The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having sat on my shelf for way too many years, I finally got around to reading this novel. Why did I read it?

Because I liked the title.

Hmm. Not that inspiring, eh?

Fortunately, I did enjoy it for what it is. I saw all the Dontown Abbeys and I've seen more than my fair share of butler shows and I even read Jeeves.

I have to say Dontown Abbey has a LOT more reversals and bit upheavals and sex. This one, however? Hmmm... it is a stately study on dignity. THAT'S IT. A decline of faculties, getting older, never once taking a stand or a chance on living his life, not even in love or even expressing emotions, Stevens is the penultimate man of Dignity.

The rest of the novel is pretty much straight introversion, refusal to reevaluate his life except in very subtle and hesitating ways, and the big end is an acceptance of the fact that humor MIGHT be a valid tool in his personal toolbox for living life. At the end of his life.

I'm waffling between three and four stars on this one. Nothing much happens except watching an iceberg melt, but the melting of the iceberg is still pretty fascinating. A crash here. A decline there. And don't forget the horror of that one piece of unpolished silverware!

I kinda want to watch Dontown Abbey again.

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