Volume 42, Number 20 · December 21, 1995
Sleepless Nights
By Michael Wood
The Unconsoled
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Knopf, 535 pp., $25.00
'They take so much for granted, all these people. What do they want me to do, on this night of all nights?' These words are from The Unconsoled but many of us have heard words like them in our heads. We hear the whine in our voice, but we can't stop. Self-pity is a country where everyone else is unreasonable, where your manifest innocence cries out in perfect pitch. There is a horrible pleasure in visiting this country; but it's hard to leave, the borders close behind you almost as soon as you get there. 'But it's the same as everywhere else,' the voice says. 'They expect everything from me. They'll probably turn on me tonight, it wouldn't surprise me.'
Review, 3218 words
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