Hi folks,
I'm completely enamored with The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I haven't finished it yet but at about the 2/3rds mark I feel confident that this book is going to become an all-time favorite of mine.
I've liked all of Ishiguro's books that I've read so far but this one in particular is really standing out.
In particular, I've been enthralled by Mr. Stevens narration and I feel like this book is quite possibly the best example of an "unreliable narrator" that I've read so far.
I've predominantly been a genre fiction reader (though I prefer books with more of a literary bent). Looking for recommendations for other deeply reflective, quietly tragic and character focused novels along these lines in the literary-fiction world.
Thanks 👍.
by Glansberg90
5 Comments
Stoner by John Williams
Stoner
Atonement
Educated (non fiction)
My Friends & A Man Called Ove, Fredrik Backman
Demon Copperhead
A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner (same author)
Ever After by Graham Swift (which just happens to be what I’m reading currently).
Possession by A S Byatt.
The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Remains of the Day rocks! I’d suggest:
The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford (a much older book, but with sort of a similarly naive narrator)
The End Of The Affair by Graham Greene (very sad, emotional book in a way I think compares well with Remains Of The Day)
Pale Fire, by Vladimir Nabokov (this one’s much zanier/weirder/funnier, but it might have my personal favorite unreliable narrator *ever*)
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (first in a series of books with strong narrator voices, very sad/wistful in a way you might like)
I haven’t read it but I’ve heard Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World has a similar feel and theme to Remains.
A book I have read and would recommend in a similar vein is Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.