Kazuo Ishiguro's Booker Prize-winning masterpiece became an international bestseller on publication, was adapted into an award-winning film and has since come to be regarded as a modern classic.
The Remains of the Day is a spellbinding portrayal of a vanished way of life and a haunting meditation on the high cost of duty. It is also one of the most subtle, sad and humorous love stories ever written. It is the summer of 1956, when Stevens, a man who has dedicated himself to his career as a perfect butler in the one-time great house of Darlington Hall, sets off on a holiday that will take him deep into the English countryside and, unexpectedly, into his own past, especially his friendship with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton. As memories surface of his lifetime "in service" to Lord Darlington, and of his life between the wars, when the fate of the continent seemed to lie in the hands of a few men, he finds himself confronting the dark undercurrent beneath the carefully run world of his employer.
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The Remains Of The Day is a Booker Prize-winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, celebrated for its realistic and complex characters. It is a haunting meditation on duty and a subtle, sad, and humorous love story set in post-war England.
Summary topics
Character Realism (16%): Customers keep praising the character, describing them as realistic, complex, and more complex than initially appear.
Favorite Book (27%): A significant number of customers pointed out that this book is one of their favorite books.
"He writes beautifully, and the characters are interesting and more complex than they initially appear to be." — Brianna
"It is a delightfully fun read that is fast paced and I loved following along the workings of his mind." — Erin
"I love the writing, characters and plot" — Jojo
Reviews
A different Ishiguro but phenomenal nonetheless
"One of the best Ishiguro you will read. So different from the other best sellers but yet one of the best novels."
— Claire (5/5)
Quiet Heartbreak
"A well-meaning and romantic butler looks back on his life and tries earnestly not to admit to himself that it was all a waste."
— KD W. (5/5)
A masterpiece of time and era.
"Kazuo Ishiguro at his best. He's such a great writer and his pacing in this one is perfect. He tells us of a time in history when the butler heard and saw everything but his loyalty was supreme to his employer. The remains of the day were so slight as his own private time."
— Gillian (5/5)
Wonderful book.
"Wonderful book. Had heard a lot about it and decided to give it a buy, glad I did."
— Dakota (5/5)
Different
"Not my subject matter. Disappointed in the reviews as they lend me down a path"
— Sunshine (4/5)
Engaging read
"At times funny, irreverent, too self serious, and quirky. A very entertaining read."
— BishopvilleRed (4/5)
A modern classic
"This was one of my favourite books I read in university - the voice is fantastic and it dealt with a lot of really interesting and thought provoking themes. Definitely a bucket list book for any literature nerds!"
— Jecampbell (4/5)
The title is very clever…’remains’ as in a dead body. But more so “the remains of the day” it’s what is left of the day (our lives) and what we will do with that time.
"Purchased this classic Booker Prize winning book for a dear friend who had not read it. A book about the choices we make, the loyalties we have that may be misplaced…and coming to the realization and realities of that."
— Becky K. (5/5)
A butler’s inner monologue
"Stepping into a butlers mind this book takes you through the inner monologue of mr stevens. It is a delightfully fun read that is fast paced and I loved following along the workings of his mind."
— Erin (5/5)
Loved it
"This book was hard to get into at first, told through the main character's present and through his flashbacks. However, as the story unfolded I found myself unable to put my book down, I was so drawn into the story. Ishiguro writes such realistic and complex characters. I love a good love story, and this is one of my favourite; complicated, sad, funny, and heart-wrenching."
— Atreyu (5/5)
Q&A
Published date: Aug 26, 2014
Language: English
No. of Pages: 320
Publisher: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 9780345809322
Dimensions:
5.2" W x
0.81" L x
8.0" H
“A dream of a book: a beguiling comedy of manners that evolves almost magically into a profound and heart-rending study of personality, class and culture.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Marvellous. . . . Superb.” —The Globe and Mail
“This is a work that goes to the heart of a lost life. Beautifully composed, totally unsentimental, immeasurably tender.” —The Observer
“A virtuoso performance . . . put on with dazzling daring and aplomb.” —The New York Review of Books
“As strong as it is delicate, a very finely nuanced and at times humorous study of repression.” —The Times Literary Supplement
“By any definition, The Remains of the Day is a great book. . . . Ishiguro is a master.” —Ottawa Citizen
“A triumph. . . . Ishiguro’s creative control . . . never falters. This wholly convincing portrait of a human life unweaving before your eyes is inventive and absorbing, and by turns funny, absurd and ultimately very moving.” —The Sunday Times
“Brilliant and quietly devastating.” —Newsweek
“One of the best books of the decade.” —The Boston Globe
“Suspenseful, intriguing, elegiac and politically astute. . . . Both subtle and humane. . . . Simply read it for pleasure, and be richly rewarded.” —The Guardian
“An ineffably sad and beautiful piece of work—a tragedy in the form of a comedy of manners.” —Chicago Tribune
“Ishiguro writes a flowing, curiously timeless and placeless English. . . . The quietude is seductive, and matches the kindness of this book.” —Vogue
“Full of music from a past that, through nuance and innuendo, is slenderly poisoned, turning wit and perfectly timed farce into a political ghost story. . . . Ishiguro has become one of the finest prose stylists of our time.” —Michael Ondaatje
“A diamond of a book, perfectly cut, with splendid and uncountable facets, deceptively modest.” —John le Carré
“A remarkable, strange and moving book.” —Sebastian Faulks, The Independent
“There is nobody writing in Britain today who quite resembles [Ishiguro]. In a fictional landscape babbling with psychodrama and magical realism, this restrained and sensitive voice falls like a balm.” —Colin Thubron, The Sunday Times
“The novel rests firmly on the narrative sophistication and flawless control of tone ... of a most impressive novelist.” —Julian Barnes, The Literary Review
KAZUO ISHIGURO was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His eight previous works of fiction have earned him many honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize. His work has been translated into over fifty languages and The Remains of the Day and Never LetMe Go, both made into acclaimed films, have sold millions of copies worldwide. He was given a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature. He also holds the decorations of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from Japan.
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