Each year I make a resolution to read a few books "outside my wheelhouse" - this is one of them. In the majority of cases I am surprised how well I connect with different types of story but in this case it didn't happen.
The book is set in time in Britain just after the legendary King Arthur and involves an old couple who set out to visit their son in a distant village. The whole environment is shadowed by mist, which seems to dull everyone's memory of past events and their path is strewn with mystical creatures, ogres and dragons (especially the mighty Querig which the last remaining Knight of the Round Table has been chasing for years). They meet Saxons and Britons on the way and a strange boatman who will only take couples to a special island if he sees that their relationship is strong enough.
Basically the book was not my cup of tea, perhaps because I don't like fantasy and the story was far too slow and difficult to comprehend. That doesn't mean that Kazuo Ishiguro is a poor author - his prose is a work of beauty - and others may love it. I still plan to keep looking for another book outside my wheelhouse that will expand my reading world.
My thanks to The Reading Room and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book for review.
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