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The Unconsoled

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The Unconsoled

By: Kazuo Ishiguro
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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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 Mind-bending
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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)
All stars
Most relevant
Recent to audible, this was written decades ago.

Beautifully written and impressively narrated, but frustrating as one gets sucked into a scenario in which the protagonist, Ryder, a famed pianist, is both victim and fool.

His narcissism leads him astray; his attention deficit disorder (not mentioned but certainly appears to be the case!) make it difficult for him to stay on task, and despite narrowing time frames and increasingly important decisions he is unable to perform ethically or effectively. Kafka seems omni-present, it is all somehow absurd and we never determine what exactly is going on, why, or who are the winners and losers and in whose interests they are operating. Ryder is not a likeable person and his return to the town of his youth to share his celebrity is clearly manipulated by local elites and others each wanting to a portion of his fame and time for often unclear but seemingly devious agendas.

As with much of Ishiguro's writing, the relationships are interesting and unfold in their complexity; and tales of regret and what might have been. weave their way across the pages.

A compelling read, frustratingly entertaining ... Somehow I still recommend it!

Narcissism, ADD, Kafka, and regret intertwined

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This is not an easy book to get into, and I've had a couple of false starts, covering a couple of chapters before giving up, before I decided to "soldier on", probably not a sign of an easy reading. But after I got halfway through the book I found it hard to put it down. It turns out to be a very rewarding read.
Simon Vance has done a marvellous job by capturing the intricacies of Ishiguro's writing. Highly recommended.

Perseverance pays off

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One of the oddest books read (or listened to), not in a Murikami purposefully surreal kind of way, but in a way where the reader wouldn’t be surprised if Ishiguro sat down one day and wrote this thing as a random stream of consciousness with little or no understanding of an end destination. There's no trace of 'usual' sensory sequence - time and space has a circular dreamlike quality, which isn’t unappealing, but with so little anchor into anything the reader can often get largely disorientated. And then the characters - a mix of bumbling, often pretentious, overly verbose and frustratingly parochial people... Before I knew (or at least had a strong sense) this was purposeful, I found myself getting hugely frustrated with the book and its occupants, however after giving in to it totally, following the book is like getting swept in an oddly satisfying current - there's no other way to describe it other than 'dreamlike'. Aside from the palpable (but from the author's perspective, purposeful) frustration felt in the pages of The Unconsoled, I found myself laughing out loud at the quick, dry wit - so sharp, it cuts through the otherwise cloud-like drowsiness of the rest of the book. And then, through the fog, there are gems of pure humanity - astute psychological, social and cultural observations carefully woven through inter-personal relationships and interactions, that take you off-guard. From what I have read of other reviews, this book is hugely divisive. This book took me on a journey (or perhaps emotional roller-coaster) that started with confusion, which led to frustration, and ended in amazement. I am on the 'masterpiece' end of the reviewers dichotomy. How many books can elicit such an incredible range of emotions. If you're looking for a tightly-knit satisfyingly sequential narrative, look elsewhere. If you want to go on a journey, read (or listen to, the performance is excellent) The Unconsoled.

What just happened

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I like Ishiguro but struggled with this book. It’s one for those with a tolerance for ambiguity. There’s no plot as such and it’s all about characters’ internal states and the atmosphere. I stopped at around a third of the way through having become convinced it was just going to be more of the same. One for those who enjoy being set adrift in a surreal cityscape. A world of unclear expectations and unresolved emotions

Increasingly tedious

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I spent the early part of this book trying to explain to myself what was going on, before realising that this isn’t really the point!
The central story is about the pianist Mr Ryder arriving in a city to give a recital but there are numerous connected stories involving the other characters. These all connect to Mr Ryder in some way. I don’t want to give too much away; I think everyone will come away from this book with their own interpretation of their meanings.

The whole book is like a dream but can’t be a dream because it’s far too long and detailed. Nevertheless, time and space distort in a dreamlike way which is very disorientating, both for Mr Ryder and the reader. And in the way Mr Ryder always gets distracted and sidetracked from his objectives, it is much like an anxiety dream or a nightmare. Nevertheless, there is much humour in the absurdity of the characters and situations and the narrative is utterly compelling even though one knows it’s never going to reach a satisfying conclusion.

The narrator hit exactly the right tone. One of the best.

Mesmerising

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