the way first: I did not particularly like this novel. But I did read it so I'm going to post about it on here. And just because I didn't like it, that doesn't mean that this post won't be useful to someone else so here we go.

The plot to this novel was kind of confusing and I can't really explain it without giving away some of the later reveals that occur in the novel, so I apologize if this summary seems crazy. Axl and Beatrice live in a village in Britain where things are soon forgotten. One day the two are reminded of their son and are sure that if they could just get to his village he would be waiting for them, so off they go. Along the way they meet a warrior and the boy who is the key to the warriors quest, and Sir Gawain, a remaining relic of the age of Arthur. As their memories become clearer, everything makes less and less sense until nothing is as it seemed. There is only one way to ensure that their memories will return, but it is unclear if what they think is right for them is right for everyone.

Because the story changes as the protagonists remember their pasts more clearly "The Buried Giant" is a little confusing to read. The writing was beautiful and the book was easy to get through even though there were many times that I was confused how what I was reading shifted from one idea to another. But, even though I didn't particularly enjoy this reading experience I have to acknowledge the potential limitations of the author in this kind of work. Ishiguro generally writes realistic/contemporary fiction, so of course his foray into fantasy doesn't feel like the fantasy that I am used to reading. So please don't take my issues with this novel as issues with the author. I think he did a lot of great work with this book, I just wasn't the right audience for it. Also, the man has won so many awards, so he is obviously doing great stuff, I just haven't read anything else by him.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend the book based off of my experience with it, but if you really like Arthurian legend and want a different point of view on some of those characters and that time period as a whole, I think you would find Kazuo Ishiguro's work in this book interesting. I am just not particularly interested in that time period so it didn't hold much appeal for me.

XO, Ellen