A Pale View of Hills

It is impossible not to finish *Pale View of the Hills* with a sense of bewilderment. The ending is very enigmatic and inconclusive, which some readers have judged as a sign of inexperience of a first novel. Although quite surprising, it does feel like a M. Night Shyamalan's Sixth-Sense plot twist--something explicitly and almost artificially placed at the end of the story to thrill audiences as it brings a totally new light (or haze, if you will), almost a cliché that Ishiguro wisely decided not use in other novels (but Shyamalan unwisely just can't give up.) So, yes, there is something loose in the structure of <i>PVH</i> that feels inexperienced, but still, the whole novel is far from an unpleasant journey, because it already brings many of the qualities of Ishiguro's later novels. And this one is quite spooky. Japan is famous for its 'obake' ghost stories, tales about creepy ghosts of women with long, black hair (think of *The Ring*). It is interesting to research on the term right now and learn from Wiki that, literally, 'obake' means *a thing that changes*, referring to a state of transformation or shape-shifting. I guess Ishiguro didn't have this idea in mind when he wrote *PVH*. There is no explicitly supernatural element in the story and, structurally, what runs underneath the main plot of the characters is much more a detective story about a sequence of Bolaño-like misterious crimes than anything else. However, and I can't explain exactly why, this novel felt to me as creepy as one of those obake stories because of some rather disturbing scenes and details, and the fact that things change so much at the end makes it quite consistent with the concept of 'obake', in a contemporary format.Nagasaki also comes to the story with this purpose, as I read it. Of course it was quite natural that Ishiguro would choose a familiar environment of his ancestry as subject of his first novel, but being a city destroyed by a nuclear bomb and then fully reconstructed, Nagasaki seemed to me charged with a lot of symbolic value--particularly when put into the context of lives that were also, in different perspectives, destroyed and wrecked, and then rebuilt in a way to hide all scars as if nothing ever happened. That is why the image of the Nagasaki harbor, seen from the top of the Inasa Mountain in the beginning of Part 2, was a very strong image to me. Inasa's is also the pale view of the hills that Etsuko saw from the window of her apartment in Nagasaki, making constant change of perspective a central symbol of the book.Well into the novel, Etsuko the narrator, says: "Memory, I realize, can be an unreliable thing; often it is heavily coloured by the circumstances in which one remembers, and no doubt this applies to certain of the recollections I have gathered here." Ishiguro is famous for his unreliable narrators and his ability to hide and surgically reveal to his reader what he is really talking about (something he does extremely well in *Never Let Me Go*) and in *PVH* I could sense the first, still somewhat reluctant steps of his in that direction. The fact that people in Japan are known for their reticence, always not externally declaring/revealing what they are really feeling (out of a mix of introspection, decorum and a strict social code) is also very instrumental for Ishiguro to build his dualities and subtleties in this novels, something (I guess) he would then transcribe to the formalities of the English society in the 1930s in *The Remains of the Day*.I began ranking *PHV* with a 3-star to distinguish it from *Never Let Me Go*, imho, still one of his best books, but as all elements and nuances of the story settled in my mind I noticed how I liked it and how it was appealing, however spooky, and still leaving interesting ideas to think about.

Hey, most of us enjoyed Ishiguro's first novel but found it quite perplexing. In particular, theshort section near the end of chapter ten in which Etsuko finds the daughter of her friend Sachico but suddenlystarts speaking to her as though she were own first daughter Keiko. This seems awfully strange and particularlyso since she is still pregnant with her daughter at this time. A lot of effort has been spent by reviewerson this site trying to analyze hidden meanings in this and other strange portions of the story. Why not listen instead to Ishiguro himself in an article in the Spring, 2008 issue of The Paris Reviewwritten by the interviewer Susannah Hunnewell. In response to questions from Susannah, Ishigurogave the following responses concerning A Pale View of Hills. I'm very fond of it, but I do think it's too baffling. The ending is almost like a puzzle. I see nothingartistically to be gained by puzzling people to that extent. That was just inexperience--misjudgingwhat is too obvious and what is subtle. Even at the time the ending felt unsatisfactory. I thought this was an interesting way to narrate a novel: to have somebody who finds it toopainful or awkward to talk about his own life appropriate someone else's story to tell his own.I'd spent a lot of time working with homeless people, listening to people's stories about howthey'd got to this place, and I'd gotten very sensitive to the fact that they weren't telling thosestories in a straightforward way. I hoped readers would start to realize that her story is being told through the story of her friend.But because I didn't know how to create the texture of memory, I had to resort to something quitegimmicky at the end, where a scene back in Japan blurs into a scene that obviously took place muchmore recently. Even now, when I do an event to talk about my latest book, somebody asks, Were thosetwo women the same woman? What happens at the end on the bridge when "you" switches to "we"? So give it up readers. Just enjoy the book but don't try to analyze something never visualizedby the author himself. As Ishiguro himself says, he resorted to "something quite gimmicky at the end".

After reading Never Let Me Go and The Buried Giant, I decided to read his first book published. I found that A Pale View of Hills was an easier read and managed to read most of it in a day.The characters are interesting and as many of his books, mystery of details are still left for his readers to assume by the end. A much more optimistic end to this book compared to the others which had gloomy endings, much to my relief!What I appreciated about this book most was the history and changing traditions/views that generations held in Japan suddenly post war. It really intrigued me and was relatable to anywhere you live - the changing generations that you start to pick up on at different stages of your life.The mystery of what really happened with her daughter, or her friend and her daughter, will no doubt continue to bug me for a few days after reading this.However I'm starting to feel that this is the genius of Kazuo - his ability to make you explore so many meanings and endings leave you with so much more than answers because, at the end of the day, all the answers could be and are the truth.The role of the writer to inflict a story on you does not require them to inflict an ending or meaning to you. The reader is taught to fish for themselves.

I found this a very strange book, perhaps because I am not familiar with Japanese tradition and social mores. As far as I could make out, and not having read other people's reviews/interpretations, it deals with the cultural changes before and after The Bomb in Nagasaki, but it was addressed in such a tangential way, the message was rather obscure, and there were so many unanswered questions, so many issues just hinted at and left hanging in the air, that ultimately I was no better informed by the end of the book than before I started. I kept hoping it would develope into something, that I would learn more about the tragedies that befell each individual in the narrative, but I was left feeling somewhere between flat and bewildered by the end.

Another great read from this author. The plot has been outlined by other readers so suffice to say this book offers an interesting set of characters - none of whom I warmed to but all complex. I found the story line bleak and full of lonely people who seemed to drift through life in a solitary manner,burdened by their own lonely and insular lives and memories...this is what makes the book so fascinating really....that no,one else is really interested in the events in our lives which have moulder us into the people we have become. Highly recommended read.

This is a sad but moving story of estrangement and separation. The background is change in Japanese society after the bombing of Nagasaki. Old Japanese values are challenged by a new generation. The relationships between men and women, young and old and mothers and daughters are transformed. Told through the eyes of a Japanese widow living in Ehgland. Beautifully written.

Another piece of intensely evocative writing by this amazing author.It is set in Nagasaki and in Britain at different periods in the life of a Japanese woman.Not easy reading by any means and yet it was unputdownable.A sense of uncomfortable disquiet runs through the book although it is serene on the surface.The author very skillfully gives voice to the parts of all of us that we try to sweep away.For me reading the book was like looking at a book of fine paintings,each one a masterpiece in its observation of the present and meticulous attention to fine detail,whilst always retaining an unseen mysterious element.Read it!