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 ...
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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.
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Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Vintage to cart. $1.96, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brooklyn Park, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Vintage.
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Fair. Stains on outside cover/inside the book. Cover/ Case does NOT match photos; some content may vary from version shown Cover/Case has some rubbing and edgewear. Access codes, CD's, slipcovers and other accessories may not be included.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall to cart. $2.30, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by FABER & FABER.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Vintage to cart. $2.80, fair condition, Sold by Dream Books Co. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Denver, CO, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Vintage to cart. $3.10, very good condition, Sold by newlegacybooks rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Annandale, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Vintage to cart. $3.11, good condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall (Vintage to cart. $3.11, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall to cart. $3.20, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Knopf Publishing Group.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall to cart. $3.20, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Knopf Publishing Group.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall to cart. $3.20, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Knopf Publishing Group.
Add this copy of Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall to cart. $3.20, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Knopf Publishing Group.
I read most of Ishiguro's past work and especially loved Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go and An Artist of the Floating World. I liked his very British formalism and the way he seemed to allow only fleeting impressions of sentiment to enter his stories. The reader had to work to reveal the conflicting emotional undercurrents of these works.
But after reading Nocturnes, I have to wonder if the books I liked so much were really as good as I thought they were the first time around. Every single story in this collection is sappy, overly simplistic and uninvolving. The fact that the bookend stories are set in Venice immediately put a bad taste in my mouth as I consider Venice, despite its beautifully tragic architecture, to be one of the tackiest cities I've had the misfortune to visit. The stories follow in that mold: no sort of insight or sympathetic characters to be found. The fact that two stories revolve around schmaltzy Vegas-style performers whose careers have seen better days makes me wonder if Ishiguro actually likes this type of distinctly American cheese.
I'd warn everyone to stay away from this book. I took little or no pleasure from reading it, and I probably won't look into any future works from Ishiguro. So disappointing that I felt the need to read something of substance immediately afterward to remove the sour memory of Nocturnes from my brain.
