The Remains of the Day [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Kazuo Ishiguro (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 12, 1990

The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.” But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s “greatness” and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served. 

A tragic, spiritual portrait of a perfect English butler and his reaction to his fading insular world in post-war England. A wonderful, wonderful book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.

From Publishers Weekly

Greeted with high praise in England, where it seems certain to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Ishiguro's third novel (after An Artist of the Floating World ) is a tour de force-- both a compelling psychological study and a portrait of a vanished social order. Stevens, an elderly butler who has spent 30 years in the service of Lord Darlington, ruminates on the past and inadvertently slackens his rigid grip on his emotions to confront the central issues of his life. Glacially reserved, snobbish and humorless, Stevens has devoted his life to his concept of duty and responsibility, hoping to reach the pinnacle of his profession through totally selfless dedication and a ruthless suppression of sentiment. Having made a virtue of stoic dignity, he is proud of his impassive response to his father's death and his "correct" behavior with the spunky former housekeeper, Miss Kenton. Ishiguro builds Stevens's character with precisely controlled details, creating irony as the butler unwittingly reveals his pathetic self-deception. In the poignant denouement, Stevens belatedly realizes that he has wasted his life in blind service to a foolish man and that he has never discovered "the key to human warmth." While it is not likely to provoke the same shocks of recognition as it did in Britain, this insightful, often humorous and moving novel should significantly enhance Ishiguro's reputation here.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 245 pages
• Publisher: Vintage International; 1st edition (September 12, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679731725
• ISBN-13: 978-0679731726
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (282 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

234 of 244 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE March 27, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

There is always the danger of reading too much into a book. That is a danger that I don't believe exists with The Remains of the Day, one of the most beautifully written contemporary novels. The Remains of the Day is the story of Stevens, an English butler in post-World War II England. In beautiful understatement, Ishiguro explores the themes of the novel: What is the meaning of professionalism in today's society? How much should one sacrifice in order to remain true to his own personal ethics? Ishiguro weaves quiet comedy and tragedy in this deceptively simple tale, but always preserves a strong undercurrent of psychological motivation and tension. In beautiful, crystal clear prose, he tells the tale of one man's interpretation of his place in society. The fading class system also serves as a metaphor for the fading glory of the insular world of postwar England. If your're looking for a John Grisham breakneck plot, skip this book. If you want literature at its finest, you can't do better than this.

77 of 78 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A true tour de force November 18, 2001

By Diane Schirf

Format:Paperback

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Highly recommended.

It's difficult to believe how much Kazuo Ishiguro packed into this short (by today's standards), highly praised novel -- a lifetime of work and relationships, the realization of inescapable regret, and the hope it is not too late to join the rest of humanity.

Stevens is a butler for an English house that is no longer great, nor is it owned by the family for which it is named. His postwar employer is, instead, an American named Farraday; as a stranger will point out to him later, "An American? Well, they're the only ones can afford it now." Farraday "affords" Darlington Hall by shutting much of the house down and using a reduced staff, which Stevens can understand, as the staff that would be available would not be up to his own high standards. When he receives a sad, lonely letter from Darlington's former housekeeper, Miss Kenton (now Mrs. Benn), and later is told by Farraday that he can borrow his employer's car for a vacation on the road, he weighs the opportunity and decides to take it for "professional reasons" -- to see if he can lure back the highly qualified Miss Kenton to her former position. During the brief journey, he spends much of his time contemplating what "dignity" in his profession means -- and whether he lived up to it. After a plethora of recollections about the late Lord Darlington during the prewar years and after his meeting with Miss Kenton, Stevens comes to two great understandings: he did not serve a great man as he thought he had, and, in doing so, he had missed a chance for love and fulfillment. His devotion to Lord Darlington has betrayed him, personally and professionally. "I can't even say I made my own mistakes," he laments.... "Really -- one has to say -- what dignity is there in that?"

This revelation does not come quickly or easily to either Stevens or the reader. Each anecdote that Stevens recalls to illustrate a point he wishes to make to himself -- the definition of dignity, how he upheld dignity by serving his employer while his own father lay dying -- subtly reveals how much he has shut himself down emotionally in order to serve. With each story, it becomes clearer that Lord Darlingon is an easily manipulated man, out of his league in world politics but insistent on playing the role of peacemaker -- even when it is no longer appropriate or wise. When his friendship with a woman leads him to firing two Jewish maids, it foreshadows his attempts to influence the British government into appeasing Hitler and the Nazis at any cost. He goes so far as to say that the U.K. should perhaps follow Germany's lead. "Germany and Italy have set their houses in order by acting . . . See what strong leadership can do if it's allowed to act. None of this universal suffrage nonsense." Stevens unwittingly proves Lord Darlington's point for him -- he trusts Lord Darlington's judgment as blindly as any German trusted Hitler's, believing that "people like him" are too ignorant to make the decisions that must be made and following the great man contentedly -- and thus making a bad decision.

When it comes to Miss Kenton, here too his perception is kept in check by his need for professionalism and dignity. His repeated emphasis on their "professional" relationship and his desire to reconnect with her as a "professional" only highlight the extent to which he will go to suppress his real feelings -- and the very real possibilities that existed.

