"The Remains of the Day" (1988) - Nobel Prize Author Kazuo Ichiguro's Masterpiece of Old-World Tone

[DonRocks]

I'm about halfway through "The Remains of the Day" (1988, despite what Wikipedia says), so if anyone else wants to pick it up and join in, I'm a slow reader.

I've also seen the film, long ago, so don't worry about any spoilers (although please mark them).

[DIShGo]

9 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm about halfway through "The Remains of the Day" (1988, despite what Wikipedia says), so if anyone else wants to pick it up and join in, I'm a slow reader.

I've also seen the film, long ago, so don't worry about any spoilers (although please mark them).

This is one of my favorite books. I haven't read it in years, but I remember rereading passages because the writing was so beautiful.

[NolaCaine]

Loved it.

"Never Let Me Go" should go on y'alls reading list next. I've tried every Ichiguro and these are the only two I finished yet both rank very high on my all-time favorites list and I'm thinking of reading them both again, which I almost never do.

FWIW, I read very very fast and have read a lot of crap and literature so feel like my book recommendations are far better than my food reviews.

[DonRocks]

Here's one paragraph - not germane to the novel at all - that is readily translatable to the current, overblown state of society, slingshot-reacting to things people did 30-40 years in the past:

"And then again, you will hear these same persons talking as though Lord Darlington did something unusual in receiving hospitality from the Nazis on the several trips he made to Germany during those years. I do not suppose they would speak quite so readily if, say, The Times were to publish even one of the guest lists of the banquets given by the Germans around the time of the Nuremberg Rally. The fact is, the most established, respected, ladies and gentlemen of England were availing themselves of the hospitality of the German leaders, and I can vouch at first hand that the great majority of these persons were returning with nothing but praise and admiration for their hosts. Anyone who implies that Lord Darlington was liaising covertly with a known enemy is just conveniently forgetting the true climate of those times."

This is such a timeless novel - it could have been written 200-years ago, or 200-years into the future.

[DonRocks]

Many (most? all?) of the famous people described in this novel were real:

Sir Oswald Mosley of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and his "Blackshirts" - the nickname of the Fascist Defense Force.

This is so important, historically.