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Nocturnes
- Five Stories of Music and Nightfall
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Kirby Heyborne, Lincoln Hoppe, Simon Vance
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
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It is July 1962. Florence is a talented musician who dreams of a career on the concert stage and of the perfect life she will create with Edward, an earnest young history student at University College of London, who unexpectedly wooed and won her heart. Newly married that morning, both virgins, Edward and Florence arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their worries about the wedding night to come.
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Publisher's Summary
A once-popular singer, desperate to make a comeback, turning from the one certainty in his life... A man whose unerring taste in music is the only thing his closest friends value in him... A struggling singer-songwriter unwittingly involved in the failing marriage of a couple he's only just met... A gifted, underappreciated jazz musician who lets himself believe that plastic surgery will help his career... A young cellist whose tutor promises to "unwrap" his talent....
Passion or necessity, or the often uneasy combination of the two, determines the place of music in each of these lives. And, in one way or another, music delivers each of them to a moment of reckoning: sometimes comic, sometimes tragic, sometimes just eluding their grasp.
An exploration of love, need, and the ineluctable force of the past, Nocturnes reveals these individuals to us with extraordinary precision and subtlety, and with the arresting psychological and emotional detail that has marked all of Kazuo Ishiguro's acclaimed works of fiction.
Critic Reviews
"It is hardly surprising that a writer as resonant, and as emotionally pitch-perfect, as Kazuo Ishiguro should be so keen on music.... [The title story's] set-up is so beautifully engineered that it left me simultaneously gasping in admiration and shaking with laughter." ( Sunday Telegraph)
"These stories come up on you quietly, in Ishiguro's strangely weightless style [and] haunt you for days . . . A nocturne is a piece of music inspired by, or evocative of, the night.... These little pieces could only be the work of a great composer." ( Evening Standard)
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What listeners say about Nocturnes
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Rebecca Lindroos
- 11-29-09
Wow!
This is a wonderfully written and beautifully read collection of semi-related short stories by the acclaimed novelist Kazuo Ishiguro. The first story was so powerful I had to wait awhile before I listened to the next. The stories are about musicians, fame, (mis)communication, understanding and love. Of course, Ishiguro's use of "unreliable" narrators is a common factor. If you have enjoyed Ishiguro's prior works, you'll enjoy this.
6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tom
- 09-02-20
Deeply drawn insights into the Musician’s World
Ishiguro’s five tales embody the real purpose of Literary Fiction. There are no car chases, surprise plot twists, or gory crimes, but rather observations of the minds and hearts of finely drawn characters struggling to navigate their choices to survive in a challenging World.
He takes you into their reactions and feelings as they relate their various life moments in such a way that you can connect the dots to your own life. I am not a musician but I have had enough experiences around Music that I can appreciate the way Music can totally dominate every aspect of the working musician’s life, his struggles and triumphs. The simple stories in Nocturnes: sad, silly and sentimental, transport the reader into this uniquely touching universe.
Just where the serious reader of Fiction wants to go.
Four Stars. A very enjoyable experience.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ellen A. Hernandez
- 05-25-18
Excellent
I highly recommend this set of short stories - wonderful prose, delightful tales, well performed .
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- alec
- 10-14-17
Great material, average delivery
Though based on a common theme, there was a great diversity in storyline of each.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- RDP
- 09-02-11
A masterpiece
These stories were extremely moving for me, and most admirable. Especially the first story is haunting and the narration is spectacular, more than masterful.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Cygnus
- 12-21-11
Very Inferior Ishiguro Work
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
I am mystified by the good reviews. I can't imagine anyone enjoying or being touched by these stories. To me, they had none of the depth, subtlety, and originality of his novels. I didn't care about any of the characters except the Italian musician.
What do you think your next listen will be?
Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
What didn’t you like about the narrators’s performance?
The narrator who read the Italian musician was very good, but the one who narrated the supposedly comedic (not) story had no comic timing, and the one who narrated the plastic surgery story read so slowly, it made you want to scream.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
I have read all of Kazuo Ishiguro's novels and am a big fan, so I was very disappointed and also angry that I had wasted my time and money on this book.
Any additional comments?
Why is there an audiobook of this and not one of his masterpiece, Remains of the Day?