Nocturnes
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Our Price: $9.25
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.14 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Kazuo IshiguroEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Import
Published: 2008-05-07
ISBN: 0571244998
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Book Reviews of Nocturnes
Book Review: Fly Me to the Moon
Summary: 4 Stars
Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954 and moved to England, as a child, in 1960. He has won both the Booker and the Whitbread Prizes and has been awarded the OBE, for services to literature, and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has also taken to writing songs for jazz singer, Stacey Kent. "Nocturnes" is his first collection of short stories and was first published in 2009.
"Nocturnes" opens in springtime Venice with "Crooner". The story is story told by Jan - a Polish guitarist, who plays with the café's orchestras on the Piazza San Marco. He doesn't have a permanent slot, but moves from venue to venue as and when required. Spring is just approaching when he spots Tony Gardner, an old singer his mother had adored and who he'd grown up listening to. After his set is over, he goes over and introduces himself. He learns that Gardner, taking one last trip with his wife Lindy, is preparing to re-launch his musical career.
"Come Rain or Come Shine" is told by Ray, who has spent most if his adult life teaching on the European mainland. He's now in his late forties, and is coming home to England to visit Charlie and Emily, two old friends from university. Ray and Emily had a shared love of the old Broadway numbers - not exactly the most fashionable choice in 1970s England - while Charlie had been Ray's closest friend. Unfortunately, his holiday isn't going to be a pleasant one...Ray is running off to Germany on a business trip, while the years have seen Emily (apparently) become old and bitter. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Charlie and Emily's marriage is crumbling...and Charlie seems to think Ray will be just the person to fix it.
"Malvern Hills" sees a struggling, young and slightly deluded musician pass the summer in the Malvern Hills. He's dropped out of university to chase his dreams, but hasn't had any luck finding a band in London. Now, over the summer, he's staying with his sister and her husband in the Malvern Hills, close to where he grew up. At busy times, he helps out in the café his sister runs, but works on his songs in his free time. He remembers Tilo and Sonja, two Swiss tourists, in particular from his stay...when he comes to realise that perhaps a first impression isn't always the correct one.
"Nocturne", the book's "title track" is also the book's longest story. It's told by Steve, a struggling 39 year old saxophonist. He's recovering from a recent face lift - rather awkwardly, the bill for the operation is being picked up by his ex-wife's new lover, a well-off gent who feels a little guilty about his role in the split. (Steve's agent hopes the face-lift will kick start his career. Steve, on the other hand, is hoping it will help him win his wife back). Steve is spending his post-op recovery on the top floor of a plush hotel - the entire floor has been hired by the surgeon, to allow his higher-profile patients a little privacy from the paparazzi. As it turns out, Steve's next door neighbour in the hotel is Lindy Gardner - who is now the ex-wife of Tony, from the book's opening story.
The book's closing story, "Cellists", returns to café life in Italy, when there's a hint of autumn in the air. It's told by another cafe musician - not Jan, this time, but a saxophonist who keeps his name to himself. He spots an old colleague, Tibor, in the crowds one afternoon and recalls their time working together - a summer stint, seven years previously. Tibor was a very well trained cellist - he'd studied at the Royal Academy in London, and spent two years under Oleg Petrovic in Vienna. However, he gets a little extra training that summer from meets an American virtuoso called Eloise McCormack...albeit a virtuoso he's never actually heard of.
This is Ishiguro's first collection of short stories - and it's probably not a bad idea for him to try something a little different. Each novel he has published has been an improvement on the last...to the point that it's now very difficult to see how he could possibly improve on "Never Let Me Go". An enjoyable collection of stories, sad in places though very easily read and certainly recommended.
Summary of Nocturnes
In a sublime story cycle, Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love, music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the 'hush-hush floor' of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning. Gentle, intimate and witty, this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of life's romance, even as one gets older, relationships flounder and youthful hopes recede.Short Stories Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Short Stories Books
The Roald Dahl Treasuryby Roald Dahl
Jonathan Cape; Published: 1997; Hardcover; Book
The Red Pony (Twentieth-Century Classics)by John Steinbeck
Penguin Classics; Published: 1994-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.28
Price in other shops:
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountainby Robert Olen Butler
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1993-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.15
Price in other shops:
Guys and Dolls: The Stories of Damon Runyonby Damon Runyon
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1992-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $43.26
How We Are Hungryby Dave Eggers
PENGUIN; Published: 2006-02-23; Paperback; Book
Dressing Up for the Carnivalby Carol Shields
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2001-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.79
Price in other shops:
East, Westby Salman Rushdie
Vintage Books; Published: 2006-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops:
Local Girlsby Alice Hoffman
Vintage/Ebury (a Division of Random; Published: 2000-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.25
Price in other shops:
Someone to Watch Over Me: Storiesby Richard Bausch
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-05-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.60
Price in other shops:
Faithless: Tales of Transgressionby Joyce Carol Oates
Ecco; Published: 2001-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.04
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Tinkersby Paul Harding
Bellevue Literary Press; Published: 2009-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.87
Price in other shops:
My Name Is Redby Orhan Pamuk
Vintage; Published: 2002-08-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
The Sense of an Ending (Borzoi Books)by Julian Barnes
Knopf; Published: 2011-10-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.97
Price in other shops:
Conversations with Kazuo Ishiguro (Literary Conversations)University Press of Mississippi; Published: 2008-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops:
When We Were Orphans: A Novelby Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 2001-10-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
A Pale View of Hillsby Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 1990-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.71
Price in other shops:
The Remains of the Dayby Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 1990-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops:
An Artist of the Floating Worldby Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 1989-09-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops:
The Unconsoledby Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 1996-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.83
Price in other shops:
Never Let Me Goby Kazuo Ishiguro
Vintage; Published: 2006-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.49
Price in other shops: