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A review by harpersee
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Reading a book from the perspective of a man who has been so assiduously trained to deny his own emotions and experiences to the service of others does say something true about the human experience. Throughout the novel it is clear Stevens is justifying in some way his own commitment to his work as a butler. Though stubbornly blind to this reality, it is also clear that he is grappling with the chance he missed at love with a former colleague. Only meeting her for the first time after many years does he have his singular moment of emotional clarity in the entirety of the plot: “All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can’t even say I made my own mistakes. Really - one has to ask oneself - what dignity is there in that?”
Ultimately the novel returns to a place of safety for Stevens - a matter of developing his skill of bantering to please a current employer. Ultimately he seeks the familiar, the place in which he can eke out some semblance of pride, even with all his career has taken from him.
The point here is not to be harsh to Stevens, who has done his best in the world in which he was reared. But there is a deep sadness to it nonetheless, and one which is deeply human. The world as it exists makes so many of us feel like cogs spinning in a process in which he have no say ; we feel simply bandied forward by the processes of time and powerful men and try them to make meaning of the lot we are given. That meaning making is not nothing. It is actually dignified.
But how much more could someone like Steven’s have experienced and enjoyed had he lived in a more humane system? It’s a question I hope future generations never have to ask of themselves.
Ultimately the novel returns to a place of safety for Stevens - a matter of developing his skill of bantering to please a current employer. Ultimately he seeks the familiar, the place in which he can eke out some semblance of pride, even with all his career has taken from him.
The point here is not to be harsh to Stevens, who has done his best in the world in which he was reared. But there is a deep sadness to it nonetheless, and one which is deeply human. The world as it exists makes so many of us feel like cogs spinning in a process in which he have no say ; we feel simply bandied forward by the processes of time and powerful men and try them to make meaning of the lot we are given. That meaning making is not nothing. It is actually dignified.
But how much more could someone like Steven’s have experienced and enjoyed had he lived in a more humane system? It’s a question I hope future generations never have to ask of themselves.