The Remains of the Day

Author: Kazuo Ishiguro;

Genre: Fiction (Contemporary British Fiction);

Pages: 245;

Publisher: Vintage International;

My Rating: 4/5;

Challenges: Orbis Terrarum Challenge-2009, Country: Japan (Author's origin)

Since the time I've picked up reading all over again, I've had this thing to read all the Booker Prize Winners! Also wanted to read some of the works by a Japanese author as part of the Orbis Terrarum Challenge this year, hence picked up this book. About a year ago I had tried reading "Never let me go" by the same author but I couldn't progress beyond 10 pages...but this time I was determined to finish this to figure out why the author is appreciated so much...

'Remains of the Day' is supposed to be one of Ishiguro's best books that won him a Booker Prize and was adapted into an award winning movie (with the same title) as well. The novel with its plot based in post world war-II England is about an English butler Mr.Stevens who lives only to do his duty, to serve his master and humanity in the hope of preserving justice thru out the world. He embarks on a journey to Western Europe, on being insisted by his master and this actually becomes a journey of his past where he slowly learns that the world is a lot different than what he viewed it to be. Through Steven's story Ishiguro also explores the true meaning of professionalism & dignity and how much should someone sacrifice to remain true to one's personal ethics..

It's a very quiet novel which is very gentle yet powerful. I loved the plot but this was my first encounter with Ishiguro's writing and it didn't appeal to me at all. I found the pace to be extremely slow and boring at certain parts. It took me almost a month to finish the book; I could never read more than 15 pages at a stretch..I'm guessing that the booker prize was mainly for the story which was thoughtful and touching. But I've read loads of reviews on the web where people have loved every word of his writing, so I realize it's just not to my taste!

I am keen on watching the movie now. Probably it will help me appreciate the book better?! Have you read the book or seen the movie? Would love to know your views!

The White Tiger

Author: Aravind Adiga
Pages: 321
My Rating: 4.5/5



This book, the winner of the Man Booker Prize 2008 had generated a lot of curiosity among the readers and I was eagerly waiting to get a hand on it too; wanted to figure out if it was just a hype or there was really some substance in it, worthy of the prize. I picked it up in Dec'08 and nearly took a month to finish because of the hectic work schedule, but if I count the actual number of days I read the book, I have probably taken about 4-5 days...

In this debut novel, Aravind Adiga explores the hefty issue of India's class struggles - the unhappy division of the social classes; the social & economic inequalities of the rich and the poor. The plot centers around Balram Halwai, who is born and raised in a remote village in north india which is completely controlled by feudal lords. He finally moves to Delhi as a driver to one of the rich landlord's sons - Ashok, who has returned from America. This is where Balram gets exposed to a completely new set of people, lifestyle, customs etc. and decides that he is not going to live his entire life being a servant. He develops a strong ambition to break out of the 'rooster coop' (the phrase is used as a metaphor by the author thru out the book) and become the white tiger - a symbol of power, individualism & freedom.

After reading the book, I feel it so totally deserved the booker prize. First of all, I loved Adiga's style of writing. Novels which deal with socio-economic inequalities can really get lengthy and boring, but Adiga chose to present it in a totally different style - a way in which the protagonist is narrating his story to the President of China who is in search of Indian entrepreneurs, in the form of letters. Secondly, Adiga has not just accumulated details of suffering or facts in the novel but he has explained it in a very compelling way by creating two disparate worlds that Balram lives in - one in the darkness of his native village and the other is his glittery life in Delhi. He also does present a beautiful contrast between the life in delhi and bangalore, when Balram escapes from Delhi after murdering his master, and becomes and entrepreneur in bangalore (This is not a spoiler, btw :) )

Last but not the least, the view of India presented by Adiga is obivously just one of them. There are many more alternate views of India which are unheard or uncontacted. He does look like a promising author and I am eagerly waiting to read his next book!