The Buried Giant review

Kazuo Ishiguro has become one of my favorite authors. His books are literary treasures that are compelling and hard-to-put-down. I love the author so much that I recently read his 2015 bestseller, The Buried Giant. This is my The Buried Giant review.

Before I begin, rest assured that I won’t reveal any of the many plots twists in this intriguing, fantastical tale!

The prolific author of The Buried Giant, Kazuo Ishiguro, won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 for his body of innovative, ground-breaking novels. He’s one of my favorite authors, and I think I’ve read most of his novels.

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Judging from the plentiful clues I gathered while reading, this story takes place during the latter stages of the Dark Ages in Britain. Those were difficult, rough times and most people eked out a bleak, subsistent life. To survive, many people formed communities where people banded together to protect each other, grow crops, and hunt.

The main characters lived in one of those primitive communities. Like most people who lived during the Dark Ages, the main characters seemed not to have books, writings, or other forms of written communication. I am guessing that almost everyone (except for the monks) in this story was illiterate.

However, despite having no formal education, each character spoke with the same formal, educated tone. They also used vocabulary that an illiterate person might not use. From the small boy who was kicked out of his village all the way up to the monks and the warriors, they all spoke the same.

In fact, all the characters loved to talk! They went on-and-on about their history, and the other characters seemed to listen intently. Their talk was interesting, but each character sounded exactly the same! As a reader, that was frustrating to me.

From this reader’s point of view, this similar style of speaking for each of the diverse characters was a big flaw. They all sounded the same. If each character’s speaking style had been different, depending on their background, the story would have been more compelling.

During the Dark Ages, many people believed in ogres, dragons, and other magical stuff to explain bad things that had happened. After all, most people were illiterate, and there weren’t many scientists around to explain the weather in a way that would make sense.

So they created evil spirits and ogres to explain the bad behavior from their enemies, along with bad weather. This was actually a fun part of this book, and I enjoyed it.

Even the mythical King Arthur and his magician, Merlin, were mentioned by the warriors throughout this story. When I was young, I used to read as much as I could about Arthur and Merlin. I think I could identify with his impoverished childhood.

Despite my fascination with King Arthur and Merlin, I doubt that they were real people. Instead, they might have been made up of an amalgam of different rulers and warriors from the Dark Ages.

Fortunately, this magical component of the storyline really connected with me. I enjoyed the dragons that had to be conquered, and the ogres that lurked in the shadows. It was fun!

By the way, in this book, the mythical Arthur had recently passed away. Even so, one of his warriors continued to carry out his orders from the former king, and he was one of my favorite characters in this book.

He was the old warrior type-of-guy, and he was fiercely loyal. Surprisingly, even though his physical body was deteriorating, he was still one of the best warriors around. And that’s all I will reveal about that!

Unfortunately, unlike the compelling characters in the author’s Klara and the Sun and in his The Remains of the Day, I could not connect with the characters in this book.

Even though I could sympathize with the hardships each character had to surmount, I could not empathize with them. The lack of empathy made this book less compelling for me.

Despite my lack of empathy for the characters, this book was an enjoyable one to read. I think the plot twists and unpredictable nature of the story made this book hard-to-put-down.

As I read, I put together the pieces and felt I knew exactly how the story would conclude. Man, was I ever wrong! The twists-and-turns, especially in the second half of the book, really kept me entertained.

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TAKEAWAYS:

The Buried Giant was an entertaining book, and I read it quickly. However, it was my least favorite book by Ishiguro that I’ve read so far. In his other books, I immediately could empathize with the main characters.

However, in this book, the characters did not draw me into their story lines. Plus, each disparate character had the same way of speaking. For me, the lack of variety in speaking styles was a flaw—it really bothered me.

Overall, reading about the days of King Arthur took me back to my childhood when I was fascinated with those stories. As an adult, however, this book was only average.

However, there is a lot of action, especially in the second half of the book. In addition, the plot twists are imaginative and will keep you guessing all the way to the conclusion.

Thanks for reading The Buried Giant review! If you’ve read this book, or have enjoyed other books by Kazuo Ishiguro, please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Content and photos by Doug Martin and Our Book Banter