The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

If you could sum up The Remains of the Day in three words, what would they be? I resented every single thing I had to do which took me away from this book. You stop, held in place, perfectly engaged by what he describes. However, whereas James leaves you wanting to hit yourself on the head with a hammer until you pass out, Ishiguro creates what I've heard referred to as aesthetic arrest. Ishiguro shares Henry James' interest in analysing and describing at length seemingly trivial and fleeting emotions and sensations and decisions.

How long before you give up and walk away into the blizzard? Or are you someone who stays? Although the book deals with some very poignant experiences (if you don't enjoy the guilty pleasure of the odd furtive tear whilst reading, this book is not for you) it's also hopeful, funny and endlessly interesting. And how do you reconcile that with the risk of spending the rest of your life regretting What Might Have Been? Much of this book is about the decisions we have to make if we are drawn to perfectly decent people who seem incapable of experiencing or sharing happiness, no matter how much others wish to share it with them. But all you get from walking away is a shot at it. And if doing so *guaranteed* happiness, well, we'd all be doing it. It's the perfect, horrible illustration of how sometimes any chance of survival and happiness depend on walking away from someone with the emotional equivalent of a broken leg. To remain would condemn her and the remainder of the team to death as well. There's a scene in the Disney movie 'Eight Below' where a sled dog is shown having to abandon an injured pack member to certain death in a blizzard.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro