Anything like Kazuo Ishiguro?

[Trei]

Hi, I'm looking for writers whose stuff would be something like Ishiguro's in terms of apparent simplicity and how easy it is to read, yet subtle & complex and so on in the background like his works. They are a pleasure to read and you can read them relatively fast without feeling like you're missing something. (I think a huge part of that is his use of language, which is simple like Chekhov.)

I haven't read a lot of fiction so feel free to recommend even "obvious" ones.

[Liam]

I would recommend H. E. Bates. In particular, the short stories, and the novels The Jacaranda Tree and The Scarlet Sword, as well as The Feast of July and Love for Lydia. But read The Jacaranda Tree first and see if it's for you. It's amazing.

[Trei]

Thanks! I've heard good things about Love for Lydia. Not big on war stuff though, so might do some skipping...

[Stiffelio]

If you enjoy a polished style, a good command of understatement and melancholic characters (all three traits present in Ishiguro's books), I suggest you give Anita Brookner a try. Some of her early novels (eg. Hotel du Lac, Latecomers and Lewis Percy) were quite good, but then she started to repeat herself and I lost interest in her fiction.

[Trei]

I do find those three qualities very appealing when they are all present. Thanks for the recommendations. I'll definitely try them.

[Liam]

Not big on war stuff though...

I would describe The Jacaranda Tree as a subtle, psychological novel that merely happens to be set during wartime. The Scarlet Sword is much more dependent on its war setting, it is true, but in TJT the major conflicts between the characters would have happened even without the war; you get the sense that the war had merely sped up and exacerbated them. But rest assured, Bates had produced many other novels that are not set during the war, . And if you like Thomas Hardy, The Feast of July is a kind of modern retelling of Tess (albeit much, much shorter: it's more of a novella than a full-length novel).

[Trei]

Thanks for the extra info, Liam. I haven't read Hardy, alas. So much to read, and my tastes are so narrow I seem to be able to properly enjoy only some of what I try.