Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Vintage International) [Paperback]

 

 

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This is Ishiguro's latest, a collection of five short stories all built around the theme of music. According to [...], a nocturne can be a "painting of a night scene" or an "instrumental composition of a pensive, dreamy mood." Despite the book's subtitle being Five Stories of Music and Nightfall, only two of the five stories have their main events occurring at night. It is the second definition which better suits this collection. Each story is well written, as you'd expect from Ishiguro, and each one forces you to think about it afterwards; they are deceptively simple. Ishiguro's writing is very subtle and understated, there is a lot more between the lines.

My favourite story was the third one, "Malvern Hills", in which a young, struggling musician has an interesting encounter with a couple of Swedish folk singers in England's Malvern Hills. That one was quite moving. Two of the stories, "Crooner" and "Nocturne" are loosely connected through one of the characters, which was a pleasant surprise. "Nocturne" was the most entertaining of the collection, for me, and left me wanting more because it ended without revealing the narrator's fate.

***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

Nocturnes, by Kazuo Ishiguro, was a book I felt compelled to read after reading a review from Heather's blog over at Book Addict. She mentioned Ishiguro's beautiful writing and the fact that she read the small book of 5 short stories over a period of two days. Being a book about music and nightfall, I figured it would be a perfect read.

Just by viewing the cover, the book looked very romantic ' this is also evoked by the words 'music and nightfall.'

Being a musician myself, I found myself relating to a few of the characters ' in Malvern Hills, especially, the main character is seen by his sister and her husband as someone who doesn't work, despite the fact that he's working on his music (too many times I feel like I'm seen as being a non-worker ' but music truly is something one has to work at).

I've always seen music as something that brings people together ' different cultures may speak different languages but music is universal. In Nocturnes, music does indeed bring people together ' in Come Rain or Come Shine, the two main characters were once schoolmates who loved talking about the jazz classics, something another character knows nothing about, and it brings them together despite the fact there are other issues floating around; in Crooner, two characters are brought together over the love of one of the character's music, and; in Nocturne, the main character is undergoing surgery (in the hopes that it will help make him a star with his music) and while at his recovery spot he befriends an actor who claims he is a great saxophone player.

But while music brings these people together, it is also something that tears them apart ' in Crooner, the Gardners are seen as having a perfect holiday, while in the end Tony sings to his wife as a farewell as this is their last holiday before they separate for good, and; in Malvern Hills, the young songwriter is drawn towards a Swedish couple who used to perform on the stage together, but are now drifting apart as their differences come forth a little too prominently as they recount their time together.

All of these stories are beautiful, yet tragic. There is a light about them ' in the writing and in the gentle way Ishiguro uses his words ' but then there is also darkness when the reader sees that maybe a relationship wasn't as it seemed. Each story contains romance, but a sad romance ' couples breaking apart, mostly. The only story that is different from this theme is Cellists ' a story of a young cello player who finds his mentor in a woman who claims to be a virtuoso, but has never really learned the craft of playing.

It was hard to finish the book and actually feel complete. The stories never did come full circle and I felt a bit of an emptiness when I finished. Maybe I had just hoped for something happier. While Ishiguro has a wonderful way with words, he could have written a story about the beauty of music bringing people together, rather than it being a force that pulls people apart. But maybe that's just me. I had never read anything by Kazuo Ishiguro before and didn't know what to expect. The book definitely exceeded my expectations, but in the end I wanted something more.

I read The Remains of the Day many years ago and loved his style. I was curious what his short stories would be like, after reading an interview where Ishiguro said these were basically his first ever stories--he has only written novels.

The surprise in the interview was that he originally wanted to be a musician, in fact, a rock star, rather than a writer. He worked at this for a time but gave it up.*

That background seems to inform these stories. All are about musicians and their struggles. Frustration and failure pervade their atmosphere.

Lovely stories. Worth reading and re-reading. But somehow they fall a little flat. They left me feeling that something was missing.

*So that's him and Dan Brown both. Wow. Some academic should write a thesis.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Nocturnes.
It arrived promptly. I haven't read it as yet. It's a selection for our book club and isn't due to be presented until later

Published 21 months ago by Charlotte Mccready

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