I’m feeling very
up-to-date writing this book review, because Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel The Buried Giant was only released last
month. I was actually lucky enough to go and see Ishiguro talk about the book
as part of the Bath Literary Festival (and after sitting in absolute awe in the
second row, I was able to go and get my copy signed). It was really interesting
to hear him speak about his motivation and inspiration for writing this
particular book, and about his apparent movement into “fantasy”.
One of the things I
so love about Kazou Ishiguro’s novels is that every one is so completely
different from the last – and The Buried
Giant is no exception. It takes us back to a mythical British Middle Ages,
shortly after the death of King Arthur. Britons and Saxons divide the land
between then, and ogres, pixies and dragons still roam the earth. We follow
Beatrice and Axl, an elderly couple on a quest to find their half-forgotten
son. They soon find themselves caught up in the larger tension between the
Britons and the Saxons, and in trying to solve and disperse the odd mist that
has fallen over their land, making everybody forget the past.