Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2016 - (Page 36)

off the shelf The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro Review by Ted Baas "But then again I wonder if what we feel in our hearts today isn't like these raindrops still falling on us from the soaked leaves above, even though the sky itself long stopped raining. I'm wondering if without our memories, there's nothing for it but for our love to fade and die." -Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant Nobody today writes like Kazuo Ishiguro, not even Ishiguro himself. His latest novel and his first novel in a decade, The Buried Giant, departs from anything Ishiguro has done in the past by taking a step away from realist fiction and moving into a world of fantasy, of ogres and knights and kings and dragons. Set in post-Roman Britain some 1,500 years ago, the novel follows its two protagonists, Axl and Beatrice, an elderly couple who, like every other Briton we encounter, have lost their memory to a collective amnesia caused by a mist that has settled on the land. Axl and Beatrice, who have been alienated from their village, can remember only bits and pieces of what has happened in the past. They are in a perpetual dream-like state in which they eventually recall (or perhaps just believe) that they have a son and set out, wandering from village to village, puzzling over how to recover their lost memories. On their journey they encounter many strange figures: the Saxon knight Wistan, a mysterious child named Edwin, and the archaic warrior Gawain. They continue to journey and continue to meet strange people in strange lands, but the action never really culminates in a climax. We never have a moment of pure showdown between good and evil and never a triumphant victory. This is largely because the central struggle of the novel is not in finding a lost son or retrieving lost memories from the mist; the central struggle takes place within Axl and Beatrice. Ishiguro takes us on a philosophical journey in which the struggle is internal rather than external. The constant desire to remember and to hold one's past in the palm of one's hand conflicts with the incessant fear that perhaps the past is filled with pain, heartbreak, and regret. The question that Ishiguro investigates is a universal one: Is it better to 36 imagine remember the past, even if the pain of it destroys you, or to focus solely on the present and never know what you've left behind? We are asked this question from within Ishiguro's calm and deceptively lucid prose. Though the writing is unembellished and smooth, Ishiguro seems to dare us to look deeper into every sentence. With every period, there is a sense that there are worlds lurking beneath the stark sentence we just read. Throughout the novel, I felt that I'd only scratched the surface of something much larger. In the end, we are offered no answer to the great question. Every time the reader thinks he has uncovered the metaphorical giant, the earth collapses and Ted Baas is a he is buried still deeper. We, freshman at Holland just like Axl and Beatrice, are Christian High School confused by the mist, finding in Michigan. He enjoys only oblivion where we seek reading and writing. resolution. n Also recommended Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Have you ever wondered what society would be like without books? Fahrenheit 451 tells the tale of Guy Montag, a citizen of that dystopia. Guy's role in the 24th-century society is a "fireman." In the convoluted civilization of the future, he is the antithesis of that word. He burns books, setting ablaze the threat of radicalism. The book challenges us to imagine life without free expression. Ray Bradbury paints a stark reality that will pull you in and keep you guessing what will happen next. -Manu Sundaresan, 13, MD Station Eleven by Laszlo Krasnahorkai Station Eleven's spellbinding plot revolves around survivors of a flu pandemic. An exceptionally rendered contrast between a former paparazzi-driven world and a post-apocalyptic one makes it an absorbing read. The latter shows a side of survivors that is dormant in their pre-apocalypse selves: an urge to humanly connect. Readers will relate to the story's moral. Our grief about social media and self-image is trivial when compared to needs of basic human connection in a post-apocalyptic world. -Andre Biehl, 14, NJ May/June 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2016

Big Picture
In My Own Words Karl Deisseroth, Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry, Stanford University
Mind Brain Philosophy and neuroscience at CTY
A Meeting of the Minds at the National Brain Bee
Mind over Matter Overcoming communication barriers via technology
A Fish of a Different Color My neuroscience internship
Immersed in Brain Science Summer research at Rockefeller University
Brain Training Four graduate students share their research
Prime Time for Brain Science Exciting new findings, from brain maps to mindfulness
Making the Connection Teaching kids about mind, media, and health
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Pitch Perfect The lure of rugby
My Stress-Free Adventure Scuba, sailing, and discovery
Off the Shelf Review of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with neuropsychologist

Lisa Jacobson

One Step Ahead Ten commandments for college success
Planning Ahead for College Can your dream school become a reality?
Students Review New York University
Creative Minds Imagine Fiction contest winners
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games
Mind + Brain Philosophy and neuroscience at CTY

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2016