Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2016 - (Page 36)
off the shelf
The Buried Giant
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Review by Ted Baas
"But then again I wonder if what we
feel in our hearts today isn't like these
raindrops still falling on us from the
soaked leaves above, even though
the sky itself long stopped raining. I'm
wondering if without our memories,
there's nothing for it but for our love
to fade and die."
-Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant
Nobody today writes like Kazuo Ishiguro, not even Ishiguro himself.
His latest novel and his first novel in a decade, The Buried Giant,
departs from anything Ishiguro has done in the past by taking a
step away from realist fiction and moving into a world of fantasy, of
ogres and knights and kings and dragons. Set in post-Roman Britain
some 1,500 years ago, the novel follows its two protagonists, Axl and
Beatrice, an elderly couple who, like every other Briton we encounter, have lost their memory to a collective amnesia caused by a mist
that has settled on the land.
Axl and Beatrice, who have been alienated from their village,
can remember only bits and pieces of what has happened in the
past. They are in a perpetual dream-like state in which they
eventually recall (or perhaps just believe) that they have a son
and set out, wandering from village to village, puzzling over how
to recover their lost memories. On their journey they encounter
many strange figures: the Saxon knight Wistan, a mysterious child
named Edwin, and the archaic warrior Gawain. They continue to
journey and continue to meet strange people in strange lands,
but the action never really culminates in a climax. We never have
a moment of pure showdown between good and evil and never a
triumphant victory.
This is largely because the central struggle of the novel is not
in finding a lost son or retrieving lost memories from the mist; the
central struggle takes place within Axl and Beatrice. Ishiguro takes
us on a philosophical journey in which the struggle is internal rather
than external. The constant desire to remember and to hold one's
past in the palm of one's hand conflicts with the incessant fear that
perhaps the past is filled with pain, heartbreak, and regret. The
question that Ishiguro investigates is a universal one: Is it better to
36
imagine
remember the past, even if the pain of it destroys you, or to focus
solely on the present and never know what you've left behind?
We are asked this question from within Ishiguro's calm and deceptively lucid prose. Though the writing is unembellished and smooth,
Ishiguro seems to dare us to look deeper into every sentence. With
every period, there is a sense that there are worlds lurking beneath
the stark sentence we just read. Throughout the novel, I felt that I'd
only scratched the surface of something much larger.
In the end, we are offered no answer to the great question.
Every time the reader thinks he has uncovered the metaphorical
giant, the earth collapses and
Ted Baas is a
he is buried still deeper. We,
freshman at Holland
just like Axl and Beatrice, are
Christian High School
confused by the mist, finding
in Michigan. He enjoys
only oblivion where we seek
reading and writing.
resolution. n
Also recommended
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Have you ever wondered what society would be like without books?
Fahrenheit 451 tells the tale of Guy Montag, a citizen of that dystopia.
Guy's role in the 24th-century society is a "fireman." In the convoluted
civilization of the future, he is the antithesis of that word. He burns books,
setting ablaze the threat of radicalism. The book challenges us to imagine life without free expression. Ray Bradbury paints a stark reality that
will pull you in and keep you guessing what will happen next.
-Manu Sundaresan, 13, MD
Station Eleven by Laszlo Krasnahorkai
Station Eleven's spellbinding plot revolves around survivors of a flu
pandemic. An exceptionally rendered contrast between a former
paparazzi-driven world and a post-apocalyptic one makes it an
absorbing read. The latter shows a side of survivors that is dormant
in their pre-apocalypse selves: an urge to humanly connect. Readers will relate to the story's moral. Our grief about social media and
self-image is trivial when compared to needs of basic human connection in a post-apocalyptic world.
-Andre Biehl, 14, NJ
May/June 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2016
Big Picture
In My Own Words Karl Deisseroth, Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry, Stanford University
Mind Brain Philosophy and neuroscience at CTY
A Meeting of the Minds at the National Brain Bee
Mind over Matter Overcoming communication barriers via technology
A Fish of a Different Color My neuroscience internship
Immersed in Brain Science Summer research at Rockefeller University
Brain Training Four graduate students share their research
Prime Time for Brain Science Exciting new findings, from brain maps to mindfulness
Making the Connection Teaching kids about mind, media, and health
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Pitch Perfect The lure of rugby
My Stress-Free Adventure Scuba, sailing, and discovery
Off the Shelf Review of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with neuropsychologist Lisa Jacobson
One Step Ahead Ten commandments for college success
Planning Ahead for College Can your dream school become a reality?
Students Review New York University
Creative Minds Imagine Fiction contest winners
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games
Mind + Brain Philosophy and neuroscience at CTY
Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20160506_LTB
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20160304_CTW
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20160102_JHB
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20151112_DSS
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20150910_RUR
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20150506_WSH
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20150304_TGB
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20150102_IDS
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20141112_ASE
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20140910_PBD
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20140506_BDA
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20140304_SHD
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20140102_JUS
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20131112_MX5
https://www.nxtbook.com/mercury/imagine/20120910_CTD
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20130910_AFN
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20130506_PLQ
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20130304_TRB
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20130102_GME
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20121112_LRH
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20120910_YBS
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20120506_B2H
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20120304_P3A
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20120102_FMS
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20111112_TAML
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20110910_ATSP
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20110506_DMI
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20110304_MIV
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20110102_JFH
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20101112IMJHND
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20100910QTVS1
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20100506_INH
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20100304_SFF
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/imagine/20090102_v2
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com