The Remains of the Day
by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kazuo IshiguroEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Format: Unabridged
Published: 1990-09-12
ISBN: 0679731725
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Vintage
Product features:
- 1993 - Vintage International Books - Paperback
- The Remains of the Day
- By Kazuo Ishiguro
- Winner of the Booker Prize
- New - Collectible
Book Reviews of The Remains of the Day
Book Review: "I'm sorry, sir, but I am unable to assist in this matter."
Summary: 5 Stars
Midway through a pivotal scene in "The Remains of the Day," Lord Darlington's young godson confronts the butler, James Stevens, about the nefarious goings-on in Darlington Hall, insisting angrily, "you're not curious. You just let all this go on before you and you never think to look at it for what it is." A gentleman's gentleman to the core, Mr. Stevens serves at the pleasure, and defers to the judgment, of his lord, and this training limits his robotic, repeated replies: "I don't fully understand what it is you're referring to" or "I'm afraid I have not noticed any such development."
"Remains" is basically a British comedy of manners--and there are many episodes that are certainly, if wryly, humorous. Yet Stevens is the anti-Jeeves--a man whose worth in his profession is inversely proportional to the value of his opinions. This point is brought home when one of Darlington's guests, to prove his arguments against England's "present parliamentary system," mockingly asks the butler his stance on several economic and political issues of the day. "I'm sorry, sir, but I am unable to assist in this matter." Whether Stevens has knowledge on these matters is beside the point; he's accepted that it's not his place to offer his own views. He is a man with style, but without substance.
As a result, Stevens proves to be the most unreliable narrator, and it quickly becomes apparent that his defense of his employer's integrity is actually defensiveness. Stevens's lack of "curiosity" and his impassiveness result in the book's three most disquieting subplots: he admires greatly his father (also a butler), but they remain aloof from each other, with heartbreaking consequences; he furtively reads romantic novels, but refuses to entertain the unsubtle overtures from the housekeeper Miss Kenton; he disagrees with his employer's reasons for firing two maids yet refuses to challenge him. For her part, Miss Kenton turns out to be the real hero of the book, trying during her tenure to break through Stevens's emotional barriers and haunting his thoughts long after she's left the household.
Yet, if Ishiguro's novel were simply another upstairs-downstairs tale, it wouldn't be much to recommend. Instead, Stevens is any of us who wanders blindly through life, doing no more than what's expected and leaving "the great affairs of today's world" to others. Indeed, "Remains of the Day" offers a frontal assault on conservative, oligarchic notions of morality. (The endless discussions over the qualities of a good butler and Stevens's arguments for "his lordship's good judgement" seem at times a parody of Edmund Burke's defense of monarchy.)
It's not a coincidence that both Americans in the novel, while behaving like tactless cads, are ultimately being proved right for favoring honesty over "honour." One of the Americans, Stevens's new employer, encourages the butler to drop the stiff upper lip and engage in some friendly banter, offering Stevens a belated opportunity to rejuvenate his own sense of worth. In spite of the novel's focus on aristocracy and servants, its moments like this one that underscore the truly egalitarian nature of Ishiguro's work.
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