Scan barcode
A review by nickoliver
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Unfortunately, I didn't particularly care for the majority of this book. I went into it with already low expectations because bookish people I trust found it boring, but I'd still hoped that it would pleasantly surprise me. But it didn't.
The story was very much a character-driven one with barely any plot. It was about a butler named Mr Stevens, who spent decades working for a "great gentleman" named Lord Darlington. Now working for a new employer, he decided to embark on a little drive across the country to go see a former housekeeper and ask her to come back. During that trip, he reminisced a lot about working for Lord Darlington and what had led people to think of the presumed gentleman as a bad man.
Most of the book was precisely that - Mr Stevens remembering what had happened and coming to terms with the fact that the man he'd thought he was honoured to serve hadn't worked to better humanity - quite the opposite, actually. The setting was the 1920s and 1930s during the memories, so we were talking about antisemitism and Nazis here.
While a format like that isn't inherently something I dislike, what made it hard for me to get invested was Mr Stevens himself. He was a very difficult protagonist to be in the head of. Most of the time, he was very cold and had an almost robotic way of talking - he lived and breathed his job and could come across as quite heartless because of it, because he never actually seemed to care about other people's feelings, especially other employees like the maids and housekeeper. He loved the idea of serving great men and being in the room when great important things were happening. A lot of the time, that was reflected quite well in the writing - Mr Stevens would use words from a military vocabulary, likening himself to a general.
It was insinuated between the lines that he could've had a romance with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton, but he refused to actually show his feelings. When she first started to work for him, they bumped heads a lot, because he was bullheaded and refused to admit when he was wrong. At times, he came across as quite misogynistic in the way he treated the women, even mansplaining Miss Kenton's own work to her. Since he wasn't really called out a lot, I spent much of my time reading being angry at him and wanting to shake some sense into him. It made for a quite uncomfortable reading experience, since I could think of many a better things than be stuck in his head all the time.
What annoyed me about the road trip - and the trip down memory lane - was how often Mr Stevens would get off-topic. He'd start out talking about one thing but then spend page after page talking about something else, and by the time he came back around, I'd almost forgotten what it was that he'd d talked about originally. There were so many tangents about what made a butler great, and it was difficult to understand sometimes.
It was also a bit hard to care for the part of the plot that took place in Mr Stevens's present times. Technically, a lot of it was plot-relevant, but the way the protagonist acted and thought clouded my judgment of the importance of it. It was like I was so busy being frustrated at his actions and manners that I didn't pick up on the relevance until I was finished with the book and let it settle in my mind for a while. And I don't think that was Ishiguro's intention.
Now, what did I like about the plot? I really liked following Mr Stevens's journey to accept the truth about Lord Darlington. For most of the book, he was in denial about it because he didn't want to have to realise that he'd spent decades working for a bad man, and he would defend him to anyone who attempted to slander Lord Darlington. It was interesting to see Mr Stevens's wall coming down and experience his eventual breakdown over it. That was very well done.
Ishiguro was also quite talented at saying things without stating them outright. For example, neither Miss Kenton nor Mr Stevens ever talk about being in love with one another, but Miss Kenton's frustration at the lack of emotions coming from the butler still made it obvious that there was more that wasn't said out loud. A lot was between the lines and subtle, and I loved that.
Lastly, Ishiguro's writing was a bit of a challenge for me. The paragraphs were quite long, sometimes an entire page without a break, which made it exhausting to read the story. I had to concentrate hard because if I didn't, I'd lose the thread immediately and would've read on without a clue as to what was going on. Mr Stevens also had a stilted, rather old-fashioned way of talking and thinking. Plus, there were a lot of repetitions, especially in dialogue, which added to Mr Stevens's speech sounding robotic, as if he was constantly reading from a script and determined to not stray from it. If it were a modern story instead of one set between the 1920 and 1950s, I would've thought Mr Stevens was trying to sound like he thought a butler was supposed to sound like.
Overall, I mostly just found this book exhausting to read and was happy and relieved when I was finished. It didn't take me all too long, but Mr Stevens as the protagonist in addition to the challenging writing still made me tired. I did really enjoy some of the things that Ishiguro didn't say out loud in the story, and the setting was quite interesting.
