Ha ha. Yes, there's that too.

Actually, I would say Beastie Boys as something I wish I'd have actually listened to back in the day. Like Jack mentioned above my only exposure to BB was jocks and stoners screaming "You gotta fight. For the right! To paaaaaarty!", which gave me the impression that BB were dumb. Man, was I wrong and I would have…

Well, seeing as how Ishiguro is not really much of a product of Japanese culture (he moved to England when he was six) I doubt it.

Ooh, yeah! Spoon River Anthology!

Right, MTV got me into a lot of the music I would normally never heard of. I heard XTC there for the first time and 120 Minutes was a show with all KINDS of weird shit going on. I loved it.

Third the love for Surprise. I'd loved Simon for years, heard horrible things about Capeman (although the support makes me think I should give it a listen) and figured it was time he be put out to pasture. However, Surprise is awesome. I'm an unabashed Eno fan from way back though, so that gave me the impetus to…

I kind of think the main character was supposed to be somewhat bland. She and her friends were in a perpetual state of denial - using euphemisms like "completing" for dying. I think that added to the sadness of it - not that they were pawns being played by malevolent forces, but that they were also somewhat complicit…

I just finished the essay and yes, that's an interesting take on the fantastical aspects of the novel. I'd read another essay that explained that various characters in the novel were versions of the narrator at various points of his life, which does make sense. I think I may like the idea of it being read as sci-fi…

That's a pretty fascinating essay. The Unconsoled grew on me after finishing it. I found a lot of it frustrating while reading it - so much of the narrative (as related by the protagonist) is frankly impossible and confusing. Also, there's a sense of urgency throughout the whole book (the narrator is constantly late…

What does every Amish woman want?
Six Mennonite!
Boom! Crash!

I don't know. I could see people not caring for Ishiguro's writing style, but to complain that Never Let Me Go sucked because the plot twist was lame is kind of missing the point. I highly doubt that the author was grinning and high-fiveing his publisher saying "wait'll they get a load of THIS twist! Zing!"

Man, I have to second this. The Unconsoled was an incredible book - fascinating and frustrating and rewards multiple readings.