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What books should everyone read before they die?Add Book
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
Literature
James Mustich
Jul 26, 2018
The Remains of the Day tells, in the first person, the story of Stevens, a proper British butler who has spent three decades in service at Darlington Hall. Stevens has been devoted to his career, playing a reliably unobtrusive role in polishing the etiquette of the upper class while pursuing—in action and, increasingly, in reflection—the goal of greatness in his profession. His dedication to duty is such that he has relegated his private emotions so far below stairs that he seems unable to retrieve any feelings at all. Nothing—not even his father’s dying—is allowed to interfere with his focus on his appointed rounds. The book is a masterpiece of exquisite irony, embroidered around an understanding of human frailty that the author insinuates onto every page, even while it eludes the grasp of the butler who tells the tale.
This is another one where you could select any of his books ... much like the more widely read Murakami, Ishiguro often strays in the supernatural, but much more subtly than the former, to where you find yourself wondering what you just read, and what exactly it means.
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My all time favorite. I was introduced to Ishiguro through "Never let me go" and this the second book I read of his. I couldn't put it down.
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This is a really good book. Definitely one you can reread just like Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
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My subtitle: The REALLY regrettable triumph of the superego. Made into the well-known Merchant Ivory film with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, I confess I couldn’t picture anyone else in the narrator/Great House Butler’s role. I heard Hopkins’s voice as I read, in all its tortured restraint. This novel knocked me over. The sentence structure will slay you. Most of the first-person unreliable narrative is Stevens’s ruminations and memories as he drives west. He considers what makes a great butler and recounts a story of a butler who efficiently dispatched a tiger in a dining room unbeknownst to the guests. He goes on to recall his own examples of extraordinary service, which include delivering superior customer service during the busy household’s events as his father (who works under him) has a stroke and then later dies. This man has mastered self-abnegation and then some. There is so much left unsaid. I admit to being a sucker for stories of wasted lives and missed opportunities...
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"1,000 Books To Read Before You Die" is a registered trademark of Workman Publishing, Inc. Based on the book: 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich, (Workman Publishing Co., Inc.: © 2018 James Mustich)
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