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An Artist of the Floating World

As heard on BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime

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An Artist of the Floating World

By: Kazuo Ishiguro
Narrated by: David Case
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About this listen

1948. Japan is rebuilding her cities after the calamity of WWII, her people putting defeat behind them and looking to the future.

The celebrated painter Masuji Ono fills his days attending to his garden, his house repairs, his two grown daughters and his grandson; his evenings drinking with old associates in quiet lantern-lit bars. His should be a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to the past - to a life and a career deeply touched by the rise of Japanese militarism - a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity.

©2014 Kazuo Ishiguro (P)2014 Faber & Faber Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction War & Military
All stars
Most relevant
Kazuo could turn any conversation into an erudite elegant story. Just so beautifully written. And narrated with equal charm.

A glimpse of a graceful life

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What a phenomenal reflection on how we hurt ourselves by holding onto past mistakes and continue to blaming ourselves when we need to move forward. And in doing so, we tend build these mistakes into something bigger than they really were.

Every time I finish one of Kazuo's books, I am instantly reminded of his others I have read. I feel the meaning of each book is intensified with each one I read.

He is truly an artist with words.

Deeply Moving

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Enjoyed the story, and in general the presentation of the story as well.
Thought it strange then that the choice of performer, for only Japanese characters, had no understanding of the Japanese pronunciation. Stress and intonation was off and made the flow a little jarring. thought this was a missed opportunity.

Pronunciation was an opportunity lost

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This story is about the life of a Japanese artist in a period of enormous change in society. It covers the pre and post war period when Japan is wrenched from a traditional style of art practice and teaching. There are wonderful descriptions of the relationship between teacher (sensei) and pupil and discussions are tradition and innovation in artistic practice. In typical Ishiguro style, the story is told from the viewpoint of someone with limited self-reflection, and the real story comes out in chance comments and what is not said. You have to pay attention or you miss the story. For those of you looking for a story with a plot and a great reveal, this is not for you. But if you are after a story that unfolds gradually, exploring ideas, emotions and relationships along the way, you will enjoy this greatly.

The story is like a flower that unfolds, one petal at a time, until at the end of the story, it is in full bloom. But because you have been focusing on the detail of each petal, at the end of the story you have to sit back and see the flower as a whole. This can take days or weeks after reading the story, and it will make you want to read it again.

I feel that for such a great story, better attention to production values would be appropriate. The narrator was fine and had the right voice for the character. However, he mispronounced some of the Japanese names (particularly Noriko) which was distracting, and this should have been picked up in the review. Also, the tonality of his voice changed from time to time as if he was recording in different rooms. This was also a bit of a distraction. However, these were fairly minor and overall the experience was enjoyable.

Magical evocation of the life of a Japanese artist

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book as my first look at Ishiguro’s work but the performance left a lot to be desired. The first two hours the reader had these bizarre inflections that made understanding where a sentence ending utterly confusing and then any time he came across a Japanese word it sounded like he was repeatedly stumbling through hurdles.

Amazing prose that acts as a window in the most drastic transitional period of Japanese History

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Although Artist of the Floating World is not as plot-driven as most books, I thoroughly enjoyed its atmosphere and prose.
Unfortunately the narrator was a let down. There was strange inflection and inconsistent pronunciation of Japanese names/honorifics.
At times the narrator's voice became unexpectedly hoarse, which was also unpleasant.

Ishiguro deserves better narration

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not much happening here in terms of interesting writing. just a narrative, with a small level of interest in fallible, self denying narrator. I quit.

dull

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