Customer Reviews

Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (York Notes Advanced)

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When my brother recommended this book to me more than a decade ago, I perversely avoided it because, living in Japan and immersed in Japanese literature, the idea of Mr. Ishiguro's novel of an English butler struck me as too contrived to even deign to read. Living in a complex and ancient foreign culture, I doubted the ability of anyone not born in a country like England or Japan to assume its persona in a novel.

But the name of the book and the author remained, as something of a reproach to my narrowmindedness, and as a kind of reminder that however much I might wish it weren't so, my brilliant brother with a million great books under his belt knew the difference between a fine book and an ordinary one.

When I unwrapped the package that my father had sent, in it was a yellowed copy of Remains of the Day, looking even worse than I had imagined it would be. Slathered with a photo of Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson on the cover, and proudly announcing that it was "now a film from Columbia pictures," all of my old prejudices rose in my throat and I pushed it aside.

In a moment of pique I opened it to the first page, knowing that the first paragraph would reveal the feebleness of the author and the cheap Hollywood veneer of the plot. All I can tell you is that it wrapped me up and enfolded me in a cascade of beauty with which only a handful of books have ever entranced me.

The story has been told a full 194 times in the reviews that precede this one, and I've little to add except the personal testimony that it is a deeply moving and gripping book. The love story here is so deep, and rich, and painful, that when Mr. Stevens says "my heart was breaking," yours will too, if you feel anything at all. The sadness, melancholy, and quiet strength in every line of this book make it a towering monument in English literature. Every line has been chiseled, polished, pondered, and crafted with a beauty matched in modern literature only perhaps by Kawabata Yasunari's "Yukiguni."

You will cherish this book, and feel wiser about and more in love with the world around you for having read it.