Remains of the Day

Paperback, 258 pages

English language

Published April 1, 2015 by Faber & Faber, Limited.

ISBN:
978-0-571-32273-2
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4 stars (43 reviews)

The Remains of the Day won the 1989 Booker Prize and cemented Kazuo Ishiguro's place as one of the world's greatest writers. David Lodge, chairman of the judges in 1989, said, it's 'a cunningly structured and beautifully paced performance'. This is a haunting evocation of lost causes and lost love, and an elegy for England at a time of acute change. Ishiguro's work has been translated into more than forty languages and has sold millions of copies worldwide.

Stevens, the long-serving butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside, but also into his own past. Reflecting on his years of service, he must re-examine his life in the face of changing Britain, and question whether his dignity and properness have come at a greater cost to himself.

65 editions

A deeply sad character study

5 stars

Content warning spoilers for the ending

Review of 'The Remains of the Day' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

I didn't start getting into the story until around the 40% mark and even then, I felt like I had to make myself read it. If it hadn't been a book club pick, it'd probably be a DNF. I'm glad I stuck with it until the end. It was worth it from a literary and historical standpoint. But that ending felt incredibly depressing to me and I'm not sure it was meant to be? Was there meant to be little to no growth of the main character? Did he grow, but my own views are just so vastly different I can't see it? I have a lot of feelings to think about before my book club's discussion. 

Review of 'Remains of the Day' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I just cannot get over how good this book is.

On the face of it this book is about a stuffy old British butler who goes on a road trip and talks about his life. If you’re used to books with more plot, or you are sick to death of stoic old white guys who can’t feel their feelings, this might be a bit trying. (and many of the one-star reviews of this book would indicate it is VERY trying for a lot of people).

But for me the beauty of this book lies in the spaces between words, in the events that aren't actually described, and in the differences between how the main character believed things should work, versus how he thinks they did work, versus how they actually happened. It is beautifully and subtly crafted and the best kind of fictional writerly magic. One of the best books …

Review of 'The remains of the day' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I wish I hadn't waited so long to read this one.

First, the obvious comparison: Anyone who enjoyed Downton Abbey should read this.

How best to describe it? A butler fails at badinage.

Or perhaps a line, used ironically, from within the book itself, is the most appropriate description: "Why should one not enjoy in a lighthearted sort of way stories of ladies and gentlemen who fall in love and express their feelings for each other, often in the most elegant phrases?"

Review of 'Remains of the Day' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

England 1956, Stevens is a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall who decides to take a motoring trip through the country. Partly for work and partly for personal reasons, but this six day outing becomes a trip into the past as he remembers not only two world wars but an unrealised love between himself and his housekeeper. The Remains of the Day is an incredible novel of meditation, a changing England and missed love.

Stevens is an old fashion butler, always keeping to the rules and holding himself to a higher standard particularly when it comes to dignity. Throughout the novel he reflects on what it takes to be a truly accomplished butler; often referring to the Hayes Society, an elite society of butlers in the 1920s and 1930. The notion of “a dignity in keeping with his position” being the main ingredient to making a truly great butler. As he …

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Subjects

  • Man-woman relationships, fiction
  • Fiction, historical
  • British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author)
  • England, fiction

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