Reviews with content warning for Classism - The Remains of the Day

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

12 reviews

rnbhargava's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is rightfully considered a modern classic. However, it’s intentionally slow paced, almost monotonous. That said, I mostly quite admire it. The protagonist, Stevens the Butler, is reconciling his past and whether he fully engaged with life, friendships and potential loves, and whether his employer is a good person given who he associated with during war time and whether those he sympathized with were worthy of admiration. The idea of what’s appropriate while working as a Butler. Miss Kenton is quite the character that highlights that grey line between close friendship and romantic love for Stevens. Stephens’ fixation and recollections of her form the core of the plot. There are some comedic bits as well. A lot of this book is about what was said or left unsaid. Though I’m giving this a 3.5, honestly I will probably think about this book for a long time.

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menagerie_of's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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idajoh's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Ishiguro is a master at giving a voice to his characters. This book is so different from the naivety of both Klara and the Sun and Never Let Me Go, mainly because we're dealing with an entirely different character.

The repetetiveness and snobish voice of Stevens are his biggest flaws. The fact that this book is introspective, again, only alludes to his flaw. Stevens is so concerned with the past that he seems unable to enjoy the remains of his life, which are essentially withering away.

I would say there are two main messages of this book. The first being to enjoy your life and to stop living in the past, a message I wholeheartedly agree with. Stevens seems to be a static characrer for the entirety of the book, even though we follow him for 30 yeaes.

The second message this book conveys is about change. At first glance, this book seemed to convey that the only things you can change are those changes that are "available" to you, as Stevens seems to think. In his case, this being how polished the silverware is. However, we as readers realize the irony of this, because I sincerely think Stevens would have a bigger impact on his own life if he did not just go along with everything that happened, and genuinly expressed his opinions. Therefore, the message seems to be that we may have the power to change more things than what seems to be within our reach. Although this book deals with the second world war and foreign policy at the time, which I don't think was within Stevens reach. His relationship with Miss Kinnon, however, was.

All in all, this was a very good read although maybe not entirely enjoyable, because of the repetitive nature of the book and the long monologues about Stevens ideas of being a "great" butler. Things that definitely contributed to his characterization, but did not interest me.

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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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anh_read's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

In general, I enjoyed this book very much since it is beautifully written. However, I was sometimes averse towards the butler, because of his stiff and narrow views. Furthermore, when he was reflecting on his proudest moments in his career, I was sometimes appalled as it was less of a victory and more of failure on his part. This book definitely made me realize that your should never prioritize your job above all else.

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