Beautifully written
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I loved this absolutely beautifully written book and read it in one sitting. Narrated by an English butler, Mr Stevens (we never know his first name), it is a truly moving tale. From the day he sets off on his journey, the story captivates you until the final pages. I loved his definitions of the word 'dignity' and I would thoroughly recommend this as an excellent, enthralling read of times gone by. I wished it had been longer! It won the Booker prize and for once, you can see why.
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Faultless
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In short, yes! To all the articulately phrased 5 star reviews above. The Remains of the Day is one of the 20th century's great books. Absolutely essential on the bookshelf. A great gift. Utterly beautiful and clever and sly and absorbing. 5 stars aren't really enough. (Does this volume control go to 11?)
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My favourite book of all time
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I read this book on a long plane journey back from Hong Kong when I was 18. Though I had been in Asia for 9 months, I was immediately thrust back into the pre-world war II of gentrified England; stultified, polite and controlled. It astounds me how Japanese-born Ishiguro creates so well the character of Stevens, the middle-aged painfully correct and repressed butler. You bleed for him as his own inhibitions hold him back from criticising his master and accepting he is in love.
One of the final scenes in Weymouth makes me cry everytime. It is Stevens realisation of all he has loved and lost and nothing I have read since has ever been able to compare to that bitter-sweet tang of understanding that it is too late to try again.
Absolutely masterful.
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Beautiful, touching, heart-breaking. Simply wonderful.
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I have read this book four or five times now. I recently purchased the book again. The brilliance of The Remains of the Day is illustrated by the fact that you can read it several times and the poignancy and emotional evocation hit with the same force as reading for the first time. The book opens with a prologue that centres on the theme of bantering - which is quite simply brilliant in the way it probes and makes real issues of culture and meaning, and the difficulties inherent in stepping into different worlds. The rest of the book is simply beautiful, moving and real to an extent that is very rarely reached. I am hardly ever touched on a deep emotional level by novels but this book tears me apart every time. Reading it makes me want to reach out and talk to Mr Stevens and Miss Kenton and plead with them not to walk away from their love for each other. Without doubt one of the best novels ever written.
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Touching and beautiful
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It was an impulse read after seeing the movie. What a dear book! It's been a long time since I really enjoyed reading and I read a lot but what I mean is deriving almost physical pleasure from beautiful and eloquent language, and taking time over a book unfolding the characters. One cannot fail to be moved by the story and it certainly made me want to re-assess the certain priorities. My favourite scene is towards the end when Miss Kenton confesses that the reason she was unhappy with her marriage is because she often wondered what kind of a life she might have had with him, Stevens, it's absolutely breathtaking. Why or why do we waste opportunities.....
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