The remains of the day | kazuo ishiguro

The novels narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession.

In a career that spans the second world war, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him--oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer.

Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, beautifully crafted novel-- namely, Stevens own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.