As you are surely aware, yesterday the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to the Japanese Kazuo Ishiguro . We made you a short article in which we mentioned a bit of his life and work. If you haven’t read it yet, you can do so here. Today, however, we go one step further, and try to bring you a little closer to his literary career, or at least part of it. We tell you what we think are the 3 best books by Kazuo Ishiguro .

If you have not yet read anything of his and you are not aware of the type of literature that this author does, it would be a great idea to start with these 3 books. Do you dare with some fiction?

“Never let me go” 

never-let-me-go.jpg

This book was published on April 18, 2006 by Editorial Anagrama. It is considered Kazuo Ishiguro’s best book by literary critics. Next, we leave you with the synopsis of it.

Synopsis

At first glance, the youngsters who study at Hailsham boarding school are just like any other group of teenagers. They play sports, or have art classes where their teachers are dedicated to stimulating their creativity. It is a hermetic world, where the pupils have no other contact with the outside world than Madame, as they call the woman who comes to take away the most interesting works of adolescents, perhaps for an art gallery or a museum. Kathy, Ruth and Tommy were boarders at Hailsham and were also in a love triangle. And now, Kathy K. allows herself to remember how she and her friends, her lovers, slowly discovered the truth. The reader of this splendid novel, a gothic utopia, will gradually discover that everything in Hailsham is a performance where the young actors do not know that they are,

If you like science fiction and want to start getting to know this Nobel Prize for Literature literary speaking, this is the first book that we recommend. In addition, its number of pages (360) makes it quite affordable to read in a short time.

“The remains of the day” 

the-remains-of-the-day.jpg This novel by Kazuo Ishiguro had a film adaptation in 1993 directed by James Ivory. However, its publication was in 1989 and it won the Booker Prize .

Synopsis

England, July 1956. Stevens, the narrator, has been Darlington Hall’s butler for thirty years. Lord Darlington died three years ago, and the estate now belongs to an American. The butler, for the first time in his life, will take a trip. His new employer is going back to his country for a few weeks, and has offered his butler his former Lord Darlington’s car for a vacation. And Stevens, in the old, slow and stately car of his employer, will cross England for days on his way to Weymouth, where Mrs. Benn, former housekeeper of Darlington Hall, lives. And day after day, Ishiguro will unfold before the reader a perfect novel of lights and chiaroscuro, of masks that barely slip to reveal a much more bitter reality than the pleasant landscapes that the butler leaves behind. Because Stevens finds out that Lord Darlington was a member of the English ruling class who was seduced by fascism and actively conspired to bring about an alliance between England and Germany. And he discovers, and so does the reader, that there is something even worse than having served an unworthy man?

“Nocturnes” 

nocturnes.jpg This is the author’s first book of stories, where he brings together a total of five stories where music and bohemian charm are mixed. If you are more into short stories than novels, this book may be perfect for you.

Synopsis

In “The Melody Singer” , a guitarist by trade recognizes an American vocalist and together they learn a lesson about the different value of the past. In “Come Rain or Come Shine” , a manic-depressive is humiliated at the home of an ex-progressive couple who have gone yuppie. The “Malvern Hills” musician glimpses his mediocrity when he prepares an album in the shadow of John Elgar. In “Nighttime”a saxophonist meets an old variety artist. In Cellists, a young cello prodigy meets a mysterious woman who helps him perfect her technique. The five shuffle elements that are usual in the author: the confrontation of the promises of youth and the disappointments of time, the mystery of the other, the ambiguous endings and without catharsis. And the music, intimately related to the life and work of the author.

A book also to read in a short time, like the previous two, since it only has a total of 256 pages.

With which of these three books that we present here will you begin your literary journey to meet this new Nobel Prize for Literature? If you already know him and have some of his books, which one is your favorite?

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