Product Description

An elderly butler is on a five-day motoring trip through the West Country in the 1950s. The climax of his journey is to be a reunion with his former housekeeper. This 1989 Booker Prize-winner attempts to capture a period in British history and draw a portrait of a man in old age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #133586 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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, beautifully crafted novel-- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.

Review
Booker Prize Winner 1989. An elderly butler's obsession with the dignity of his profession is shaken on a five day West Country motoring trip in the 1950s the climax of which is a meeting with his former housekeeper Miss Kenton. During the course of the narrative, he recalls in compelling and vivid detail his service in the 1930s, and the painful realization that the man he served and respected was a Nazi sympathizer. The unrealised love between Stevens and Miss Kenton underscores the novels atmosphere of chastening loss. Ishiguro's work captures this period of British history while painting a complex picture of a proud, ageing man. (Kirkus UK)

Ishiguro is an Englishman of Japanese descent (he moved to England as a small child) whose two previous novels (A Pale View of Hills, An Artist of the Floating World) featured Japanese characters; here, he breaks new ground with a slow-moving rumination on the world of the English country-house butler. For 35 years, Stevens was Lord Darlington's butler, giving faithful service. Now, in 1956, Darlington Hall has a new, American owner, and Stevens is taking a short break to drive to the West Country and visit Mrs. Benn, the housekeeper until she left the Hall to get married. The novel is predominantly flashbacks to the 20's and 30's, as Stevens evaluates his profession and concludes that "dignity" is the key to the best butlering; beyond that, a great butler devotes himself "to serving a great gentleman - and through the latter, to serving humanity." He considers he "came of age" as a butler in 1923, when he successfully oversaw an international conference while his father, also a butler, lay dying upstairs. A second key test came in 1936, when the housekeeper announced her engagement (and departure) during another major powwow. Each time, Stevens felt triumphant - his mask of professional composure never slipped. Yet two things become clear as Stevens drives West. Lord Darlington, as a leading appeaser of Hitler, is now an utterly discredited figure; far from "serving humanity," Stevens had misplaced his trust in an employer whose life was "a sad waste." As for the housekeeper, she had always loved Stevens, but failed to penetrate his formidable reserve; and at their eventual, climactic meeting, which confirms that it's too late for both of them, he acknowledges to himself that the feeling was mutual. This novel has won high praise in England, and one can certainly respect the convincing voice and the carefully bleached prose; yet there is something doomed about Ishiguro's effort to enlist sympathy for such a self-censoring stuffed shirt, and in the end he can manage only a small measure of pathos for his disappointed servant. (Kirkus Reviews)

Customer Reviews

One Of The Greatest Novels In British Literature..
Many of the best novels have essential qualities, they are thrilling, moving, highly readable and beautifully written. However, while The Remains of the day has ALL of the above, theres one major quailty that really made this novel resonate and touch me like no other book i have ever read. That quality is that this book allows you to re-evaulate your own life. It gives you a new perspective of life, and choices we make, and ultimately teaches us to follow our hearts and by what we feel its right. So that by the end of our days we can look back and not regret making such tragic choices as Stevens does. This book has truly touched me and moved me like no other. Althought the movie adaptation was terrific, you have to read this book to truly get a grasp of the genius this book is. In an era where the word 'Masterpiece', is so easily thrown about, The Remains of The Day, is truly and deservedly a MASTERPIECE.

Brilliant
I bought this book after seeing the film version starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. Most unusually the film is as good as the book and they're both brilliant. Strictly speaking not a great deal happens in the story but there are tremendous under-currents going on all the way through which hold your attention. This is probably the best book I've read this year.

Beautifully written
I loved this absolutely beautifully written book and read it in one sitting. Narrated by an English butler, Mr Stevens (we never know his first name), it is a truly moving tale. From the day he sets off on his journey, the story captivates you until the final pages. I loved his definitions of the word 'dignity' and I would thoroughly recommend this as an excellent, enthralling read of times gone by. I wished it had been longer! It won the Booker prize and for once, you can see why.