KAZUO ISHIGURO
[Type: Literary, Fiction]

When I picked up this book, I didn't realize that it was in the running for this year's Booker prize. It was something about the cover - a smudged impression of a female in a blue dress - almost windswept, that drew me to the book.

I started reading it not really expecting anything spectacular, since the back cover had the usual blurb about how Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy slowly come to face the truth about their seemingly happy childhoods, and about their futures. What could be so different? This theme is so frequently used nowadays, that I wondered why people couldn't write novels about something other than lives that somehow curl back into dark childhoods. 

The first few pages had me rather puzzled--the words seemed common enough, yet I had no idea what they meant. I re-read the pages again slowly. As I progressed, I found the style utterly engrossing. It was a rambling narrative by Kathy, jumping from the present to the past and back seamlessly. It was like meeting an old friend and just chatting away. 

Right through the book, you feel like you are in a mist which is going to lift the next instant, and all will become clear. Meanwhile, you concentrate on just the next step, the next turn, this patch of wet grass, the dewdrops clinging to the leaves... 

When you do reach the end of the book, you realize that the path you've traversed is familiar, yet horrifying. You look down on the landscape with an altered perception. And all the little details come back to you in a rush, making it all so very real.

I know I haven't touched upon the plot at all and I don't want to - it's unique and treated wonderfully. If you want to be transported into a scenario where the horrific destiny of a person's life is so brilliantly masked in the banal details of daily living, read the book.