Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant

This is the third book by Kazuo Ishiguro I've read. Like the other two books I'd read years ago, namely The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, The Buried Giant transported me to a different time and a place, about 1500 years in the past, in the land of craggy hills, desolate cairn, musty warren where in the wild the giant ogres roam, pixies swim and crawl from the depth of the river, and the fog covers the 'peaceful' land, where the inhabitants suffer from the sweet forgetfulness, and even a dragon's poisonous breath hovers over the land.

The character development I found to be skilful. The main characters, the old couple Axl and Beatrice are on a journey to see their only son, and the story unfolds, layer by layer from their arduous journey. Two great warriors, an old knight from the time of King Arthur and a travelling warrior from the 'Fenland', cross the path of Axl and Beatrice. The descriptions of the ambience and dialogues of the old Britons and Saxons, move this story in and around of various human complexity, while the writer keeps the core essence of the story intact.

Kazuo Ishiguro is good in writing parables and The Buried Giant is a well crafted parable, invoking the never ending cycle of vengeance and war, the heartless brutality that the ancient wars brought, and the lives of the ordinary people, their love, betrayal, grief and longing for the loved ones, are the major themes of this memorable book.