Book Review - “The Buried Giant” by Kazuo Ishiguro

“The Buried Giant” is of a different genre from any of Kazuo Ishiguro”s books I have read. It tells an interesting, unpredictable and mysterious story that keeps the reader hooked to the very end. 

The story revolves around several characters, who, though originally unrelated, become all involved in a series of incidents associated with a she-dragon known to have caused mass amnesia throughout the land. The description is, for the main part, about an old couple, who set off on a journey to visit their son, whom they have not met for years. There is a warrior sent on a mission to slain the sea-dragon. A twelve-year-old boy entrusted to his care has a true warrior’s spirit well matched by his gift as a hunter. There is also an old knight, who asserts his true loyalty to King Arthur, his uncle, and is later found out to be actually the dragon’s protector. 

“The Buried Giant” is more than a simple suspense story with scary scenes of violence surrounding the attempts to kill the she-dragon. As it happens in post-Arthurian Britain at the time when wars between the Saxons and the Britons have finally come to an end, there is a very careful description of vengeance and enmity still lingering. There are thus conflicted feelings between the Saxon warrior and the Briton knight. They can be friends at one moment and foes at another. Even the monks in a monastery where the old couple seek medical help are divided in their political orientation.

Though this is not a children’s story with a moral lesson, I am aware of a message implied. The she-dragon is believed to have cast a mist over the villages, causing everyone to be oblivious to some past experiences. The killing of the she-dragon thus means the restoration of lost memories. However, as the mist used to cover both good and bad memories, memory revival may have adverse effects. The dragon killer warns about the threat of war as the Saxon communities are ready to make their conquest.

I am most impressed by the description of the love between the old couple. They have been sentimentally attached to each other all the while because their past wrong has been long forgotten. Nevertheless, even after the mist has been removed, and they remember what wrong they have once done to each other, their love for each other remains unchanged. As the old man says, God will know the slow tread of an old couple’s love for each other, and understand how black shadows make part of its whole.

This is an exceptional novel. I enjoy it greatly.