Two stories, Nocurne, and Crooner, taken from the collection of five short stories "Nocturnes" by Kazuo Ishiguro which, as a unified whole, resembles a novel. All the short stories are united by the theme to which the author refers in the subtitle "Five Stories of Music and Twilight". These are stories of lost hopes, disappointments, unfulfilled dreams and failed self-fulfillment, or the fear of being secondary in life, of being left behind. At the same time, these are very multi-layered stories, none of the book's five self-narrators can be considered completely reliable, and it is rather clear from the beginning that their point of view is due to their own situation and self-image. As in life, tragedy often becomes a farce, and in some cases it seems that the most important thing is never mentioned explicitly in the text. However, human warmth and consolation are hidden somewhere in between.