Rating: 
Summary: ÄSKS MORE QUESTIONS THAN IT ANSWERS
Review: A Pale View of Hills is a haunting and lyrical book that ends up asking more questions than it answers. And Kazuo Ishiguro is such a masterful storyteller that we can't help but wonder if this is not exactly as it should be. The story opens in modern day London, where Etsuko, a Japanese born women of middle-age is attempting to come to terms with the suicide of her elder daughter, Keiko. In doing so, she finds herself drawn to the past and a particular summer in Nagasaki when she embarked on a strange friendship with an enigmatic woman named Sachiko and Sachiko's young daughter, Mariko. Ishiguro's movements backwards and forwards in time are often abrupt and the reader can sometimes find himself slightly disoriented, but this still does not detract from the quiet beauty and lyricism of his prose. For Ishiguro is a master of lyrical prose, writing passages of unequalled beauty that authors like Anne Rice can only dream of. This is a most delicate novel, encompassing many themes, and one that ultimately becomes macabre--it may take more than one reading to absorb its full impact. It is definitely a small masterpiece, and the only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because I believe Ishiguro should have revealed the truth of this extraordinary tale piece by piece, layer by layer, like peeling away the skin of an onion. As it is, the truth hits us in the face like a snowball out of nowhere and many readers may miss it entirely. A pity, for this is a work of extraodinary genius and beauty; one of the most moving books I have read in many years and one whose emotional impact will haunt me for many years to come. And I would not have expected less from a writer as talented as Kazuo Ishiguro.
Rating:
Summary: Good but
Review: This is a good novel. I like Ishiguro's novels but after reading The Remains of the Day - which was so good - let me rephrase that - so excellent that this novel left me deflated. He really reaised my expectations in his writings with Remains of the Day and now they are back down on Earth. This novel is good but if you haven't read Remains then I would try it first. The Unconsoled - is better too - if you can finish it and see the underlying current in the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: It's Okay...
Review: A Pale View of Hills is definitely written well. The figurative language, narrative technique, etc. all add up to a flawless structure in which a mother struggles to deal with her daughter's suicide. The memory blurs are subtle and surprising. However, I thought the plot was lacking in some areas. Many of the Sachiko-Mariko scenes were repetitive, and the plot seemed to drag in some areas. Furthermore, I found it annoying that Etsuko never gave the immediate cause for her immigration to Britain and never thoroughly described her English husband. More details on Keiko's life in Britain would have been appreciated also. If you want study the structure of the English language, than I suggest this book, but if you like a plot with a bit more action, this is not the book for you.
Rating: 
Summary: transitional esthetics
Review: "A Pale View of Hills" is the first novel of Kazuo Ishiguro, who is a Japanese transplant into modern Britain. It is a story of an elderly Japanese woman, reflecting back on 40 years of her life in post-war Japan prompted by the devastation in her immediate family. The style is elliptic, but precise and economical. The tone of the novel is somber, simple, minimalist and sad, properly inheriting from the long traditional of Japanese literature of 20th century. The rhythm is Japanese as well - slow reflections on little details thrown together into the canvas of simple everyday life. There is however, an almost unnoticeable bridge to Ishiguro personal experience as an expatriate, and link to his future novels, like "Remains of the Day". Character of Etsuko is a character in transition and the end is left open and haunting. Great novel!!!
