book review: the remains of the day; Kazuo Ishiguro
The book ends abrupt. There is sadness, lot of self containment, loyalty and boredom in the book.
The story is about a butler called Mr.Stevens who works at one of the distinguished English house called Darlington hall in England. Book opens with Mr.Stevens taking off after several years of hard work and setting off for a short motor journey across the country side. He reminisces his past life through the book and the chapters are a blend of present and the past. The author in the book talks alot to himself with liberal use of self-introspecting thoughts.The story is definitely slow paced without doubt. if you are looking for something to run fast scene by scene to keep the story rolling, you will be disappointed. Read it as is to enjoy it more.
Author succeeds in carefully building the character of Stevens, just perfect. He is not an introvert nor an extrovert but is very loyal to his profession. For him, his work is worship and his work is his life. most of the time spent by him are always related to his work. Author talks nothing about his personal life which somewhere leaves the character incomplete. The way Mr.Stevens's relationship with his dad is described was a little of a let down and alarming. At the same time, the butler's wisdom at many places in the book is commendable. Containing the book to a few characters makes it more restricted but I personally like these kind of stories with restricted characters.
I could also smell the sense of pride in being an Englishman at many places in the book which definitely wasn't cool. English has to do a lot of soul searching and accept the facts of all the blunders they have committed in the history. colonizing the world, forcefully taking away people's lands and sabotaging their culture which brought them the sense of greatness is a huge disgrace to humanity and a shameful act. You cannot go any lower by praising it.
Somewhere as the book proceeds, Stevens talks about what it takes to be a great butler and debates the challenges it poses in his time of generation and that of his father's. He talks about how its not his business to meddle with the most important people of the world getting around the house and making some big decisions which will affect the world. He talks about his thoughts on his loyalty,faith and belief in the intentions of his employer Mr.Darlington towards the country.
Well, the English is elite. Kazuo's vocabulary is rich and better than some of the other English authors I have read in this past and that was the only reason that made me stick to the book till the end. If not for this, I would probably stopped reading after a few tens of pages.
The story is about a butler called Mr.Stevens who works at one of the distinguished English house called Darlington hall in England. Book opens with Mr.Stevens taking off after several years of hard work and setting off for a short motor journey across the country side. He reminisces his past life through the book and the chapters are a blend of present and the past. The author in the book talks alot to himself with liberal use of self-introspecting thoughts.The story is definitely slow paced without doubt. if you are looking for something to run fast scene by scene to keep the story rolling, you will be disappointed. Read it as is to enjoy it more.
Author succeeds in carefully building the character of Stevens, just perfect. He is not an introvert nor an extrovert but is very loyal to his profession. For him, his work is worship and his work is his life. most of the time spent by him are always related to his work. Author talks nothing about his personal life which somewhere leaves the character incomplete. The way Mr.Stevens's relationship with his dad is described was a little of a let down and alarming. At the same time, the butler's wisdom at many places in the book is commendable. Containing the book to a few characters makes it more restricted but I personally like these kind of stories with restricted characters.
I could also smell the sense of pride in being an Englishman at many places in the book which definitely wasn't cool. English has to do a lot of soul searching and accept the facts of all the blunders they have committed in the history. colonizing the world, forcefully taking away people's lands and sabotaging their culture which brought them the sense of greatness is a huge disgrace to humanity and a shameful act. You cannot go any lower by praising it.
Somewhere as the book proceeds, Stevens talks about what it takes to be a great butler and debates the challenges it poses in his time of generation and that of his father's. He talks about how its not his business to meddle with the most important people of the world getting around the house and making some big decisions which will affect the world. He talks about his thoughts on his loyalty,faith and belief in the intentions of his employer Mr.Darlington towards the country.
Well, the English is elite. Kazuo's vocabulary is rich and better than some of the other English authors I have read in this past and that was the only reason that made me stick to the book till the end. If not for this, I would probably stopped reading after a few tens of pages.
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