An Artist of the Floating World (Vintage International)

It promises insight into post-war Japan but it delivers little. fascinating peek into japanese culture but even then it fails to fly!

This was my first Ishiguro... I wish he wrote more. This book gives an amazing picture both of post-war Japan and the world of the artist.

An evocation of Japan and Japenese history. Very touching.

A wonderfully subtle tale of post-war Japan. We are invited to see Japan during the American Occupation through the eyes of an artist, whom we suspect may have supported the Japanese wartime establishment. A difficult book to put down, Ishiguro manages to put a human face on the dilemmas of the average Japanese who lived through the war. This gave me a new slant on the Japanese desire to try...more

A wonderfully subtle tale of post-war Japan. We are invited to see Japan during the American Occupation through the eyes of an artist, whom we suspect may have supported the Japanese wartime establishment. A difficult book to put down, Ishiguro manages to put a human face on the dilemmas of the average Japanese who lived through the war. This gave me a new slant on the Japanese desire to try to forget the past and to modernise their nation.   hide

My favorite story about identity crisis.

I appealed so much to Masuji Ono the character after finishing it initially but have moved on. It's a marevellous literary text that deals out the first person narrative in a unique light.

I didnt like it at all. Very slow, Im not getting the message at all, and I finally gave up. It's the longest yet thinnest book I've ever read! I was disappointed, I usually love Ishiguro's books

Ishiguro has a very unique style. His account of events is like a very structured stream of thoughts; following Masuji Ono as he jumps from memory to memory that center around his art in the World War II era. The book is a pleasant and easy read, and the subject matter interesting. The nature of propaganda as art is questioned as well as the consequences one must suffer to atone for misplaced...more

Ishiguro has a very unique style. His account of events is like a very structured stream of thoughts; following Masuji Ono as he jumps from memory to memory that center around his art in the World War II era. The book is a pleasant and easy read, and the subject matter interesting. The nature of propaganda as art is questioned as well as the consequences one must suffer to atone for misplaced faith.   hide

A low-key, subtle story about change and the ironies posed by hindsight. It's set in Japan just after the end of the Second World War and compares two ages -the chauvenistic, militeristic pre-war years and the more democratic, westernised, Americanised post-war period. Ishiguro writes elegantly and sparingly, showing how the older generation look back over their lives and re-assess them in the...more

A low-key, subtle story about change and the ironies posed by hindsight. It's set in Japan just after the end of the Second World War and compares two ages -the chauvenistic, militeristic pre-war years and the more democratic, westernised, Americanised post-war period. Ishiguro writes elegantly and sparingly, showing how the older generation look back over their lives and re-assess them in the light of hindsight. This is particularly painful and sobering when a country and regime has suffered a catastrophic defeat in war. It must be galling having younger generation people smugly coming up to you and saying:" I told you so." The story is dressed up in the niceties of polite society and is very understated. However it packs a powerful punch.   hide