Rating:
Summary: Oriental art for those who want more sadness in their lives
Review: This is the first novel by the Japanese-born Englishman, and shows his lyrical prose style to excellent advantage. In a manner that is typical of Oriental art, the story is exquisitely simple and understated - too understated for Western tastes, perhaps. Etsuko is a mother who left Nagasaki not long after the war, and settled in England. Of her two daughters, one, Niki, is only half Japanese, and now, years later, goes to school in London. A very modern and thoroughly Westernized woman, she is not interested in having children, or even a husband, and has still less interest in the Japanese traditions that her mother grew up with. The other daughter, Keiko, a full-bred Japanese, has committed suicide some years earlier. In a way that is at once very confusing and very revealing, the book switches back and forth between the present, when Niki comes home for a visit, and Etsuko's memories of another mother, Mariko, and her damaged daughter, whom she briefly knew in Nagasaki. Even more so than in the excellent Remains of the Day, the story and characters in this book work better as allegory than they do as portraits of reality. Ogata, Etsuko's father-in-law, represents the old guard whose belief in Japanese tradition is so strong that even the cataclysm of WWII has not shaken it. Niki is the younger generation - the new Japan - only half Japanese actually, who has repudiated her Japanese roots altogether. Meanwhile Keiko, the future of the Old Japan, has destroyed herself. In between we have the two mothers, Etsuko and Mariko. Mariko repeatedly expresses her unbounded confidence in others: in her uncle, in her American "friend", and in her daughter's mental state. Nothing is a problem to her; all setbacks are only temporary, she'll be fine, thank you very much anyway. Many of the characters repeat the same phrases over and over as though the magnitude of the disaster has left them unable to move forward. For example, Etsuko's father-in-law, a retired school teacher very attached to the old ways, has been publicly insulted and keeps asking his son to do something about it. His son keeps complaining how busy and tired he is. The mother Mariko and her daughter are two more broken records. With all this repetition, there's no real character development, and blessed little plot. Instead, the book is like a certain style of Japanese painting, with one or two broad, bold dark strokes surrounded by a handful of delicate details. As one continues to stare at the painting, one appreciates its harmony, its simplicity, its unity. Another good metaphor for this novel is the onion; although we never get past the first couple of layers, we can see that there's a lot inside. And of course you can't peel those layers without a few tears. This is a beautifully written story with a quiet intensity about it that defies easy analysis. The reader keeps waiting for something "big" to happen, but of course the calamity that struck before the book's opening overpowers everything else in it. The sadness that pervades the whole novel is so overwhelming that it leaves this reviewer disinclined to recommend the book despite its many wonderful qualities. It seems likely that Ishiguro wrote this book as a sort of therapy; the pain and anguish and horror and sense of loss and hopelessness must have stayed with the survivors of Nagasaki for the rest of their lives (as it does for the families of suicides), yet somehow they found the strength to go on anyway. If there's any real upside to this novel, it's that time heals all wounds, and life goes on no matter how bad things might get, but that optimistic message is limited to the last couple of pages. Fine as this book is, it's recommended only for literary scholars, and for those readers who don't already have enough sadness in their lives.
Rating:
Summary: More than meets the eye
Review: Kazuo Ishiguro is a literary master; there's no doubt about that. A Pale View of Hills is somewhat slow moving, but there's more than meets the eye. Lovers of literary analysis and interpretation will love all of Ishiguro's writing, including this novel. Hidden meaning is everywhere. A Pale View of Hills is about a Japanese woman, Etsuko, now living in England dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. As she recounts her life, a reader may note striking parallels with her memories and her present suffering; is it possible reality and imagination have faded? An interesting aspect of the novel is its theme of intergenerational conflict. Set partly in post-WW2 Japan, conflict develops between the old generation, whose regressive ideals are now socially unacceptable, and the new generation, who look toward a future of Americanization. (For all you English buffs out there, Ishiguro is not a bad choice for a research paper, provided you have access to critical analysis. My local library was able to get books on Ishiguro's writing--which are rare--from university libraries in the state. The internet was also useful.) For the casual reader, while A Pale View isn't a bad book by any means (it is very readable), perhaps Remains of the Day would be more engaging.
Rating:
Summary: A Subtle Portrait Painted by Genius. Extraordinary.
