Review of The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Since reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker short-listed novel Never Let Me Go (and being floored by it) last year, I’ve planned to get my hands on a copy of The Remains of the Day, an earlier novel of his that won the Booker Prize in 1989 and later became a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

Having resolved to refrain from buying books this year, I reserved a copy at the city library and handed over the required $1.65, a measly sum I’m more than happy to pay for them to put books on hold after I have reserved them online. All hail the local library.

The Remains of the Day is quite unlike anything I’ve read for some time. It’s an exquisite, first-person, character-driven novel that engages from the first page and, set in 1950s England, reads as fresh as it would have when first published.

A butler to England’s wealthy and distinguished, Stevens tells the story of his career and reveals to the reader the intricacies and refined pride of the butler and in doing so, reveals himself to be a fine, intriguing and painfully flawed character.

The Remains of the Day provides a glimpse into 20th Century British History from the unique viewpoint of the man employed to serve the drinks and polish the silver used by the Lords, Ambassadors and other ‘distinguished guests’ that dined, opined and determined the course of modern history.

While exploring the finer points of the services that a professional butler provides, this poignant novel offers the reader a new understanding of discretion, loyalty and dignity.

Kazuo Ishiguro's Back Catalogue:

A Pale View of Hills (1982)
An Artist of the Floating World (1986)
The Remains of the Day (1989)
The Unconsoled (1995)
When We Were Orphans (2000)
The Saddest Music in the World - Screenplay (2003)
Never Let Me Go (2005)
The White Countess - Screenplay (2005)

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