Nocturnes (book)

Nocturnes

First edition
Author Kazuo Ishiguro
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Short story collection
Publisher Faber and Faber
Publication date
7 May 2009
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 221 pp
ISBN 978-0-571-24498-0
OCLC 310156229
Preceded by Never Let Me Go
Followed by The Buried Giant

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall is a 2009 collection of short fiction by Kazuo Ishiguro. After six novels, it is Ishiguro first collection of short stories, though described by the publisher as a "story cycle". As the subtitle suggests, each of the five stories focuses on music and musicians, and the close of day. The hardback was published by Faber and Faber in the United Kingdom on 7 May 2009 and in the United States by Knopf in September 2009.

Stories

As the subtitle suggests, each story focuses on music and musicians, and the close of day. All of the stories have unfulfilled potential as a linking theme, tinged with elements of regret. The second and fourth stories have comic undertones. The first and final stories feature cafe musicians, and the first and fourth stories feature the same character. All five stories have unreliable male narrators and are written in the first person.[1]

Reception

Robert Macfarlane writes in The Sunday Times that "Closing the book, it’s hard to recall much more than an atmosphere or an air; a few bars of music, half-heard, technically accomplished, quickly forgotten."[3] Christian House of The Independent writes that "Ultimately this is a lovely, clever book about the passage of time and the soaring notes that make its journey worthwhile".[4]

References

  1. Ruth Scurr (24 April 2009). "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro". The Times. Retrieved 29 June 2010. All five stories have unreliable male narrators, who are musicians of some kind, and are written in the first person.
  2. Decca Aitkenhead (27 April 2009). "Kazuo Ishiguro: 'There comes a point when you can count the number of books you're going to write before you die. And you think, God, there's only four left'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2010. She cannot actually play the instrument at all. So convinced was she of her own musical genius, no teacher ever seemed equal to it, and so rather than tarnish her gift with imperfection, she chose never to realise it at all.
  3. Robert Macfarlane (10 May 2009). "Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 29 June 2010. Closing the book, it’s hard to recall much more than an atmosphere or an air; a few bars of music, half-heard, technically accomplished, quickly forgotten.
  4. Christian House (17 May 2009). "Nocturnes, By Kazuo Ishiguro". The Independent. Retrieved 29 June 2010. Ultimately this is a lovely, clever book about the passage of time and the soaring notes that make its journey worthwhile.
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