Most Popular Books by Kazuo Ishiguro

Nineteen interviews conducted over the past two decades on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond with the author of the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day

NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • From the acclaimed, bestselling author of The Remains of the Day comes “a Gothic tour de force" (The New York Times) with an extraordinary twist—a moving, suspenseful, beautifully atmospheric modern classic. One of The New York Times’s 10 Best Books of the 21st Century As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together.

From the universally acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day comes a mesmerizing novel of completely unexpected mood and matter--a seamless, fictional universe, both wholly unrecognizable and familiar. When the public, day-to-day reality of a renowned pianist takes on a life of its own, he finds himself traversing landscapes that are by turns eerie, comical, and strangely malleable.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely to the celebration of physical beauty. Instead, he put his work in the service of the imperialist movement that led Japan into World War II. Now, as the mature Ono struggles through the aftermath of that war, his memories of his youth and of the "floating world"—the nocturnal world of pleasure, entertainment, and drink—offer him both escape and redemption, even as they punish him for betraying his early promise. Indicted by society for its defeat and reviled for his past aesthetics, he relives the passage through his personal history that makes him both a hero and a coward but, above all, a human being.

The Nobel Lecture in Literature, delivered by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans) at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 7, 2017, in an elegant, clothbound edition. In their announcement of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy recognized the emotional force of Kazuo Ishiguro’s fiction and his mastery at uncovering our illusory sense of connection with the world. In the eloquent and candid lecture he delivered upon accepting the award, Ishiguro reflects on the way he was shaped by his upbringing, and on the turning points in his career—“small scruffy moments . . . quiet, private sparks of revelation”—that made him the writer he is today. With the same generous humanity that has graced his novels, Ishiguro here looks beyond himself, to the world that new generations of writers are taking on, and what it will mean—what it will demand of us—to make certain that literature remains not just alive, but essential. An enduring work on writing and becoming a writer, by one of the most accomplished novelists of our generation.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day comes this stunning work of soaring imagination. Born in early-twentieth-century Shanghai, Banks was orphaned at the age of nine after the separate disappearances of his parents. Now, more than twenty years later, he is a celebrated figure in London society; yet the investigative expertise that has garnered him fame has done little to illuminate the circumstances of his parents'' alleged kidnappings. Banks travels to the seething, labyrinthine city of his memory in hopes of solving the mystery of his own, painful past, only to find that war is ravaging Shanghai beyond recognition-and that his own recollections are proving as difficult to trust as the people around him. Masterful, suspenseful and psychologically acute, When We Were Orphans offers a profound meditation on the shifting quality of memory, and the possibility of avenging one’s past.

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, here is “an intricate and dazzling novel” (The New York Times) about the perfect butler and his fading, insular world in post-World War II England. This is Kazuo Ishiguro''s profoundly compelling portrait of a butler named Stevens. Stevens, at the end of three decades of service at Darlington Hall, spending a day on a country drive, embarks as well on a journey through the past in an effort to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving the "great gentleman," Lord Darlington. But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington''s "greatness," and much graver doubts about the nature of his own life.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day comes an inspired sequence of stories as affecting as it is beautiful. With the clarity and precision that have become his trademarks, Kazuo Ishiguro interlocks five short pieces of fiction to create a world that resonates with emotion, heartbreak, and humor. Here is a fragile, once famous singer, turning his back on the one thing he loves; a music junky with little else to offer his friends but opinion; a songwriter who inadvertently breaks up a marriage; a jazz musician who thinks the answer to his career lies in changing his physical appearance; and a young cellist whose tutor has devised a remarkable way to foster his talent. For each, music is a central part of their lives and, in one way or another, delivers them to an epiphany.

