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An Artist of the Floating World
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
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An Artist of the Floating World
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Summary
1948. Japan is rebuilding her cities after the calamity of WWII, her people putting defeat behind them and looking to the future.
The celebrated painter Masuji Ono fills his days attending to his garden, his house repairs, his two grown daughters and his grandson; his evenings drinking with old associates in quiet lantern-lit bars. His should be a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to the past - to a life and a career deeply touched by the rise of Japanese militarism - a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity.
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What listeners say about An Artist of the Floating World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dan Crawford
- 21-02-22
Great story. Awful performance.
I read this some years ago and didn't take to it. I think it was the first Ishiguro book I read, and I didn't appreciate the subtlety in the language. I think I found it quite boring. Returning, I realise I was wrong, Ishiguro has a way of drawing out thought on his subject and not telling you what to think / feel about even the most emotive subjects.
For people new to this. Notice that he never uses description about emotion.
The narration is utterly terrible. A nasal robotic voice that has difficulty with pronunciation and keeps putting emphasis in sentences in entirely the wrong place, which is really confusing.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J. E
- 23-05-22
Great novel irritating narration
I can appreciate why the narrator wanted to maintain a smug and arrogant tone, but 6 and a half hours of it is a little hard to endure.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Miss
- 17-02-15
Let down by narrator
The story is absorbing and thought-provoking; it's typical Ishiguro. However, the narrator inflects at random points and it sounds like he's asking a question at the end of most declarative sentences and it's really beginning to grate.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- fiona glanvill
- 16-12-17
Struggled with this
I don't think we were supposed to like the narrator. This wasn't helped dy David Case's narration.
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2 people 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
- Laura
- 24-01-22
I don’t think I could have read this
But listening to the audio brought this book to life. David Case is an excellent performer and I truly felt like I was travelling around Japan with Mr Ono, listening to his experiences.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- M. Clark
- 21-02-23
Drawling and Dry
The narrator (or the sound editing) leaves random pauses and question marks hanging mid sentence making the entire passage of text feel disjointed.
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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
- Muchie
- 14-06-21
Well suited narration to the text
Don’t understand peoples problem with the narrator, it suited the style of the novel perfectly
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ali Mc
- 13-04-21
Reflective story, spoiled by the narration
I usually prefer audio books, but am moving to the Kindle version alone, as the audiobook is spoilt by the distracting and dated style of narration.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- lkm_art
- 30-01-23
Brilliantly naive narrator
Took me a while to get into the narrator’s style but after a while it became clear how entirely fitting it was. Wonderful writing. Brilliantly naive narrator allowing an elegant reflection on the human condition. A joy to listen to.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mandy Tout
- 04-07-16
An effort but worth it.
In contrast to his other books this was hard work -maybe because of the culture and location not familiar to me, but the subtle vulnerability of a proud man - out of date and just realising his loss of power - was so delicately and beautifully demonstrated. I didn't really enjoy the narrator's querulous voice, but perhaps it was appropriate for the character.
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3 people found this helpful