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The Remains of the Dayby Kazuo Ishiguro
Staff Pick
Heralded upon release for its elegance and restraint, The Remains of the Day has become a classic of British literature — and one of my favorite books! Ishiguro's simple, painstakingly precise language beautifully captures a man and an era that prized decorum above truth, with perilous results. A gorgeous novel. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world in postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving "a great gentleman." But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington's "greatness" and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served. Review:"Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel depicts his adopted England with the same precision of language which painted his native Japan in An Artist of the Floating World. This is 1950's England as seen through the eyes of Stevens, one of the last remaining true butlers, who lives only to do his duty, to serve his master and humanity in the hope of preserving justice throughout the world. But as Stevens undertakes a journey to the West Country that ultimately becomes a journey into his past we realize, as does he himself, that his view of the world is strangely double-edged, blurred by a shiny veneer of self-deception. Slowly a sterile, duty-bound life of missed opportunities and stifled emotions arises as Stevens prepares to face his old age. And, as the bastion of the English nobility, when his vision begins to waver, a whole strata of society starts to crumble and a different story emerges. Beautifully written and hauntingly poignant." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review) Review:"The novel rests firmly on the narrative sophistication and flawless control of tone...of a most impressive novelist." Julian Barnes Review:"Brilliant...a story both beautiful and cruel." Salman Rushdie Review:"A perfect novel. I couldn't put it down." Ann Beattie Review:"A virtuoso performance...put on with dazzling daring and aplomb." The New York Review of Books Review:"Brilliant and quietly devastating." Newsweek Review:"An intricate and dazzling novel." The New York Times Review:"One of the best books of the decade." The Boston Globe Review:"One of the best books of the year." The New York Times Book Review Review:"[T]he novel persuasively implicates a broader section of the ruling class in the rise of fascism while emphasising the complicity of a huge army of subordinates that led ultimately to the Holocaust. This is no mean achievement, of course, but overall The Remains of the Day is less impressive than An Artist of the Floating World whose scheme and form it repeats almost exactly." Geoff Dyer, New Statesman & Society Review:"[Stevens] is totally humorless and myopically preoccupied by his job. He should be dull. Mr. Ishiguro makes him immensely interesting by causing him to reveal to the reader what Stevens himself does not understand either about his own conduct or about the activities of the nobleman whom he served devotedly for most of his career. The author maintains this double-vision pattern without ever deviating from the overcareful style that he has created for Stevens, and the effect is funny and sad and ultimately disturbing, for questions of moral responsibility lurk behind the novel's highly polished surface." Phoebe-Lou Adams, The Atlantic About the AuthorKazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. He is the author of five novels, including The Remains of the Day, an international bestseller that won the Booker Prize and was adapted into an award-winning film. Ishiguro's work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. In 1995, he received an Order of the British Empire for service to literature, and in 1998 was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He lives in London with his wife and daughter. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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