Saturday, October 2, 2010

Fourty-six: Nocturnes - Kazuo Ishiguro

Passion or necessity- or the often uneasy combination of the two-determines the place of music in each of these lives.  And in one way or another, music delivers each of them a moment of reckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes just eluding their grasp.
 
Nocturnes is a collection of short stories about music and nightfall.  My favorite stories were Crooner and Nocturne.

Crooner is told from a local musician's point of view who recognizes an American singer sitting at a cafe in Venice.  The singer is there on a trip with his wife - one last hurrah. To stage a successful comeback the singer and his wife must separate.  The local musician accompanies the singer one night as he serenades his wife one last time.

Nocturne actually is a continuation of the Crooner story.  The wife and another jazz musician meet in a hotel while recovering from plastic surgery.  They explore the hotel at night and listen to music together.

All the stories in this collection involve some type of couple either married already or not.  None of the stories really have happy endings though.  They are well written and easy to read.  Very enjoyable! 

1 comment:

  1. Hello! I am here to introduce myself as one of your designated cheerleaders for the upcoming Read-O-Thon. My name is ___ but my friends just call me MisterBIP. I will do all I can to be with you for as long as you are able to keep your eyes open and those pages turning during the gruelling 24 hour adventure you’ve willingly signed up for. Sure I may nap for a small time, or get chip grease on my keys ::which hopefully no one will notice:: but you can be sure I will be here to cheer you on! I wish you luck and I’m looking forward to being there to keep you getting many, many paper cuts throughout the night!

    Mr BIP
    ::fellow reader - supporter of readers and writers everywhere!::

    PS - I would have posted this to a particular place on your site...but I couldn't find an appropriate place to post it. :)
    PPS - Don't approve this comment if you don't want it here...I don't like to mess up other people's blogs with messy comments.

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