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The Unconsoled

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The Unconsoled

By: Kazuo Ishiguro
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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About this listen

Ryder, a renowned pianist, arrives in a Central European city he cannot identify for a concert he cannot remember agreeing to give. But then as he traverses a landscape by turns eerie and comical - and always strangely malleable, as a dream might be - he comes steadily to realise he is facing the most crucial performance of his life.

Ishiguro's extraordinary study of a man whose life has accelerated beyond his control was met on publication by consternation, vilification - and the highest praise.

©2018 Faber & Faber (P)2018 Faber & Faber Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Metaphysical & Visionary Psychological

Critic Reviews

"The Unconsoled is a masterpiece...it is above all a book devoted to the human heart, and as such Ishiguro's greatest gift to us yet." (The Times)

"A work of great interest and originality.... Ishiguro has mapped out an aesthetic territory that is all his own...frankly fantastic [and] fiercer and funnier than before." (The New Yorker)

"He is an original and remarkable genius….The Unconsoled is the most original and remarkable book he has so far produced." (New York Times Book Review)
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I've read this author's work before and loved it so I had high hopes for this one. Sadly I was dissapointed fairly quickly but perservered thinking it would eventually make sense. Instead the book beautifully described one frustrating situation after another. There was no logic to what was happening and it appeared the protagonist was either in a very long and tedious dream or was delusional. It is never made clear if either situation was the case. The ending was really unsatisfying for anyone who was looking for a sensible conclusion as payback for all the frustration of listening to the rest of the book. Maybe it was too litery for me. I plan on returning this book.

Frustrating nonsensical and overly long

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I read this
stunning novel many years ago and found it again recently. no wonder it has haunted me all these years. it is an absolute masterpiece of the unconscious mind and captures the half-formed vagaries of the dream state while being razor insightful. the ego sliding through a slippery world of meanings not quite caught, connections not quite made and the yearning for things largely unknown. it is a book of shadows and labrynths. beautiful and disturbing quite simply.

superb

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I am very glad I decided to stick with it till the end. This book is brilliant, but I hesitate to recommend it to my friends, as it is so long and slow-paced. The story just goes around in circles just like the main character. Listening to this audio book is like a meditation. But you really have to pay attention throughout the whole story to understand what is actually going on.

Brilliant

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Simon Vance is best audiobook narrator I've come across yet. I was in the Novel. I liked it more than the remains of the day but less than never let me go. love the surreal dreamscape created and the long absurd monologues. tempted to give it 5 stars but the proper Britishness of it is still a small touch off-putting I guess still an incredible novel to bounce back my average book streak.

Simon Vance!

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Fraught with lack of resolution, The Unconsoled is an extended meditation on the human condition with all our flaws, pettiness, selfishness and lack in insight laid bare.

Complex and a hard read

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