The past few months

I regret to confess that I have been holding off on updating my progress of the List -- mostly from laziness -- for the past month and a half, with no excuses.

In fact, I finished "Never Let Me Go" quite a while ago, and very quickly, and was putting off writing about it until I had finished my current endeavor of "A Tale of Two Cities" because of the speed with which I had read through it. This obviously proved to be a mistake, as the latter has been a laborious read for me that seems never-ending.

I will have to apologize for my glossed over account of this novel, as I have most likely forgotten any slightly-profound input I could have acquired during my reading it. Anyway, I was excited to read "Never", as I am very limited in my Japanese literature (if it can be lumped there, since he is technically a British author), and have heard such great things. I will have to say though, that I was disappointed, and not too taken with Ishiguro's novel. I found it rather dull and incredibly predictable. I am not the biggest fan of romantic literature, but I had begun the work thinking that it would outdo that genre. The characters seemed too juvenile, despite the plot of their sheltered lives, and I honestly felt no deep emotion for the characters whatsoever. There were a number of scenes with potential of being powerful, I think, but Ishiguro did not build and end them in the way I would have liked, rather letting them fizzle out. For example, Tommy's drawings seemed interesting, but were handled very immaturely, as the subject was illustrated without the intricacies that the drawings were supposed to hold. Interest in the artwork, that was supposed to be beautiful, was quickly lost. The same goes for Ruth's encounter with her "possible".
The adults were the most intriguing part of the novel, and I enjoyed the memory moments that introduced them, and shed light on fragments of their tormented psyche -- perhaps Ishiguro's talents lie in writing in the adult person, and not as an adolescent's. I think that I rather liked the ending for its simplicity, but again, I really don't even remember, so that must prove how forgettable this read was for me (even despite my poor memory).

And as for "A Tale of Two Cities"; I am not at all experiencing the favor I had for Dickens' "Great Expectations" in this work. I feel like I've been reading this for so long and still I am not done. In fact, I often fall asleep to it (though I do not think it is worthy of labeling this title as a snooze-fest, it is just something that ends up happening). I admit, this novel is much more mature and sophisticated than "Great Expectations", but what I yearn for in a book is depth in personality and character development, not edge. I cannot deny the power behind Dickens' writing -- his mastery of drama is artfully elegant, and he blends historical references and feelings with narrative rather well, but it just doesn't seem enough to keep me ultimately engaged. Perhaps my opinion will change when I actually finish. Only 43 pages to go.