Best analysis

Nice video. Highly informative. Thank you.

Scribner changed the text?! Sacrilege! I’m only slightly kidding. I can’t believe they would alter the text like that. Hemingway had plenty of time to correct it if it were a mistake. The fact that he didn’t should say all that needs to be said on that. Regardless of his artistic intention, the text was intentional. Great video

I would like to read this novel. It would be better if you share the pdf of this book.

Hey Oliver. I realize I’m a random person on the internet and my opinions may not hold much weight, but I certainly believe you should create more videos. I was searching videos on this story to show my English class and didn’t find any resourceful videos. Yours is the best one. The confidence you have in your delivery and the overall analysis is very deep and quite simple to follow through. I highly recommend you make more videos on short stories. Especially the ones they teach in Colleges, those stories will give you more subscribers and overall popularity so you can continue your work. Once again great video 👍👍

i‘m currently reading through KI‘s backlist and just finished „a pale view of the hills“. my first thoughts were that it‘d left me wanting, unimpressed, even bored. on the other hand, it is still rattling around in my brain and i want to know more about why etsuko left, whether sachiko did go to the us, what drove keiko to end her life, why niki is idling her time away, whether jiro is still alive, whatever happened to mariko etc. etc. etc. in other words i connected with the characters and didn‘t want to let them go. listening to you talk about the book i realized that all the „empty“ dialogue was a marker for all the things the characters couldn‘t/wouldn‘t say, yet in spite of it we learn/feel their despair, frustration, fear, anger. though it still isn‘t amongst my top 3 KI novels, your discussion helped me overcome my initial reaction to it and see it for what it truly is: a remarkable debut of a great author. so - thank you! looking forward to more book discussions, now that i‘m subscribed. happy reading! monica (currently reading from a tiny village in austria) 📚🐾

Another thought comes to mind and that is the deafness of the old man. In a way, he is at a disadvantage and unable to connect completely with the world. Is it possible that this can be related to the alienation and isolation felt by 'The Lost Generation' ? I found your analysis of the story to be brilliant. Thanks for the upload. Cheers!

Thankyou 😀

It's all about her trauma

Just finish reading. I was so confused about this story, thanks for clearing that up

Learnt so much. Thankyou ❤️

Ah, that was was great! I loved the way you broke this down! This poem always made me feel the things you mentioned: sorrow for / lamenting missed opportunities, a sort of general melancholy about the weight of your choices. But your analysis of it make these things more solid and deliberate and makes me respect Frost’s poetry even more. Thank you!

Alright, you convinced me to buy it! Will let you know my thoughts when I’ve read it. Also I love the transition in tone there ;)

Thank you for this enlightening analysis Rev! When I read it, the conversation in the story immediately felt ‘weird’ but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Glad to see it’s been a topic of debate for so long 😅 Also, thanks for that little insight in what literary students do. Anyway, great story, great video!

this book really touched me because i couldn't stop thinking about how etsuko's self expression was oppressed. even in her adulthood alongside her daughter, her voice is so small and agreeable and unwilling to fight for herself. it's a very sad book, but i see a lot of beauty in how she waves and smiles at her living daughter as she leaves at the end of the book. she's been able to find a unique peace that's only understandable to her, i believe

Thanks for coming up with this video. I like your comments very much. English is not my first language. But I can echo a lot from the points your brought up - very insightful and make the narrative in Ishiguro's book perceptible!!

I haven't read the story but I love this analysis! The editing is also great.

Ooh Everything about the younger waiter is defined by what he has and everything about the older waiter is defined by what he lacks - liked that

Probably only existential dread, oofé. I was worried it might be something scary.

The editing is amazing!!

OMMMMMMMMGGGGGGG haven't started watching yet, just excited

This was a really nice discussion, thanks a lot. I just finished reading the book tonight and was left quite confused with the ending though I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Your point that the characters never speak directly was very interesting to me, and seems more evident now that I think about it. I think I probably should have been more skeptical about Etsuko's narration as I was reading, it seems that this unreliable narration through her memories was quite a key theme. Brilliant video, thanks very much!

