Book Review on The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

There's something charming about the old English country and its customs. This book is about an English butler who reminisces about the old times while attempting to keep pace with the new. Back in the day, butlers were at the top of the staff heirarchy that catered to the needs of the aristocratic class. Lords, Ladies, Dukes, Duchess, Barons, etc would all be given top of the notch service by an army of staff who attended to their every need. The houses of ole were big mansions, almost palacial in size and thus needed several housemaids, under-butler, footmen, gardener, chauffeur, valet, cook etc to keep pace with the then life. One such princely house was Darlington Hall, where our butler Mr. Stevens used to serve Lord Darlington himself.

Then came the war years that changed the way of life of the aristocrats as well as those whom they employed. An American gentleman takes over Darlington Hall after the death of its previous owner, and the butler, loyal to his profession, decides to stay on with the house. He narrates the changes that the household undergoes, constantly comparing Then and Now. He is a man of ideals and succinctly discusses what he thinks are the attributes of a great butler.

At the heart of the book, it is about how Mr. Stevens comes to terms with the past and has to accept that he must make the most of whatever remains of the days of his life. I found it a very inspiring read, and can see what made Kazuo Ishiguro a Nobel Prize in Literature awardee. Very polished style of writing that one can only aspire to inculcate. I have definitely become a fan of the author and will be reading more of his works soon.

For fans of Downton Abbey, this book is a treat to read. One can just imagine Mr. Carson agreeing with the views of Mr. Stevens while sipping on some tea downstairs. The book has also been adapted into a movie starring Anthony Hopkins in the lead role. I can't say it's the best of adaptations but at least there is one.

Book Review on Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Dystopian literature shows us how life would be if things went really badly. For any bibliophile, the worst kind of situation is one in which books are destroyed. This book is based in one such dystopic universe where Firemen don’t extinguish fire but cause them. The protagonist is one Guy Montag, who conspicuously shares his first name with the famous pyromaniac from British history, Guy Fawkes. Like Fawkes, Montag too is a revolutionary.

In Montag’s world books are taboo. People are kept busy by always being made to watch the Telly. Entertainment has been made personalized. When you watch the Telly, the characters in the soaps and plays say your name to give the show an illusion of reality. This makes the experience more immersive. The minds of people can be easily controlled by controlling their entertainment feed. But books. Oh those can give people ideas, make them think outside the Idiot Box. So books are banned by the authorities. It is a tragic world to live in, where people do not, cannot think. And those who dare to question or be imaginative are eliminated.

The Firemen’s history has been revised. Where they were once known to put out fire and save lives, it is now their job to burn down houses where people have been known to harbor books. All of this is done at night-time when the fires burn the brightest, so that the fear of fire is more deeply ingrained in the citizens.

After years of service as a Fireman, Guy Montag one day meets a girl called Clarisse McClellan on his walk home from work. She is an unusual sort of girl. People in her family actually sit around and talk rather than watch the Telly. And she says things that Guy has never heard anyone say. He comes home to his wife Mildred, who has a severe addiction to the Telly. The people on the screens are more real to her that those next door. Day in and day out her eyes are on the three walls that make up the screen and her ears plugged with earphone like shells that help her to drown out the outside world. She is disconnected from reality, depressed and in denial. Compared to the lively Clarisse, Mildred is as good as dead as she is always ‘plugged in’. Montag and Mildred do not converse.

Montag undergoes a change that makes him question the way the world has come to run. He finds himself unable to do his job, which makes his boss Captain Beatty suspicious of him. He becomes a liability to his unit. In his desperation to make sense of the world, Montag makes contact with a man he had once met in a park, who he had suspected might be a possessor of books. This man, Faber, was once a Professor of English. But since it became illegal to teach Literature, History etc, he, and others of his kind, has to live on the down-low. Faber explains to Montag some of the qualities that books possess and why it is necessary to keep the written words alive.

Any reader would want to preach the message in this book, especially in times like these, when it is necessary to inculcate the ability to see the alternate reality, to question the system. Other forms of entertainment, most importantly, visual entertainment is easy to take in. One need only direct their gaze towards a screen. But books require your participation. The words develop meaning when you read, process, understand and envision that which is being said. Since most people find it so arduous to do the latter, books are a dying lot. As the author himself said,

“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”

Ignorance happens to be a flaming torch