An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

“A man who aspires to rise above the mediocre, to be something more than the ordinary, surely deserves admiration, even if he fails and loses a fortune on account of his ambitions . . . if one has failed only where others have not had the courage or will to try . . .  to be gained from his observation when looking back over one's life."

Kazuo Ishiguro's An Artist of the Floating World, follows the story of Masuji Ono, a propagandist artist for Japan Imperialism during the war. Following Japan’s defeat in the war, Ono becomes a discredited figure; his daughter, evermore influenced by her husband, criticizes her father for his past. To make it worst, Ono’s wife and son were killed and his youngest daughter was in her mid 20s and having trouble finding a husband. Ishiguro manages to provide a peek into post-war Japan and how the paradigms were shifting. The old tradition and ideas had to adapt to the new way of life, one that closely followed the USA. Ono is caught between worlds; he is ‘an artist of the floating world’.

This story is short, flowing and presents an interesting view, there is no reason why anybody shouldn't take a few hours (or less) to read Ishiguro’s, ‘An Artist of the Floating World’. The whole story is told in Ono’s point of view, I found this quite different as many novels don’t place an old retired man as the protagonist of the book. However, I found this technique captured perfectly the hypocritical state and the imbalanced state that Japan was left during the war. Ono had been considered a very patriotic Japanese. Now, he still had pride, he did what he believed was right and he was a well-known artists, however, he being forced to change his views and his whole history in order to be a ‘loyal’ Japanese. Ono’s mind quite often strayed and spoke about different ideas, but I think that he was, inherent to Japanese culture, very structured and the novel never became a stream of consciousness. At times, I did get lost as there were so many names and so many really similar names – I found it more confusing when Ono’s story would stray for five pages and he would suddenly remind himself to get back to the story. However, this way we are taken into the mind of the retired man, he has a lot of time to reminisce and he lives in a very tranquil state of mind even with everything going around him.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

“I started my life with a single absolute: that the world was mine to shape in the image of my highest values and never to be given up to a lesser standard, no matter how long or hard the struggle.” 

“If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” 

“It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live.” 

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is the story of the creative minds, the hard workers, the inventors protesting against the corrupt government and society. It is mostly told through Dagny Taggart’s (a railroad executive) point of view. She struggles to follow her moral code and love for her industry while having to sacrifice everything for a society/government that judges her as amoral; taking advantage of her virtues. John Galt becomes the symbol of everything she hates, but mostly everything she loves. Dagny finds a broken down motor which runs on static electricity, as she tries to find the inventor and his reasons for abandoning the motor she begins to find a whole new world and philosophy. Dagny is reluctant to give up her railroad but she begins to see that she is only helping the looters.

As you should be able to tell by my use of three quotes, I really liked the book and what it had to say. I had previously read, We the Living, and I had really enjoyed it so I decided to read another of Rand’s book. I must say, I have found that I really agree with Rand’s philosophy. There were a lot of teachers that did not support me reading this book, they thought it would ‘brainwash’ me; too extremist. I don’t think these teachers had completely read the book, because too me it wasn't just about being rich and selfish. Sure, it justified capitalism and some things were exaggerated; however, it talked about hard work, about only giving and taking what is deserved and about money being important but only the tool and not the means or the end.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

“If an offense come out of the truth, better is it that the offense comes than that the truth be concealed.”  - Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy is set in a small country town in Wessex, at the end of the 19^th Century. The Durbeyfields discover they are the descendants of a forgotten noble family – the d’Urbervilles. When the family experiences financial hardship they send their eldest daughter to ask for help from their “kin” (a family that bought the name of d’Urberville). Tess meets Alec d’Urberville her (fake) cousin. While Tess is working for Alec’s mother, he rapes her. The rest of the story is about the struggles Tess faces as a victim of rape in a society that blamed her for her own predicament. Even her mother blamed her for not marrying Alec.

