I asked the Maruzen bookstore's Marunouchi headquarters if they had another edition published in a bigger font. They offered an American edition which is much better. The content is identical to the UK edition, I was told.
This book is about "an extraordinary spiritual imprisonment," as a reviewer put it, about company or any organization employees whose destiny is in the hands of their boss.
How could an independent writer like Ishiguro describe that kind of world? I imagined that his father, a physical oceanographer who worked in Japan and then moved to the UK and was employed by a research institute, might have provided some insights and underlying cultural differences.
The main character Stevens started work for his new boss Mr. Farraday who is an American and cut his staff to just four from 28 under new priorities. Stevens agree that 28 or even seventeen who were his immediate staff members were a bit too many. He indeed recounts that "resulting in employees having an unhealthy amount of time on their hands has been an important factor in the sharp decline in professional standards."
Even so, four were too less; Stevens managed to create a staff plan, but ended up giving himself too much to do. Mr. Farraday suggests that Stevens take a break when Mr. Farraday returns to the U.S. for five weeks in summer, saying "You look like you could make good use of a break."
The structure of some sentences in this book appears a bit complicated, but it contains some useful vocabulary. Off hand, I could use the verb "broach" meaning "begin talking about a subject that is difficult to discuss, especially because it is embarrassing or because people disagree with it."
I look forward to continuing to read this book during the Thanksgiving holiday.