Review: Etsuko's older daughter has recently committed suicide. Living alone in England, Etsuko recalls her encounter with an unusual woman, Sachiko, and her young daughter, Mariko, in Nagasaki a few years after Japan's defeat. Her memories of this summer long ago appeared to have little significance to the present, but gradually the story unravels into two strands, a concrete retelling of distant events and a more oblique revelation about Etusko herself. Ishiguro tantalizes the reader with hints and intimations and vague indications. I realized that Ishiguro is a master of subtlety as I have read some of his other novels, but nonetheless I was unprepared for the obscure ending. What had I just learned? Was this a confused memory or had I glimpsed something macabre? Some rereading helped me resolve my confusion, but I leave the ending for your speculations. In "A Pale View of Hills" Kazuo Ishiguro tells a story, develops convincing characters, and paints a portrait of post-war Japan. Ogata-San, Etsuko's amicable father-in-law, is publicly criticized for teaching patriotism during his long career as a school master. He quietly struggles with the seeming injustice around him. Etsuko's husband, Jiro, is a traditionalist, but has rapidly adapted to the emerging corporate Japan, and simply ignores the recent past. Etsuko's somewhat unbalanced friend, Sachiko, knows that her optimism is unrealistic and that she is jeopardizing her daughter's future, but she continues along a path almost ensured to end in disaster. As for Etsuko herself, her memories only speak obliquely to her views on the American imposition of dmocracy and women's rights. Ishiguro does not moralize, but lets us see post-war Japan through the eyes of his complex characters. Ishiguro could easily have been a writer with only one great book. This haunting story, Ishiguro's first novel, was awarded a literary prize by the Royal Society of Literature. Ishiguro's life had some parallels with "A Pale View of Hills" as he himself was born in Nagasaki in 1954 and immigrated to England in 1960 and it is natural to expect that Ishiguro might have difficulty expanding beyond this "autobiographical" novel. And yet, his second book, "An Artist of the Floating World", was short listed for the prestigious Booker Prize. His third book, the highly successful "The Remains of the Day", captured the Booker Prize for its compelling portrait of an English butler. Ishiguro is a remarkable writer. "A Pale View of Hills" is an extraordinary work of complexity, subtlety, and beauty.
Rating: 
Summary: Eh?
Review: Well. It's a little slip of a book, really. And nothing happens in it. Rather, it does happen, but it isn't stated. Everything important that does happen isn't mentioned or even hinted at, and you're left to form your own picture. All that happens is a bit of dialogue between people. For the most part, the people seem wooden and unrealistic, though as the book goes on this misgiving remains only concerning Sachiko. Her condescending mannerisms start out irritating and only get more so. It's hard to give this book a particularly good score seeing as all of it is locked away beneath the surface. We should all be given huge critical acclaim for writing our own "A Pale View of the Hills" to explain the bits Ishiguro sees fit to provide us. You might like this exercise in minimalism, or you might not, but I personally do not find it awe-inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: This was the first Ishiguro book I have read, and so far I an not all that impressed, but of course i also know that this is his first novel, and i have not read his better loved books such as the remains of the day.
The book is about a woman named Etsuko who moved from Japan to England with the man who was to be her second husband. The book starts off in England. Etsuko's daughter from her first marriage has just commited suicide and soon aftyer the funeral her younger daughter Niki arrives. During the time Niki is there, Etsuko remembers her past in Nagasaki and the woman that lived in a shack near her apartment building named Sachiko. It is hard to say what kind of relationship Etsoko and Sachiko have. To me they don't seem mucjh of friends because although they do go places together Sachiko seems to do most of the talking while Etsuko just listens. The there is Sachiko's daughter Mariko a strange little girl who has the very annoying habit of repeating the same thing over and over again. Although several characters in this book seem to have the same habit. It gets quite old after awhile. Sachiko tells Etsko often of her background of the grandness which she once lived and how dreadful it is how she is living at the present moment, and how she plans to move away with an American named Frank. Etsuko just seems to sit back and listen. This seems to be the majority of the book, not much really happens and every thing seems to have a grey overcast to it. Not much else to say. I will read more Ishiguro novels., but i hope they are much better than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult and Dull
Review: This book is particularly dissapointing if you have read Ishiguro's Remains of the Day, which was such a lovely, perfect understated novel. This novel does employ some similarities of style and Ishiguro's prose is crisp and lyrical. But the book is confusing and unclear. The fewer than 200 pages drag on without drama or motion. At the novel's end the reader can't even feel that he or she has been offered any particular insight into the main character's mind or motivation. Too much is left unsaid or unexplained for the book to be effective. If this book were a person, I'd want to shake it by the shoulders and demand an explanation.
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