The Remains of the Day
4.2

Winner 1989 Booker Prize: A tragic, spiritual portrait of a perfect English butler and his reaction to his fading insular world in post-war England. From the Nobel Prize-winning author of Never Let Me Go. In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside and into his past . A contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House, of lost causes and lost love.

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About Kazuo Ishiguro

A Nobel Prize-winning British author known for his subtle and emotionally resonant novels that often explore themes of memory, identity, and loss. Works like The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are characterized by their understated prose, unreliable narrators, and profound exploration of human relationships and the passage of time. Ishiguro's nuanced storytelling has established him as a significant figure in contemporary literature.

Other Books by Kazuo Ishiguro

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Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro

3.8

In an English boarding school, students slowly discover they are being raised for a specific and disturbing purpose. As they grow up and fall in love, they must come to terms with their predetermined fate. The novel explores what it means to be human, the ethics of scientific advancement, and the power of love and friendship in the face of mortality.

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Klara And The Sun

by Kazuo Ishiguro

4.1

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change for ever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.

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The Buried Giant

by Kazuo Ishiguro

4.5

In 'The Buried Giant' by Kazuo Ishiguro, the reader is transported to a post-Arthurian Britain where a mist of forgetfulness blankets the land, obscuring memories and past grievances. The story follows an elderly couple, Axl and Beatrice, as they embark on a poignant journey to find their long-lost son. Along the way, they encounter various characters and unearth buried truths about their own relationship and the land's history. Ishiguro masterfully weaves themes of memory, love, and reconciliation into this atmospheric tale, prompting readers to contemplate the power of collective forgetting and the cost of remembering. A haunting and thought-provoking read.

Similar Books

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The Cellist of Sarajevo

by Steven Galloway

4.5

Set during the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s, 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' by Steven Galloway is a poignant exploration of life under siege. The novel interweaves the lives of three characters—Dragan, Kenan, and Arrow—each struggling to preserve their humanity amidst the chaos of war. Their stories orbit around the figure of a cellist, who plays Albinoni's Adagio in the streets to commemorate the lives lost to a mortar attack. Galloway deftly captures the resilience of the human spirit, the impact of art in times of despair, and the simple acts of courage that shine through the shadows of conflict. The book's haunting prose and meditative tone create an indelible reflection on the moral choices faced in brutal circumstances.

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The Jungle

by Upton Sinclair

3.8

A harrowing expose of the American meatpacking industry in the early 20th century, The Jungle follows immigrant worker Jurgis Rudkus as he endures exploitation, poverty, and tragedy. Intended to highlight workers’ rights, it shocked readers with its depiction of unsanitary conditions, leading to major food safety reforms. Sinclair’s powerful, muckraking novel remains a classic of social criticism and a landmark in investigative literature.

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Pachinko

by Min Jin Lee

4.3

A victorian epic transplanted to Japan, following a Korean family of immigrants through eight decades and four generations. Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends, no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja's salvation is just the beginning of her story. Through eight decades and four generations, Pachinko is an epic tale of family, identity, love, death and survival.

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Half of a Yellow Sun

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

4.3

Set before and during the Nigerian Civil War, this novel follows three interconnected lives—a professor’s mistress, a houseboy, and a British writer—amid national upheaval. Through love, betrayal, and survival, Adichie weaves a deeply human portrait of identity, loyalty, and the cost of independence. Half of a Yellow Sun is a powerful historical narrative that illuminates both personal and political conflict with grace and urgency.