Remains of the Day

And one has a right, perhaps, to feel a satisfaction those content to serve mediocre employers will never know – the satisfaction of being able to say with some reason that one’s efforts, in however modest a way, comprise a contribution to the course of history.

Ever since reading his Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro has been one of my favorite authors. I always meant to read his other works but never got the chance until now—and The Remains of the Day did not disappoint. This novel looks at the inner life of a classic English butler, known to the reader only by his surname ‘Stevens’, and his reflections through a weeklong motoring trip in the western English countryside. It explores questions not only of servitude but of how loyalty to our values can corrupt an individual, how much one can trust the narrator when he is not forthcoming, and the pangs of losing the opportunity of what may have been. The richness and complexity of the novel lies largely in the characters—of course, the primary character is Stevens, the butler, but his companion Miss Kenton is also a central figure. Looming in the background, and subtly influencing the way Stevens thinks and how he values his role of a butler, are his former employer, Lord Darlington, his current employer, Mr Farraday, and his father, Mr Stevens Sr. Since this is an experience benefited by not knowing too much from the outset, I can’t say too much, other than the fact that the characters were quite vivid in their characterization and their relationships with each other. Ishiguro is a master of crafting emotion and purpose into his characters, even in seemingly stiff figures like Stevens.Moreover, the novel is told in first-person narration, which is tricky for many writers to pull off—but as usual, Ishiguro does it with ease. He invites the reader into Stevens’s mind, as if one were having a private conversation with the character; all the same, the reader is not entirely privy to Stevens’s thoughts beyond what he decides to convey, and less so the overall course of events that he is relating to us. The more you get into the story, the more intriguing of a narrator Stevens turns out to be. The narrative style reminds me a bit of Japanese novels, where you get long stretches of meandering thoughts from the narrator—but it is also a quintessentially British novel, for obvious reasons. I think Ishiguro himself declines to characterize his novels as epitomizing any country, and so they are universal in a sense, but the classic figure of the butler, he does note, is a very British one.The descriptive elements of the novel were perfect for me—enough to set the scene, but not so much that it becomes overbearing and crowds out the other elements of the novel. Some writers really can’t cap a lid on metaphors and purple prose descriptions that eat up several pages at a time. Ishiguro gets straight to the point, and concisely—the novel is slim, but that hardly stops it from packing quite the emotional punch. As for the plot, it may seem like little happens in the novel, and on one level that is true—the ‘plot’ is largely recollections from Stevens. And yet, one can also say that much happens in the novel—but perhaps it isn’t as directly expressed. The burden of acknowledging and understanding what happens falls to the reader. I won’t deny that it is perhaps a bit mysterious, but this is a novel that will definitely leave you thinking and feeling long after it is over. This is a stunning novel and has cemented Ishiguro in my personal canon.I also highly recommend Salman Rushdie’s review of the novel: ‘Ideals, Ishiguro shows us, can corrupt as thoroughly as cynicism.’Favorite quotes:※ ‘A great butler can only be, surely one who can point to his years of service and say that he has applied his talents to serving a great gentleman — and through the latter, to serving humanity.’※ ‘Mr and Mrs Wakefield, however, appeared to be as keen on the inspection as Mr Farraday and as I went about my business, I would often catch various American exclamations of delight coming from whichever part of the house they had arrived at.’※ ‘Year after year goes by, and nothing gets better. All we do is argue and debate and procrastinate. Any decent idea is amended to ineffectuality by the time it's gone half-way through the various committees it's obliged to pass through. The few people qualified to know what's what are talked to a standstill by ignorant people all around them.’

The remains of the day (1989) van Kazuo Ishiguro maakt alle verwachtingen waar. Het verhaal is eenvoudig: butler Stevens vertrekt van Darlington Hall naar het Engelse platteland om een oud-collega te ontmoeten. Onderweg overpeinst en reflecteert hij dat het een lieve lust is. Via Stevens geeft Ishiguro een boeiende inkijk in de Engelse samenleving van vóór en na de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De haarscherpe, interessante en vaak grappige dialogen zijn daarbij een hoogtepunt. Ik had vooral veel plezier van de conversaties tussen Stevens en Miss Kenton, die elkaar op uiterst correcte wijze de les lezen.

And furthermore, Mr Stevens, and I am verry sorry to say this, I have noticed your father's nose.'
'Have you indeed, Miss Kenton?'
'I regret to say I have, Mr Stevens. The evening before last I watched your father proceeding very slowly towards the dining room with his tray, and I am afraid I observed clearly a large drop on the end of his nose danling over the soup bowls. I would not have thought such a style of waiting a great stimulant to appetite.'

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 I’ve ever read.

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 reflects on the idea of dignity, he also reflects on how he upholds himself as well as the changed world. Lord Darlington has passed away and an American, Mr Farraday is the new owner of Darlington Hall. This means a whole new way of doing things and as Stevens masterfully adjusts to the new way, he notices that he is doing too much as well as lacking in the ability to communicate the way his new employee wishes. Stevens takes his job too seriously so he struggles to be able to banter with his employee in the way Farraday wishes. He agonizes over his need to offer some witty banter and all attempts fail. He fails to realise that it is his delivery that is lacking and yet he keeps on reflecting on this.

The reason I wanted to talk about dignity and banter, is while Stevens’ is such a great character, he spends all his time reflecting on how he can be the best butler to his that he completely misses the opportunity of love. As this novel progresses and Stevens reflects on his time at Darlington Hall you can see a relationship blossom between the housemaid Miss Kenton and himself. The further you read, the more her feelings develop, while he is blissfully ignorant. Stevens does eventually realise but it is far too late.

The Remains of the Day is such a beautiful novel; while it does remind me a little of Downton Abbey (which I adore) this novel has other elements in it which make it worth exploring. It’s a book of loyalty and politics, love and relationships as well as memories and perspective. I don’t think I’ve seen the movie adaptation of this book but I’m struggling to see how it would work in that format. Does anyone know if the movie is worth watching?

I do recommend this book to fans of Downton Abbey, but I also want to recommend it to people looking for a stunningly elegant to read. Kazuo Ishiguro masterfully crafted this book and it paid off, winning the Man Booker Prize as well as Guardian’s “Books You Can’t Live Without” and the “1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die” list as well as a whole lot more. I’m so glad I picked up this book, it was short but it did so much. I would have to add it to a list of essential readings.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2013/03/17/book-review-the-remains-of-the-day/