I read Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go a few years ago, and while I found the prose strong and the character dynamics interesting, I was ultimately disappointed. The idea of clones being raised for organ-harvesting purposes felt weirdly over-tread (and side note: how bizarre is it that NLMG and Michael Bay's "The Island" with identical plots both came out in 2005? Discuss.). Anyhoo, it took me a long time to circle back around to the author, but I had this work (as well as Klara and the Sun) strongly recommended to me by multiple sources- and so here we are.
The Remains of the Day concerns Stevens, a prim and proper butler working in the post-war British countryside of the 1950s. Over the course of the book he reflects on his life in a great house, especially with regards to an underling named Miss Kenton and his employer Lord Darlington. Despite belonging to the "downstairs" part of the upstairs/downstairs equation, Stevens is quite eloquent- although not always a 100% reliable narrator. His emotions need to be teased out by reading between the lines, and in this very particular story some universal themes of love, loyalty, dignity, and regret come to surface. I loved it and find myself once again setting a high bar for the year, in only the second week of January. I'm also excited to check out the movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson!
The Remains of the Day concerns Stevens, a prim and proper butler working in the post-war British countryside of the 1950s. Over the course of the book he reflects on his life in a great house, especially with regards to an underling named Miss Kenton and his employer Lord Darlington. Despite belonging to the "downstairs" part of the upstairs/downstairs equation, Stevens is quite eloquent- although not always a 100% reliable narrator. His emotions need to be teased out by reading between the lines, and in this very particular story some universal themes of love, loyalty, dignity, and regret come to surface. I loved it and find myself once again setting a high bar for the year, in only the second week of January. I'm also excited to check out the movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson!
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