Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Kindle
Synopsis: Stevens is the epitome of a proper English butler. The needs and wishes of his employer comes before anything else and Stevens whole purpose is to serve. A car trip to visit a former employee and possibly re-employ her gives him to time to reflect on his career and possible opportunities lost.
What I thought: I chose this for our book club after reading Never Let Me Go which I loved. Unfortunately, this fell short for me. I still love Ishiguro's language and some of the passages in the book were pure poetry to read, but I felt like I spent the whole book waiting for it to start. I also felt myself becoming frustrated with Stevens who seemed completely unable to look beyond what he saw as his main role - to follow his employers wishes completely, without question or doubt. I just wanted him to say once, no, that is wrong or express some discomfort about what was happening. I would be interested to know though, what the role of a modern day butler is and whether complete servitude is still required.
Recommended for: I'm not sure - I find it hard to recommend books I myself did not enjoy!
Challenges: 100+ Challenge, A-Z Challenge, E-Book Challenge,
