An Artist of the Floating World
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Should I read this?
appears in About Japan and Fiction.
An alternate cover for this ISBN can be found here.In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely to the celebration of physical beauty. Instead, he put his work in the service of the imperialist movement that led Japan into World War II. Now, as the mature Ono struggles through the aftermath...
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Why recommended
appears in About Japan and Fiction.
Recommendation Signals
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Appears In
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“Begins close to Sunja’s life and then stretches across generations to track a Korean family living in Japan, alternating intimate domestic scenes with broader historical pressures. Its useful part is the sustained emotional accumulation: small acts of endurance and sacrifice pile up into a textured portrait of belonging, exile, and family duty. Its main limitation is scope and pacing—repeated setbacks and many named characters can feel relentless, and long historical stretches slow the momentum for readers who want tighter plotting.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.