Short Synopsis
From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day, here is a novel that is at once a gripping psychological mystery, a wicked satire of the cult of art, and a poignant character study of a man whose public life has accelerated beyond his control.

Full Synopsis
From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day, here is a novel that is at once a gripping psychological mystery, a wicked satire of the cult of art, and a poignant character study of a man whose public life has accelerated beyond his control.

The setting is a nameless Central European city where Ryder, a renowned pianist, has come to give the most important performance of his life. Instead, he finds himself diverted on a series of cryptic and infuriating errands that nevertheless provide him with vital clues to his own past. In The Unconsoled Ishiguro creates a work that is itself a virtuoso performance, strange, haunting, and resonant with humanity and wit.

"Simon Vance crafts subtle characters and an engaging narrative." -AudioFile

"With this stunning new novel, cast in the form of a postmodern nightmare, Ishiguro tells a powerful story in which he once again exploits a narrator's utter lack of self-knowledge to create a devastating deadpan irony." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"A work of great interest and originality. . . . Ishiguro has mapped out an aesthetic territory that is all his own . . . frankly fantastic [and] fiercer and funnier than before." ---The New Yorker

"At once dreamy, disorienting, and absolutely compelling; Ishiguro's paragraphs, though Proust-like, are completely lucid and quite addictive to read." ---Library Journal

"A brilliant novel that will almost certainly be remembered as one of the best of the decade." ---Kirkus Starred Review

Publishers Weekly Review

Kirkus Review