The Remains of the Day

No one on their death bed professes to wishing they'd worked more, eh, Stevens?

Beautifully written and contemplative, this book suffers from perhaps being a tad too much in the head of the protagonist. While we're given a bittersweet plot payoff, the entire book built to that and it was to be expected.

The giant blocks of text that serve as flashbacks or detailed explanations of objects or settings tend to be more grating than beautiful the longer the book goes on. At times these reprieves can be useful to get into the mind of Stevens and how he views the world. Other times? It's belaboring a point that's loud and clear already.

I enjoyed this well enough, though.