Kazuo Ishiguro – The Remains of the Day

I’m currently studying English language and civilizations, so I’ve been trying to read in English as much as possible these past months. Here is one of the books that were recommended to me. I need to add that I hadn’t watched the movie when I read it, and still haven’t, therefore I cannot compare them–but we’re on a books-related blog, after all, and I hope nobody will mind me.

The story is that of Stevens, who was for more than thirty years Lord Darlington’s butler. When the old manor was bought by a rich American man, he remained there and resumed his service with the new master. One day, Stevens is allowed to take a few holidays, and decides to go on a trip through the English countryside. This journey will be an opportunity for him to remember several episodes of his life at Darlington Hall, some not as insignificant as they could seem at first, when his former master was engaged in diplomacy tasks with other great personalities of his era, between the two World Wars.

This is a dive in the past that I’ve found particularly fascinating, a peek behind the scenes of a social order long gone, in the customs of the old nobility as well as in those of its servants, and in the relationships, ambitions and professionalism meant to exist in such an environment. Stevens devoted his life to Lord Darlington, in spite of the latter’s many mistakes, and to the concepts of responsibility and ‘dignity’, which in his eyes represented the peak of what a butler should be and accomplish. But wasn’t all of this in vain–and doesn’t he regret more than he thought the departure of Miss Kenton, the former housekeeper, and the end of their sometimes stormy, sometimes conniving relationship?

No need to say that this story will not please a reader on the look-out for lots of ‘action’. On the other hand, if you revel in the idea of a novel diving deep into a detailed psychology of its characters, I think you too will appreciate The Remains of the Day.