From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day Here is the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in England, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. In a novel where past and present confuse, she relives scenes of Japan''s devastation in the wake of World War II.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel from the Nobel laureate and author of Never Let Me Go is “an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a poignant meditation on love and loneliness” (The Associated Press). • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick! Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day comes a luminous meditation on the act of forgetting and the power of memory. In post-Arthurian Britain, the wars that once raged between the Saxons and the Britons have finally ceased. Axl and Beatrice, an elderly British couple, set off to visit their son, whom they haven''t seen in years. And, because a strange mist has caused mass amnesia throughout the land, they can scarcely remember anything about him. As they are joined on their journey by a Saxon warrior, his orphan charge, and an illustrious knight, Axl and Beatrice slowly begin to remember the dark and troubled past they all share. By turns savage, suspenseful, and intensely moving, The Buried Giant is a luminous meditation on the act of forgetting and the power of memory.

In celebration of Kazuo Ishiguro winning the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature: a special gift hardback edition of his 1989 Booker Prize-winning novel.

A masterful novel from one of the most admired writers of our time. Christopher Banks, an English boy born in early-20th-century Shanghai, is orphaned at age nine when both his mother and father disappear under suspicious circumstances. He grows up to become a renowned detective, and more than 20 years later, returns to Shanghai to solve the mystery of the disappearances. Within the layers of the narrative told in Christopher''s precise, slightly detached voice are revealed what he can''t, or wont, see: that the simplest desires—a child''s for his parents, a man''s for understanding—may give rise to the most complicated truths. A feat of narrative skill and soaring imagination, When We Were Orphans is Kazuo Ishiguro at his brilliant best. Performed by John Lee

From the Nobel Prize–winning author of Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go comes a gorgeously illustrated volume of lyrics written for the platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated jazz singer Stacey Kent. Memorably introduced by Ishiguro himself, The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain collects the lyrics of sixteen songs he wrote for world-renowned American singer Stacey Kent, which were set to music by her partner, Jim Tomlinson. An exquisite coming together of the literary and musical worlds, the lyrics are infused with a sense of yearning, melancholy, love, and the romance of travel and liminal spaces. Further exploring the notion of collaboration and interpretation, the collection is illustrated by the acclaimed Italian artist Bianca Bagnarelli, whose work perfectly captures the atmosphere and sensibility of the songs.

Hailsham aparenta ser un agradable internado inglés, lejos de las influencias de la gran ciudad. La escuela se ocupa bien de sus estudiantes, enseñándoles arte y literatura y todo lo necesario para que se conviertan en el tipo de persona que la sociedad espera. Pero, curiosamente, en Hailsham no se enseña nada sobre el mundo exterior, un mundo con el que casi todo contacto está prohibido. Dentro de Hailsham, Kathy y sus amigos Ruth y Tommy crecen indiferentes ante el resto del mundo, pero será solamente cuando finalmente dejen la seguridad de la escuela que se darán cuenta de lo que Hailsham en realidad esconde. Nunca me abandones rompe con los limites de la novela literaria. Es un misterio conmovedor, una hermosa historia de amor, una crítica mordaz de la arrogancia humana y también una investigación moral de cómo tratamos a la gente más vulnerable en nuestra sociedad. En su exploración del tema de la memoria y el impacto del pasado en un posible futuro, Ishiguro ha creado su libro más conmovedor hasta la fecha.

Ketika negerinya menghadapi masa penuh penderitaan, seniman Masuji Ono membaktikan seninya tidak hanya untuk merayakan keindahan material. Ia berkarya untuk mendukung gerakan imperialis yang membawa Jepang memasuki Perang Dunia II. Sekarang, ketika Ono yang telah menua berjuang melewati masa paska peperangan, ia melarikan diri ke dalam kenangan masa muda dan “dunia di atas awan” —dunia malam yang penuh kenikmatan, hiburan, dan alkohol. Dicela masyarakat karena kekalahan negerinya dan dicaci karena pilihan estetika masa lalunya, Ono mengenang kembali sejarah hidupnya yang menjadikan ia pahlawan dan pengecut, tapi lebih daripada segalanya: manusia.

