From the beginning of The Unconsoled, it is clear that the story is unique, though Ishiguro manages to ease the reader into the absurdity. The book is extremely surreal, often times nightmarish (the kind of anxiety nightmare where you realize you're late to school and forgot you have a math test, and when you get to class, just barely on time, you look at the paper and you don't understand a thing on it). However, in some way, things seem to work out relatively well, or at least have little negative consequence when they don't. Despite the resulting too familiar anxiety, the story manages to be quite humorous at times. Ryder, the protagonist, seems to move through the book in a stream-of-thought manner, going from one situation to the next without pause. Many times I found myself cheering on Ryder as I read, hoping he would remember different obligations, so as to not disappoint certain characters. There were also times when I was dragged away with the turn of events, forgetting what led to the situation Ryder was in at the time until he remembered what he previously agreed to do.
Many people in the story, if not everyone, seems to be at least a little strange. However, despite their quirkiness, many of the characters seem almost indistinguishable at times in terms of their neediness and tendency to talk endlessly, which can make them seem pathetic at times. They often speak as though Ryder understands what they are talking about, and as he very rarely seeks clarification, we rarely get it. At times, Ryder seems to have a link into the minds of other characters, as he seems to know too much of what they are thinking at times. Perhaps he can see into the minds of others who, in some way, represent himself throughout his life, but perhaps not.
This book has received many negative reviews, often claiming that the book is frustrating. While I do not agree with the assessment, there are certain aspects of the book I could see might be frustrating for some. Time and place are very warped and inconsistent throughout the story, often wandering into the impossible. The protagonist also seems to suffer from some sort of memory loss and is, throughout the story, remembering various important things that seem unlikely for one to forget. At times I even wondered if there might be a conspiracy at play. There were a few places where run-on sentences caused me to re-read a sentence several times, but overall they didn't affect the flow much.
Overall, this is the best book I have read this year. I highly recommend it.
You might be interested in this book if you like: Proust, Franz Kafka, William Faulkner, and James Joyce
