A Pale View of the Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel, is restrained and delicate and at first seems relatively straightforward. But towards the end, ambiguity sets in, forcing the reader to think back through the events of the novel. I read it for Novellas in November.
Etsuko is a Japanese woman, a widow living in England whose eldest daughter, Keiko, has recently committed suicide. Her younger daughter, Niki, is visiting from London, and a child they see on a walk together reminds Etsuko of her life in Nagasaki just after World War II. Particularly, she is reminded of her friendship with a woman named Sachiko.
Nagasaki is recovering from the bombing. Etsuko is married to Jiro only a short time, and she is pregnant. The other women in her apartment building talk about Sachiko and say she is unfriendly. She lives with her daughter Mariko in the only house left in the area, a rundown cottage.
Etsuko meets Sachiko when she expresses worry about Sachiko’s young daughter, who seems to be left alone quite often. Sachiko talks as if her daughter is the most important thing in her life, but she doesn’t worry when she is out late, and Mariko is a very strange girl. Also, we eventually learn that Sachiko has an American lover, Frank, who keeps promising to take them to America but then abandons them and drinks up all their savings.
For her part, Etsuko behaves like a dutiful housewife and entertains Jiro’s visiting father, whom she likes very much. But in the present time we understand that she left Jiro to move to England with Niki’s father.
The plot of the novel centers on Sachiko’s choice—whether to return to live with her rich uncle and cousin, who welcome her, to live the life of a traditional widow, or to go off with Frank. The girl Mariko detests Frank, by the way, and she is also concerned about the fate of some kittens.
There is a moment late in the book that made me doubt that I fully understood what was going on, and this ambiguity is not resolved. As a narrator, Etsuko is not altogether reliable, but whether this moment is a slip of self-identification or of something more sinister, readers have to decide for themselves. Certainly, by then the story has taken on a darker tinge.
Some readers may not care for this ambiguity and others, I understand, have come up with some far-fetched theories, but along with its elegiac pure prose, it is this moment that turns the novel into one you will remember and think about.
What? Me Read? 
I read this a few years back and was impressed. I’m not sure I fully understood what was going on, but I liked the ambiguity and the atmosphere.
Yes, me too.
Ditto. I am obsessed with this book and what he does in such a short amount of pages.
This does sound good. Thanks for the lovely review.
Thank you!
Sounds great! I don’t mind a bit of ambiguity and being left to think out one’s own solution to an extent, so long as it’s handled well, and that seems to be the case here. I’m slowly working back through his books so will get to this one at some point…
A little ambiguity can make things more interesting.
I usually read an Ishiguro novel in January and this is the one I have planned next. I have come to really appreciate Ishiguro’s writing and am looking forward to reading this one. So far, The Buried Giant is my favorite of his. 🙂
I was with you up to The Buried Giant, which is the only book I’ve read by him so far that I didn’t like.
Yeah, I know it feels like a big departure from the kinds of books he normally writes. I enjoy a well written historical fantasy and The Buried Giant fits in that category. What I appreciated about it is that I felt it was inventive, full of symbolism, layered and multi-faceted. But it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. 🙂
It’s just not my kind of thing. It was more like a parable, which I think are a bit simple-minded.
Do you have a favorite Ishiguro book?
I haven’t read all of them, but I think either Never Let Me Go or The Remains of the Day. Looks like I have three or four to read yet.
Both of those are at the top of my list too. When We Were Orphans is another favorite of mine as well. I’ve actually read The Remains of the Day a couple of times. And I really want to re-read Never Let Me Go. I think a re-read of it will be a different experience than a first read. So I’m quite looking forward to reading it again! 🙂
I haven’t read When We Were Orphans yet.
I read this one many years back, when I first discovered Ishiguro, who became one of my favorite writers. Like you, I wasn’t quite sure what happened there at the end, but then — he wouldn’t be Ishiguro if he wasn’t’ subtle and ambiguous, would he? I always love his sense of atmosphere, and the fact that a reader can’t quite trust that Ishiguro’s narrators are being totally straightforward!
Yes, or that they don’t really know what’s going on. He’s a great writer, too.
You described him to a T.
I have trouble catching nuance and hidden meanings. I might need to skip this one. Thanks for the good review.
My last three novella reviews:
https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/reviews-for-three-novellas-we-animals.html
I don’t know. You might not be meant to understand this one. I think you might like it anyway.
I have read all his books and twice or three times, and it’s funny how our opinion of The Buried Giant is very telling of our taste as readers. It is also my least favorite, even though I liked it more the second time. I think it’s the same reason why I don’t “get” books like “Till We Have Faces” by CS Lewis. I don’t seem to enjoy the fable like books and it surely is because I miss something that other readers have.
I don’t think it means you’re missing something necessarily just because you don’t enjoy the same things as others.
True that! LOL