--- product_id: 13725750 title: "An Artist of the Floating World (Vintage International)" price: "VT4390" currency: VUV in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/13725750-an-artist-of-the-floating-world-vintage-international store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # An Artist of the Floating World (Vintage International) **Price:** VT4390 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** An Artist of the Floating World (Vintage International) - **How much does it cost?** VT4390 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/13725750-an-artist-of-the-floating-world-vintage-international) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description An Artist of the Floating World [Ishiguro, Kazuo] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. An Artist of the Floating World Review: I don't thing there another writer that can tell this story - I would call this the perfect Japanese novel. I think only Ishiguro can pull it off. I've lived in Japan off and on for 35 years. I've read many novels and non fiction from Japanese and expat authors. Foreign writers fall into the trap of overeffort conveying the Japaneseness of every scene; the bowing, honorifics, who serves who, who keeps their mouth shut and they feel a need to write 10-20% in "Nihongo". The story and the characters are drowned in this obsession with authenticity that bores and fails. Japanese writes; unaware of any need to explain themselves as it's the air they breathe write some very fun books; "Out" by Natsuo Kirino or "All She's Worth" by Miyuki Miyabe are good examples. Ishiguro finds perfection in not dwelling on words or custom but finds subtle ways to create scene and atmosphere. And he then attacks a topic - the adjustments in life in post war Tokyo that have rarely been more peronalized and portrayed. The constant ebb and flow of resentments or progress that permeated not just the economy but every aspect of life. It's 1949. Masuji Ono is around 60. In many ways his world is shattered. His son and wife are casualties of the war. His role in the government largely assisting propaganda art is not so respectable. One married daughter is devoted to him but lives far away and a second daughter has just experienced a rejection of a negotiated wedding proposal at the last second. Is Ono's past now hurting his daughter? We are not sure. Ono is a completely unreliable narrator. He's very interesting; recalling the past in ways that may show him important in some ways but benign in others. What is the truth is hard to divine and is almost beside the point. He loves his daughters. He wants to express something to help her next marriage proposal; is it regret for things he claims in his mind he did? Or is it more like Walter Mitty to admit he wasn't that relevant. It's an amazing condition to consider the delusions and the right path forward. And Ishiguro's balance of understanding Japan and the foreign reader and having the talent to write so well makes him so uniquely qualified to write this story. Well worth reading. Review: Glimpsing Cultural Changes Across Generations - An Artist Of The Floating World is a wonderfully constructed reflection on post war Japan as experienced by a man who had been a promising artist focusing on images of the old order , Geishas and Nightlife of the pre-war period. (The Floating World) . He is wrestling with reconciliation following Japan's defeat as evidenced through his relationship to his two adult daughters and his reflections on the past which slowly illuminate his very personal relationship to the events that brought such dramatic change to Japan. This is a beautifully written novel that very gradually reveals how the past can haunt individuals and encroach on the present in very real terms. Wonderful reading and highly recommended. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #34,405 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #64 in Asian American & Pacific Islander Literature (Books) #240 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction #1,450 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.2 out of 5 stars 3,577 Reviews | ## Images ![An Artist of the Floating World (Vintage International) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71H91iSysqL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I don't thing there another writer that can tell this story *by D***S on November 4, 2025* I would call this the perfect Japanese novel. I think only Ishiguro can pull it off. I've lived in Japan off and on for 35 years. I've read many novels and non fiction from Japanese and expat authors. Foreign writers fall into the trap of overeffort conveying the Japaneseness of every scene; the bowing, honorifics, who serves who, who keeps their mouth shut and they feel a need to write 10-20% in "Nihongo". The story and the characters are drowned in this obsession with authenticity that bores and fails. Japanese writes; unaware of any need to explain themselves as it's the air they breathe write some very fun books; "Out" by Natsuo Kirino or "All She's Worth" by Miyuki Miyabe are good examples. Ishiguro finds perfection in not dwelling on words or custom but finds subtle ways to create scene and atmosphere. And he then attacks a topic - the adjustments in life in post war Tokyo that have rarely been more peronalized and portrayed. The constant ebb and flow of resentments or progress that permeated not just the economy but every aspect of life. It's 1949. Masuji Ono is around 60. In many ways his world is shattered. His son and wife are casualties of the war. His role in the government largely assisting propaganda art is not so respectable. One married daughter is devoted to him but lives far away and a second daughter has just experienced a rejection of a negotiated wedding proposal at the last second. Is Ono's past now hurting his daughter? We are not sure. Ono is a completely unreliable narrator. He's very interesting; recalling the past in ways that may show him important in some ways but benign in others. What is the truth is hard to divine and is almost beside the point. He loves his daughters. He wants to express something to help her next marriage proposal; is it regret for things he claims in his mind he did? Or is it more like Walter Mitty to admit he wasn't that relevant. It's an amazing condition to consider the delusions and the right path forward. And Ishiguro's balance of understanding Japan and the foreign reader and having the talent to write so well makes him so uniquely qualified to write this story. Well worth reading. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Glimpsing Cultural Changes Across Generations *by R***A on November 6, 2012* An Artist Of The Floating World is a wonderfully constructed reflection on post war Japan as experienced by a man who had been a promising artist focusing on images of the old order , Geishas and Nightlife of the pre-war period. (The Floating World) . He is wrestling with reconciliation following Japan's defeat as evidenced through his relationship to his two adult daughters and his reflections on the past which slowly illuminate his very personal relationship to the events that brought such dramatic change to Japan. This is a beautifully written novel that very gradually reveals how the past can haunt individuals and encroach on the present in very real terms. Wonderful reading and highly recommended. ### ⭐⭐⭐ Propaganda artist for a dictator, or humble servant? *by S***L on January 20, 2021* Ishiguro has always been one of my favorite authors with his subtle prose, and he seems to pack a punch with his powerful, underlying meanings. Never take a word, scene, or conversation of his for granted in any of his novels because while they may seem simple at the outset, Ishiguro writes with a very strong purpose, tying everything together beautifully at the end. Now, in An Artist of the Floating World, imagine drawing propaganda posters for an imperialist dictator, and then finding that you, your talents, and everything that you believed in was wrong. What do you do at the end of WWII? Ishiguro delves into this dilemma of cognitive dissonance with great aplomb - do you dig in your heels and continue to defend your actions that supported a vicious dictator and thus ostracize yourself from your new world/society? Or do you swallow your pride, dress yourself with humility, and perhaps - at the advice of your own daughter no less - commit seppuku? Where does arrogance end and you again become human? What do you do? This is such a phenomenal idea of Ishiguro to take on, and I feel he somewhat succeeded. Perhaps the story was too subtle for me, more so than his other books, and I struggled with trying to understand this character. Remains of the Day was by far Ishiguro's best novel (so far anyway), but this was pretty typical for his beautiful prose as he wrestles with intense moral situations. At the very least, you see that people are human in the end and make - sometimes - terrible mistakes. In this case, Ono's terrible mistake encouraged the loss of thousands of lives. Ishiguro has another novel coming out in the Spring of 2021, and I greatly look forward to reading another of his books ## Frequently Bought Together - An Artist of the Floating World - A Pale View of Hills - The Remains of the Day: Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/13725750-an-artist-of-the-floating-world-vintage-international](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/13725750-an-artist-of-the-floating-world-vintage-international) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-06-08*