An elegant, elegaic novel, written in almost sublime English by a Japanese author. First read this book when it was feted as the winner of the Booker Prize (circa 1989). I was hugely impressed. I read it again last year and remained so.
The story is clearly intended to work on many levels, all intertwined. Its narrator, Stevens, is clearly blind to reality; so, too, his employer. And maybe the reader. What is the nature of true service? What is loyalty? And what is the power and importance of love? All sculpted in beautifully-observed prose with a deep respect for words and language.
It was made into a film, starring Anthony Hopkins. Just to say: I've never seen the film but I scarcely doubt it could ever do justice to such a fine piece of writing.
2 comments:
The film was
hours and hours of beautifully shot misery. When my wife read it, I was shocked to hear her occasionally laughing. We did not laugh ONCE during the movie.
So since then I have often wondered about reading it to see what it's really like.
So, thanks - on the list it goes!
(I have read When we Were Orphans, which was OK).
When We Were Orphans I also liked but nowhere near as much as ROTD. Got stuck somewhere inside A Pale View Of Hills and was utterly uncovinced by the opening pages of The Unconsoled so never went back there.
Post a Comment