Never Let Me Glow - Ishiguro's Nocturnes

More views of - or after - Cambridge Film Festival 2011
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

3 March

I had more than a hand in critiquing this set of five stories (subtitled 'Five Stories of Music and Nightfall'), which is posted, under my friend's pseudonym, as a review on Amazon®:

One reviewer said that this book is not a `miscellaneous collection of unpublished scraps', but it is - why else mention it?

Another reviewer praised the book this way: `The five brief novellas of Nocturnes are intense and beautiful [read as shallow, boring, banal, shapeless and colourless]; they are packed with detail [read as inconsequential information, senselessly repeated], never waste the readers' attention [read as continuous amazement about oneself for continuing to read on], and are entirely engrossing [read as feeling that doing the dishes would be time better spent]'.

A third reviewer soberly observed: `Had my A level student son written in the same way, I would have made him do a re-write.' The stories are juvenile, and so is the writing.

One other reviewer suggested killing time by reading the stories `in quick succession in one go. Given their pacing, this seems like a manageable task over a long languorous weekend afternoon'.

In fact, there is only one way to experience this book: reading it aloud, doing humorous voices for Ishiguro's feeble characters, and pointing out all his poor style on the way. A hilarious and enjoyable form of entertainment for many an hour!


As a one-star review, it's done well by being read: it has won no stars at all of its own, but it is better than expected for 0 out of 8 people not to have found it helpful (i.e. at least 8 people have looked at it and been bothered enough to want to respond).


If you want to Tweet, Tweet away here