In life and love, Stevens realises he has been avoiding both. In the end, however, there is hope. After sending Miss Kenton home, back to her husband, Stevens turns to "bantering"; that is, engaging with people without resorting to pre-programmed professional phrases --in short, truly interacting with his fellow humans. "After all, when one thinks about it, it is not such a foolish thing to indulge in -- particularly if it is the case that in bantering lies the key to human warmth." Indeed it does.

One doesn't have to be a butler in service to others to use the remains of his or her own day to look back and appraise where one went wrong and where there is still room for hope. This is an incredible journey toward understanding, written in a concise, spare manner that fits perfectly with the character of Stevens. Few writers have the gift of saying so much in so little space. More should learn it.

Diane L. Schirf, 18 November 2001. Read more ›

67 of 73 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and superbly crafted May 26, 2000

By C. Colt

Format:Paperback

"The Remains of the Day" is a fascinating study of character, and to some extent of history as well. The novel spans the professional life of an English Butler named Stevens. It guides us from his heyday as a loyal servant at Darlington Hall to his twilight years as a curio for the estate's new American owner. Steven's is a man of impeccable loyalty and stubbornness. While these qualities ensure Stevens' professional survival, they also provide his life with tragic limitations.

In some parts of the book, Stevens' loyalty is admirable albeit misdirected. For example, Stevens is unable to acknowledge his father's infirmity until Lord Darlington brings it to his attention. He is also unable to shed his professional scales just long enough to have a meaningful interaction with the woman he loves. At the end of the book, Stevens returns to Darlington Hall from a short trip to the country and resolves to master the sort of "bantering" that his American employer requires. All of these factors make Steven's a humorous caricature, but Ishiguro did not write this book merely to make fun of English butlers.

The real issue lurking in the depths of this book centers on fascism and conformity. Stevens' master, Lord Darlington has ties to the British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, and is later denounced and disgraced for that reason. Blind loyalty prevents Stevens from acknowledging the error of Lord Darlington's conviction, even after he fires all the Jewish members of his staff. Long after Lord Darlington's death, when his estate has been purchased by a wealthy American, Stevens still feels unquestioning loyalty to the master. It costs him his relationship with the woman he loves, and makes us rather pity his blindness....

Stevens is in fact the prototypical conformist. His endless loyalty comes not so much from conviction but from protocol and habit. It is adaptable and transferable to any form of authority be it a fascist aristocrat or an American business man. Much like the fascists of Western Europe, Stevens is still quite useful to have around even when the old order passes and the new one takes over. Obedient, passionless, and blind to the injustices around him--Steven's morality is an open standard that can be retrofitted for any authority.

After reading this book, I recommend that you check out Bernardo Bertolucci's film "Il Conformist". Bertolucci explores the same sort of mindset albeit from a different perspective. Read more ›

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessity of Moral Choice January 25, 2000

By Andrew Karbovsky

Format:Paperback

This novel is a real miracle of literature. I am impressed by marvelous beauty and purity of its language (such uncommon example in modern literature inundated with slang and obscenities)which allow to compare it with the high literary classic. Nurtured in Russian literature I wish to liken Kazuo Ishiguro to Russian writer Anton Chekhov: concise style, exact descriptions, unsurpassed mastery of explicit psychological characteristics of characters (especially if a protagonist makes every attempt to suppress any manifestation of his inner emotions), - all this is similar for both authors. Surface simplicity of the story disguises intricateness of its internal composition and concealed psychological motives making books of both writers difficult for screen adaptation.

Professionalism and fate of an individual in swiftly changing world are the main themes of the novel, extremely important for modern society where business becomes new god. Professionalism gives possibility to live repletely but only innermost moral fortitude gives possibility to survive psychically and even spiritually intact. Mr Stevens, the novel's narrator, is a perfect professional, a 'great butler'. His personal ethic shrunk to a size of official duties so that love and death are powerless before them. But world has crucially changed and Mr Stevens is trying to adjust himself to a new world, to a new employer, to change not only his behavior but style of thinking in order to please his new master, for this is the demand of his profession.... It is important for every human being not to repudiate the old world as the worst one (trying to neglect its positive features), not to accept 'the new brave world' as the best one (for he/she will discern its negative sides later) but to preserve his/her soul for sound estimation of what is going on.

The last meeting of the heroes - Mr Stevens and former Miss Keaton - sheds new light on the story making Miss Keaton not a victim of Mr Stevens' blind, unperceptive heart but a genuine heroine of the novel, a person who does not permit her high-leveled professionalism to prevail over main human feelings, who has moral mettle to follow accepted decision. The final deed of Miss Keaton is not a vergeance of previously rejected love but a correct ethical choice of strong disposition. Conniving at uncontrolled feelings (especially sexual desire) puts individuals on the verge of life and death, creats pain and destruction around and within them (Anna Karenina in famous Tolstoy's novel, characters of Ondaatje's 'The English Patient'); sound moral choice in hard circumstances and endurance of its results afterwads is the only fit possibility (Tatyana in Pushkin's 'Onegin') - this is the conclusion of great literature, wherein the novel of Kazuo Ishiguro can be rightly included. Read more ›