Faber Stories, a landmark series of individual volumes, presents masters of the short story form at work in a range of genres and styles. When Ray turns up to visit his old university friends Charlie and Emily, he''s given a special task: to be so much his useless self that he makes Charlie look good by comparison. But Ray has his own buried feelings to contend with. Decades earlier, he and Emily would listen to jazz when they were alone, and now, as Sarah Vaughan sings through the speakers, he struggles to control everything the sound brings with it. In Kazuo Ishiguro''s hands, a snapshot of domestic realism becomes a miniature masterpiece of memory and forgetting.

" Shanghai, années 30 : le chaos règne, le monde court vers la guerre et il n''est pas très prudent pour un Britannique de s''aventurer hors des limites de la concession internationale. C''est dans ce décor brisé que Kazuo Ishiguro lâche Christopher Banks, le héros de son nouveau roman, [...] détective anglais très en vue, plongé dans le maelström des jeux d''influences occidentale et japonaise dans une Chine démembrée. Mais son enquête, suivie avec une attention et une passion haletantes par la bonne société, il la mène cette fois pour lui-même ; il veut percer le mystère de la disparition subite de ses parents en plein Shanghai, alors qu''il n''était qu''un gamin. Ishiguro mêle avec brio les rebondissements d''une enquête policière et un va-et-vient permanent entre Londres et Shanghai, entre l''âge adulte et l''enfance, entre les ravages du monde et les tourbillonnements de la mémoire. " (Stéphane Lutz-Sorg, La Croix)

The Unconsoled is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, first published in 1995 by Faber and Faber, and winner of the Cheltenham Prize that year. The novel takes place over a period of three days. It is about Ryder, a famous pianist who arrives in a central European city to perform a concert. He is entangled in a web of appointments and promises which he cannot seem to remember, struggling to fulfill his commitments before Thursday night''s performance and frustrated with his inability to take control. The Unconsoled was described as a "sprawling, almost indecipherable 500-page work" that "left readers and reviewers baffled". It received strong negative reviews with a few positive ones. Literary critic James Wood said that the novel had "invented its own category of badness". However, a 2006 poll of various literary critics voted the novel as the third "best British, Irish, or Commonwealth novel from 1980 to 2005", tied with Anthony Burgess''s Earthly Powers, Salman Rushdie''s Midnight''s Children, Ian McEwan''s Atonement, and Penelope Fitzgerald''s The Blue Flower. John Carey, book critic for the Sunday Times, also placed the novel on his list of the 20th century''s 50 most enjoyable books. It has come to be generally regarded as one of Ishiguro''s best works.--Wikipedia, accessed 11 February 2022.

Après le suicide de sa fille aînée, Etsuko, une Japonaise installée en Angleterre, se replonge dans les souvenirs de sa vie. Peut-être l''explication du drame demeure t-elle enfouie dans ce Japon des années cinquante qui se relevait des plaies de la guerre et du traumatisme de la bombe... Roman fort dont on ne sort pas indemne, Lumière pâle sur les collines possède un rare pouvoir d''envoûtement.

" Le plus injuste, c''est de disposer de si peu de lignes pour le dire : voici un roman complexe et vertigineux dont les résonances continueront de vous hanter longtemps après que vous l''aurez refermé. [...] Dans une petite ville d''Europe centrale où bouillonnent l''envie et la frustration, la visite de Ryder est une aubaine : prestigieux pianiste international, il va apporter l''air du large. Sitôt débarqué, chacun sollicite, le submergeant de ses espérances, des détails oiseux de sa vie privée, flux tragi-comique et exaspérant d''auto-justifications. [...] " Poignant, et d''un comique parfaitement saugrenu, L''Inconsolé symbolise une douloureuse quête d''accomplissement et de bonheur, dont on voit bien que les clés ne dépendent pas du bon vouloir de l''humain. " Marie-Caroline Aubert, Elle