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Post by spaceflower on Dec 28, 2017 12:55:51 GMT
I'm now reading Never let me go. It is the book to read in my reading circle. The Swedish translation was out of stock so I have to read the novel in English. (The library had a long queue.) I bought it as a sort of Christmas present to myself.
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Post by Kye on Dec 28, 2017 13:13:46 GMT
I love him! My very favourite is "The Unconsoled", but it's not for everyone.
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Post by Miisa on Dec 29, 2017 9:14:31 GMT
I read Remains of the Day about 20 years ago and loved it, although nothing actually seems to happen in it. More recently read Never Let Me Go, and was annoyed at the similar passivity of the characters in their situation which I though required some action taken on their part.
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Post by juju on Dec 30, 2017 0:31:17 GMT
Exactly the same as Miisa. Loved 'Remains of the Day', but found 'Never Let Me Go' a bit annoying - the passivity of the characters, and too much that was simultaneously highly detailed and yet unexplained.
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Post by spaceflower on Jan 1, 2018 12:46:19 GMT
I think all of his books are melancholy. I have not read The remains of the day, but I have seen the film with Anthony Hopkins. The butler devoted his whole life to be the perfect butler. An missed everything else, like love, marriage, children. Or simply going places and seeing things. Too influenced by the values given to him by his father.
But maybe the writer is right. Most of us adapt and don't rebel. Few of us are heroes and heroines or revolutionaries. We follow the written and unwritten rules.
Like in Never let me go, the children lash out at anyone daring to even ask uncomfortable questions:
"...Polly asked..."Miss, why does Madame take our things anyway?" (Those drawings, paintings, poems etc which are proof of the children's creativty) "I remember feeling furious at Polly for so stupidly breaking the unwritten rule, but at the same time, being terribly excited about what answer Miss Lucy might give. I wasm't the only one with these mixed emotions: virtually everybody shot daggers at Polly, before turning eagerly to Miss Lucy..."
Marge fares even worse:
"... when Marge suddenly asked if Miss Lucy herself had ever had a cigarette.---Before Miss Lucy's reply, we'd all been glaring at Marge, really furious she'd asked such a rude question... And for days afterwards I remember how we made Marge's life an utter misery..."
The children are so cruel to each other but so totally submissive to the guardians and their (unwritten) rules. This is supposed to take place in an parallel 1990:s world , but feels more like the 1930:s to me. But then, the children have no parents or relatives to back them up, the orphanage Hailsham is their universe. But in a way this depiction reminds me of the British boarding school books I read as a child. The intrigues, the bullying, the exaggerated admiration for some chosen teacher.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 9, 2019 22:56:19 GMT
All I want is a 'Remains of the Day' lunchbox and the 'My Dinner With Andre' action figures.
My only exposure to Ishiguro has been via Corky St. Clair in the film 'Waiting for Guffman'.
From the descriptions here, it sounds as though Ishiguro is producing fodder for Merchant Ivory films. I'll pass.
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Post by Kye on Oct 10, 2019 1:20:19 GMT
I can't imagine making The Unconsoled into a movie...
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 10, 2019 2:16:12 GMT
Yeah, well....I couldn't believe anybody had made a movie out of 'My Dinner With Andre'. Have you seen it?
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Post by Kye on Oct 10, 2019 10:51:38 GMT
No. I'm not much for movies. But I heard the book is good.
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