The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is a cerebral novel about a butler of a great country house, which, in the 1950s, got sold out of the family to an American. The protagonist, Stevens, is encouraged by his new employer to go on a motoring trip around the countryside, which Stevens allows himself to do. During the trip, Stevens muses upon what makes a butler truly distinguished, and also upon the events of his past which have made him who he is. His relationships with his employer, with his father, and with Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, have shaped him more than he realizes.
The reason I liked the novel was because Stevens is an unreliable narrator. His voice is so authoritative, so perfectly pitched to communicate his status of being a true gentleman’s gentleman, that it’s some time before I realized all was not well with Stevens. This gradual discovery of Stevens’s inner self is what makes the ending for such an academic novel surprisingly emotional. The evening of the English country house and what it has meant for English nationalism is a fitting backdrop for the evening of a man who cannot let go of the past.
9.0 / 10.0.
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