Saturday, March 24, 2012

2012 book 86

Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day
I hadn't read this since college--I don't think I read it for class, but my old copy has a yellow "used" sticker on the spine that indicates I bought it at a university bookstore--and all I remembered was that it was about an old butler who secretly loved the housekeeper who worked with him for many years. Which is accurate enough, but leaves out a) the literary aspects, e.g. the unreliable narration, and b) Nazis! How could I forget the Nazis! It was a bit slow starting out, plus I couldn't help but imagining that Carson from Downton Abbey was the butler involved (this may have actually enhanced my reading experience, but was a little distracting), but eventually I settled into the story and remembered why I liked it and why it won so much acclaim. A.

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