Is this a good book? Yes and no. I didn’t like it; in fact I quite detested it. I didn’t like the ending of the story and I certainly didn’t like the characters, not even Tess. However, if Hardy’s purpose in writing was to draw emotions, even if they are negative, if his purpose was to start a debate on feminist issues then he did a good job with his book. Personally, I like the idea of books as escapism and of stories with happy endings. I did not achieve this with Tess of d’Urbervilles, but I did go on an emotional roller coaster ride as I had heated discussions with all of the characters at one point or another.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

“If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness. " - [Monseigneur Bienvenue] Les Misérables.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo is the story, set in the 19th Century, of the intertwining lives of Jean Valjean, Fantine, The Theodores, Javert, Cosette and Marius Pontmercy. Jean Valjean was a convict, released after 19 years in prison. He goes from a distraught, dark and even malicious man to a "saint". He grows to become very successful and a respected man in his new town. That is, until Javert (a police agent) discovers the truth and Jean Valjean must escape. The others are characters that he meets later on that affect his actions and attitudes. 

This book was amazing!!! Don't get me wrong,I struggled a lot at the start and it took me months to read the book, but it was all worth it! Because the stories all intertwine at the end, it is only at the end of each chapter and especially at the end of the book that the story seems to be making complete sense and it is at such moments that the book becomes so gripping. Victor Hugo did a fantastic job exploring the darkest parts of society and while it seemed dry at some parts, it all joined up to create a very well written and intriguing book. It is one of those times that you have to step away to see the whole picture. I have to admit, the language was quite hard at times and I did not understand everything and I'm sure I missed important ideas Hugo wrote. I will definitely revisit this book in a few years to get even more from it...

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

“Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf?”  - Grave Mercy

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers is the first book in His Fair Assassin series. After escaping the brutalities of her father and her newly wed husband she is sent to a convent.There Isame learns that she is a daughter of death, just like the other girls of the convent of St. Mortain. She has been assigned a duty to kill those with a 'marque', to bring justice into the world. Ismae learns all the ways to kills a man and is ready for where her duties will take her. She has sworn loyalty to her God and convent to do their bidding. However,  everything is shaken when she starts falling in love with the man she is supposed to snoop and potentially kill. Also, she is starts to realise that maybe the convent can make mistakes.

To start off I have to say that this book is an older youth fiction; it is suitable to girls in their 20s. At the start I was a bit discouraged and thought that this book would be inappropriate for someone in their mid-teens. However, the book shifts in their focus, away from the villainy and brutality towards more of a mystery and romance novel. 

Although this book is all about an assassin, I think it can relate a lot to real life. The theme/idea that stayed with me through this book is one that I have always debated; the relationship between believing in religion and believing in the religion's faith.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

" The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” – The Giver

Jonas was born into a perfect society. Every little detail was organised and planned, everything was methodical and conventional. No one ever experienced thirst, hunger or pain – no one even knew these things could exist. By the time children reach 12 they are told what they will work as; even though they didn’t have the freedom to choose what area they would work, their job was a perfect reflection of their personalities. Jonas was given the most honourable job as the “Receiver”. He will be in charge of all the memories, therefore no one else has to experience pain but there is one person to remember and not repeat mistakes in history. However, when Jonas starts receiving memories he opens his eyes to a whole other world. No one feels pain but nor do they feel love, everything is the same for everyone but there is no colour – the world is grey - there is no sunshine or soft snow. Jonas realises holding memories may be painful but they hold so much warmth and happiness that everyone should have the opportunity to experience them and most importantly have a choice in life.

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a science fiction book reflecting on the perfect world and the importance of memories, experiences and free choice. Lowry wrote the book after her father lost most of his long term memory. Memories can traumatise someone but they are so important to learn from and to grow from. Memories also contain just as much, if not even more, goodness in them.

Lois Lowry tries to create the perfect world, but the whole concept of perfectness can never be truly established within the limitations of human’s imaginations. It is only subjective to one’s perceptions. Therefore when the characters in the book went through their lives they didn’t question it.