Most Important Books in your Life

[Heath]

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is one of my absolute favourite books. It presents a wonderful portrait of a man evaluating his past, present and future, all of which is told with a startlingly convincing narrative. I was recommended it by an English teacher in college, and it remains one of my favourites.

I loved Remains of the Day too (though Never Let Me Go actually hit me harder, I think) but I think this to be an interesting description. My takeaway of the narration was that (SPOILER)he was basically lying to himself about the importance of his life, suppressing all emotion, and hiding from how he had squandered the use of his time. An untrustworthy narrator can still create a convincing narration, of course--not trying to pick on your phrasing. It just stood out to me because it's what goes unsaid in that book that makes it so affecting and tragic.

Never Let Me Go is also excellent, as is When We Were Orphans.

Absolutely agree with your comment about (SPOILER)his narrative and him being an untrustworthy narrator. When I said convincing narrative, I more meant that he is a believable character, as humans aren't generally as open as many narrators, and do gloss over things or leave things unsaid.

Hopefully this will get more people reading Ishiguro!