A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

ISBN-13: 9780571245659
Publisher: Faber and Faber Limited
Published: 2009
183 pgs
Source: Library

A Pale View of Hills was published in 1982, and it was the first novel to be written by Kazuo Ishiguro. While I have his other book, Never Let Me Go, in my pile, I chose to read this first as I don't think I have seen too many reviews on this around the blogosphere.

A Pale View of Hills tells the story of a middle-aged Japanese woman named Etsuko living in England as she recalls her past living in post-war Nagasaki, during a visit from her daughter, Niki. As the narrator, Etsuko began to describe her acquaintance with a woman she knew as Sachiko and her daughter Mariko during her days in Nagasaki. Before she went on to recall her relationship with Sachiko, readers are well aware that there have been two marriages in Etsuko's life through the first chapter. Her first marriage was to a Japanese man named Jiro and together they had a daughter, Keiko. Niki is actually her daughter from her second marriage to a British man. During the time when Etsuko is living in England (there isn't any mention of Jiro so it was understood that Etsuko and Jiro had split), Keiko became withdrawn and spent most of the time locked in her room. She committed suicide later, and this was made known to the readers from the beginning because Niki was telling Etsuko that she doesn't feel comfortable staying in the room facing opposite Keiko's room.

This first part of the story tells a lot about Etsuko's recollections of her friendship with Sachiko and Mariko. As the story progressed, I found myself disliking Sachiko because she somewhat gave me the impression of being an arrogant and a materialistic woman. In any sense, there are also a few similarities between Keiko and Mariko as both seemed to be loners and harbour a sense of depression.

The story took a turn during the second part as this focus more Etsuko's relationship with Jiro and his father Ogata-San, as well as the latter's opinion towards the Japanese society between the past and the present. If you are feeling confused at this point, you are not alone because that was my initial reaction as far as the progress of the story is concerned. Etsuko has intrigued me with her recollections of Sachiko and Mariko during the first part of the story, so I was perplexed and feeling somewhat frustrated that there isn't further elaborations on them on the second part of the story. I also have to confess that I was actually more interested to read about Sachiko and Mariko than Jiro and Ogata-San, not because the latter wasn't interesting but there is something about Sachiko and Mariko that I couldn't quite put a finger on. It was only after reading the whole book and some pondering did I realise that not only this story is multi-layered but it is also how you interpret it in the end. This book makes a great book club discussion in my opinion, and I think this is the kind of book which you will either love it or hate it. For me, I don't hate it but I don't love it to pieces too; still I quite like the idea that this story would provoke some pondering from the readers and that has totally heightened my reading experience aside from being an escapism.

Have you read it? What is your interpretation of this story?