This book just broke my heart. Beautiful, meaningful, absolutely amazing.
Mr Stevens is a butler at Darlington Hall and has spent most of his life serving Lord Darlington. Now that an American has bought Darlington Hall, he must begin to accommodate himself to these changes. When the American leaves on a short trip, Mr Stevens undertakes a journey of his own, while reflecting on his life and changes and lost opportunities.
It’s hard to describe what is amazing about this book. The prose is beautiful and perfectly in character; Stevens never slips for an instant, yet somehow in the midst of this proper, gorgeous yet unemotional prose, Ishiguro conveys a world of meaning and feeling that is nearly unsurpassed. The reader aches for Stevens so often, can almost feel what he is feeling, and is overall completely drawn into this fading world. This is one of those books that causes me to pause after reading, unwilling to start another, because I don’t want to ruin the feeling or profane such a phenomenal book with another.
I think it’s the best I’ve read all year. Again, moving, meaningful, emotional, absolutely beautiful; everything fits and everything works and the book is literally flawless. There isn’t a high enough rating for it.
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