Heavily agreed with the Ferro part, I didn't like the prose nor her personality aswell. SHe was just too annoying to me but she got a bit better in book 2 , not by much tho, she's still my least favourite character. Also you haven't mentioned Bayaz but I found him to be my favourite due to how Abercrombie subverted the tropes of your Gandalf type wizard.

Admittedly, I involuntarily roll my eyes at the prospect of watching someone talk about "The Road Not Taken". However, this was refreshing. I've honestly never read the whole poem myself because I was so tired of hearing nonsense that surrounds it. Mainly because for me how hard that decision is was so ubiquitous. An eroded overused trail is always just as exciting as bushwhacking my way to the top of a mountain. Both for different reasons and it's always been a hard question for me when I've stood at the junctions between one or the other. So thank you for setting the facts straight and making me appreciate something I honestly never thought I would.

I'm so glad there's a random person telling me what books I should like. I guess I'm going to go buy the book now.... But also, it sounds like Remembering Aizu is a similar story, but takes places around WW1 instead of after WW2. It's more of a memoir though and talks about the author's life during the Bakumatsu period, being relocated to northern Japan (Hokkaido I think?), his family's struggle with their new lives and their pasts as a samurai family, and then his own experiences in Tokyo and eventually joining the military.

Two of your points stuck out to me the most, they're quite insightful and I wasn't smart enough to think of them myself: that he characters always seem to be in transition between past and future and that the novel's structure is as elliptical as the dialogue - loved that. And pretentious wanker alert hahaha 😂

Smashed it!

Omg I loved it!

Random fantasy recommendations: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks is pretty good. The magic system is based on the visible light spectrum/color theories and the world is based more on Mediterranean cultures. I think this has a slightly better balance of worldbuilding and character focus than The Blade Itself. The Rirya Revelation series by Michael J Sullivan is really good. It's a pretty easy read but it's fun. The main characters are just such great friends and work really well together Also, anything by Brandon Sanderson is great. Specifically the Mistborn series and the Stormlight archive.

fun thing i went to film school and we learned about shooting on film, even tho we learned the practical part on digital. its still important to know because the practices are still the same 😛

I really liked it! And not just because I like you! The editing *wiggles eyebrows* noice! I DNFed Watchmen. It was excruciatingly boring and pretentious.

I'm happy we've established that I'm right 😏

Phew I'm glad you found that line about the researcher's wife cringy. I was so triggeres

Yessssssss Unless you don't agree with me then nooooooo

God damn this was a really good review. The character analysis/intro was pretty spot on. But because I'm somewhat of an obnoxious nerd: Ardee is from the north, but not the North. She's from Angland which is like on the border of the Union and the North. Part of the reason why Jezal doesn't want to be seen with her is also because she has a pretty bad reputation among the upper class of Adua (but yeah, Jezal just doesn't like poor people) I think Logen's name is technically the Bloody Nine. He's a Named Man, but I'm not too sure exactly how the culture of the Named Men work.

Well, that was unnecessarily long. And I'm not talking about your video.

I like the setup. Makeup seems redundant in your case. Logen being shackled by his reputation is a good point. I thought of him chiefly as struggling with his feelings of guilt. And his reputation ties in with the position of a leader and decision-maker the tumble off that cliff released him from. He remarks on his relief to find himself free from that responsibility several times. So, even though the hierarchy in the barbarian world is based on strength and ability, the power, the potential to abuse that power and the responsibility that comes with it remain the same. And I guess there's the additional commentary of contrasting the capital's weak leadership with the strength of the northeners. A juxtaposition of power obtained through merit and through arbitrary means. And Glokta is not the only inquisition member who has experienced torture. The big guy (forgot the name) is missing his tongue. A reminder that the abused often become the abusers, I think?