HEY LOOK it’s one of those book things off my book list that I said I’d read. Took long enough. I blame school/work/teaching/my obsession with the history of calculus/that amazing Leibniz biography.

Anyway. I utilized a random number generator to give me my first selection off the list and it landed on #157. That happened to be The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (which is good ‘cause I actually kinda stole that from the library by accident like 7 months ago).

Have I read this before: Nopers. First timer!

Review*: I think there’s kind of two different things I can react to here based on how I interpreted the book itself. 1: The main character as a person in his particular occupation; 2: the main character as a guide through a certain time in history.
1. The main character as a person. This was the part of the book that held the most impact for me. Stevens is a traditional English butler who, throughout his several day journey, reflects on his work and his life by way of describing several key characteristics that he believes a true butler should have. It’s a really interesting take on this idea of “living for the now” versus “living for a good tomorrow” but done in a very subtle way, I think. Very interesting. I really enjoyed the narration and the attention to detail in Stevens’ memories.
2. The main character as a guide through history. I think I would have gotten a lot more out of it if I knew my 20th century history a little bit better (been stuck in the 1600s, sorry). But I think people who DO know enough about that part of history will really, really get a lot out of this book.
But overall, very interesting. I’d possibly read it again if for no other reason than to try and absorb more of that personal reflection that Stevens subtly gives throughout. If you like stories told from a first-person perspective that have quite a reflective nature, I’d recommend this one for ya.

Favorite part: When Stevens is requested to tell young Reginald about “the birds and the bees” and spends like a whole day following him around trying to find some way to do it.

(Hmm…probably should have some sort of rating thing on these…)

Rating: 6/10.

*I haven’t really come up with a standard method for reviewing/summarizing/rating yet, so these posts may slowly evolve into something stable. Or they might stay like this. Or they might cease altogether one school commences again. However it turns out, I’ll try not to give any major spoilers in these things.