The Buried Giant

I know… what am I doing reading books on Valentine’s Day?.. Well, it’s been too long since I have had the chance to read some good books!  Today I finished a book by one of my favorite authors, Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote Never Let Me Go (a RA Book Club read), this time it is The Buried Giant.  The book is set in medieval times, soon after the era of King Arthur, as one of his strongest warriors, Sir Gawain makes an appearance in the book.  The story focuses on a married British couple, Axl and Beatrice, who decide to leave their homeland in search of a son whom left their home years ago.  The couple’s memory has faded as the years have transpired, and also due to the she-dragon’s spell, in this case the mist that the dragon spreads among the valley.  Axl and Beatrice set out on their journey and come to a village of Saxons and are joined by a young boy (Edwin) who has been bit by something and the community is afraid the “disease” he now seems to carry will spread to them and his companion warrior Wistan.  The journey to find their missing son includes battles, secret passages, a boat ride that almost drowns them, and a glorious escape from the priests on a mountaintop.  A final battle ensues between Sir Gawain and Wistan to determine who will slay the evil she-dragon.  Wistan prevails!  With the elderly couple close in proximity for the battle they begin to “see” the past as the mist lifts with Querig’s death.  The final passage has the couple begin to realize why in fact their son left their home years earlier, based on infidelities of Beatrice.  Beatrice and Axl begin to face the question of whether their new journey of “life ever after” for the couple is possible as they are asked to separate for a ride across to the ‘forever’ island together or alone.  Is forgiveness really possible?  Do the two trust each other enough to face the past so they can move on to a future together?  Ishiguro, like his previous book, uses metaphors and the device of the ‘mist’ brilliantly.  His storyline is engaging and pushes the reader to understand mortality, companionship, and truth and how does it all fit together at the end of our journey.  For anyone who has ever erred in life and in relationships, it hits one hard.  A beautiful story and one that has an inward reflective set of questions facing us.  Worth the ten year wait from his last book!