The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

I really love Ishiguro’s other books, especially The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. He seems unafraid of trying different genres, and this one is indeed a very different genre. It is a fantasy/fable. It is set in the time after the death of the Briton King Arthur when there is relative peace between the Britons and the Saxons, who had arrived in England more as settlers than invaders. But this peace is held in place by the mists of forgetfulness and change is coming. The characters are the old Britons Axl and Beatrice, the last of Arthur’s knights Sir Gawain, and the two Saxons, the warrior Wistan and the boy Edwin. They are created like characters from fables, performing a function, their conversation like poetry. They are all on their own quests: the old couple to find reclaim their memories and find their son, Gawain and Wistan to battle the dragon, Edwin to find his mother. Of course all these quests are symbolic and their true purposes are only gradually revealed. The entire story reads like a mix of Arthurian legend, Tolkein (who based his stories on the same) and even Beowulf. It is populated by ogres and dragons and pixies. There are weird women in black flowing robes and monster creatures in lairs. A spell lies over the kingdom. These are the characters of mythology and they move through the novel in an elegant sort of dance. But this is not a fast moving adventure. It is as slow-paced and thoughtful as the gradual recovery of memories that occurs throughout their journey, true literary fiction, and something to be savoured rather than read greedily.