Happy Monday! And Happy June!
Have you had a chance to finish The Buried Giant yet? I hope you enjoyed/are enjoying the book! Ever since I finished it I’ve been looking forward to seeing what you thought of the book. But before we get into the discussion, it’s time to announce the book for June, which is…
THE HUSBAND’S SECRET BY LIANE MORIARTY
I’m so excited for the discussion for this book! I’ve already read it and am so excited to have people to talk to about the book.
And now, it’s time for the discussion of The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro. This novel follows Axl and Beatrice, an elderly couple who set off to find their son, who they have mostly forgotten due to the mist that is thought to make people forget bad memories.
I only have one question for the book, because every question that I had basically came down to this:
What do you think happened in the novel?
I really enjoyed the novel. I was totally intrigued about what was happening, especially in the beginning. I listened to the audiobook (which was very good!) and found that I was trying to find times to listen to it so that I could continue the story. About halfway through the novel, I started to lose a little bit of interest in it. I think it’s because I came up with my interpretation of the novel pretty early, so it started to feel about a bit repetitive. I thought it could have been a bit shorter.
There is one thing that really bothered me about the book: Axl constantly calling Beatrice “princess.” I think he called her princess every. single. time. that he spoke to her and it… rubbed me wrong the first time that I heard it. It’s repetition really made it sound condescending, in my opinion. I really didn’t like that. I thought he treated her… almost like she was a kid. It really bothered me and I didn’t feel the strong “love” that they both thought they shared. I thought their fear that if when the mist went away they’d remember that one of them did something to the other was very telling that they weren’t as in love or as close as they thought they were. And I thought it was mostly centered around him. I liked Beatrice, but I didn’t like Axl.
I really liked how the novel combined fantastical elements, but that it wasn’t a straight up fantasy novel; these elements lingered on the edges of the story a bit. The mist, in my opinion, was one of these elements, and that was really cool. I’ve always been intrigued by stories that include mist.
My interpretation of the novel came pretty much as soon as these elements were brought up is that when people go to the island they die and that’s why two people can’t go together. Their son had already gone to the island earlier.
This was the first book that I read by Kazuo Ishiguro and I’ll definitely read more in the future. I have a copy of one and there’s another that I have my eye on once I finish it.
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ERICA
The way that Axl called her “princess” came across, to me, as a constant
sucking up. It seemed as though he felt he did something in the past
that he was trying to be forgiven for but just couldn’t remember what he
did. Then at the end of the book when he lets Beatrice cross without
him even though he was permitted to go with her hinted that maybe she
was the one who did something wrong. I think they hinted towards an
affair. I didn’t feel any resolution at the end. I was left wanting
more, knowing I wouldn’t get answers. I know we were meant to make up
our own endings, however I felt that I just didn’t get enough.
I
agree that there was a lot of repitition. I actually started to slow
down when they were seperated and all met at the dragons lair. I was
hoping for a more action filled slay and was very disappointed that
there wasn’t even a slight struggle. It was way to easy, in my opinion.
Overall
though, I loved reading the book. The period and mystical elements just
kept me reading and wanting more. I live for dragons, Knights, Kings,
and even “princesses” 😉
PS – Check out our discussion of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and City of Ember.
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