The story was very much a character-driven one with barely any plot. It was about a butler named Mr Stevens, who spent decades working for a "great gentleman" named Lord Darlington. Now working for a new employer, he decided to embark on a little drive across the country to go see a former housekeeper and ask her to come back. During that trip, he reminisced a lot about working for Lord Darlington and what had led people to think of the presumed gentleman as a bad man.
Most of the book was precisely that - Mr Stevens remembering what had happened and coming to terms with the fact that the man he'd thought he was honoured to serve hadn't worked to better humanity - quite the opposite, actually. The setting was the 1920s and 1930s during the memories, so we were talking about antisemitism and Nazis here.
While a format like that isn't inherently something I dislike, what made it hard for me to get invested was Mr Stevens himself. He was a very difficult protagonist to be in the head of. Most of the time, he was very cold and had an almost robotic way of talking - he lived and breathed his job and could come across as quite heartless because of it, because he never actually seemed to care about other people's feelings, especially other employees like the maids and housekeeper. He loved the idea of serving great men and being in the room when great important things were happening. A lot of the time, that was reflected quite well in the writing - Mr Stevens would use words from a military vocabulary, likening himself to a general.
It was insinuated between the lines that he could've had a romance with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton, but he refused to actually show his feelings. When she first started to work for him, they bumped heads a lot, because he was bullheaded and refused to admit when he was wrong. At times, he came across as quite misogynistic in the way he treated the women, even mansplaining Miss Kenton's own work to her. Since he wasn't really called out a lot, I spent much of my time reading being angry at him and wanting to shake some sense into him. It made for a quite uncomfortable reading experience, since I could think of many a better things than be stuck in his head all the time.
What annoyed me about the road trip - and the trip down memory lane - was how often Mr Stevens would get off-topic. He'd start out talking about one thing but then spend page after page talking about something else, and by the time he came back around, I'd almost forgotten what it was that he'd d talked about originally. There were so many tangents about what made a butler great, and it was difficult to understand sometimes.
It was also a bit hard to care for the part of the plot that took place in Mr Stevens's present times. Technically, a lot of it was plot-relevant, but the way the protagonist acted and thought clouded my judgment of the importance of it. It was like I was so busy being frustrated at his actions and manners that I didn't pick up on the relevance until I was finished with the book and let it settle in my mind for a while. And I don't think that was Ishiguro's intention.
Now, what did I like about the plot? I really liked following Mr Stevens's journey to accept the truth about Lord Darlington. For most of the book, he was in denial about it because he didn't want to have to realise that he'd spent decades working for a bad man, and he would defend him to anyone who attempted to slander Lord Darlington. It was interesting to see Mr Stevens's wall coming down and experience his eventual breakdown over it. That was very well done.
Ishiguro was also quite talented at saying things without stating them outright. For example, neither Miss Kenton nor Mr Stevens ever talk about being in love with one another, but Miss Kenton's frustration at the lack of emotions coming from the butler still made it obvious that there was more that wasn't said out loud. A lot was between the lines and subtle, and I loved that.
Lastly, Ishiguro's writing was a bit of a challenge for me. The paragraphs were quite long, sometimes an entire page without a break, which made it exhausting to read the story. I had to concentrate hard because if I didn't, I'd lose the thread immediately and would've read on without a clue as to what was going on. Mr Stevens also had a stilted, rather old-fashioned way of talking and thinking. Plus, there were a lot of repetitions, especially in dialogue, which added to Mr Stevens's speech sounding robotic, as if he was constantly reading from a script and determined to not stray from it. If it were a modern story instead of one set between the 1920 and 1950s, I would've thought Mr Stevens was trying to sound like he thought a butler was supposed to sound like.
Overall, I mostly just found this book exhausting to read and was happy and relieved when I was finished. It didn't take me all too long, but Mr Stevens as the protagonist in addition to the challenging writing still made me tired. I did really enjoy some of the things that Ishiguro didn't say out loud in the story, and the setting was quite interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Misogyny