The Remains of the Day

From Amazon
The novel's narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession. In a career that spans the second World War, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him -- oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer. Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, pitch-perfect novel -- namely, Stevens' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence.
From Publishers Weekly
Greeted with high praise in England, where it seems certain to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Ishiguro's third novel (after An Artist of the Floating World ) is a tour de force-- both a compelling psychological study and a portrait of a vanished social order. Stevens, an elderly butler who has spent 30 years in the service of Lord Darlington, ruminates on the past and inadvertently slackens his rigid grip on his emotions to confront the central issues of his life. Glacially reserved, snobbish and humorless, Stevens has devoted his life to his concept of duty and responsibility, hoping to reach the pinnacle of his profession through totally selfless dedication and a ruthless suppression of sentiment. Having made a virtue of stoic dignity, he is proud of his impassive response to his father's death and his "correct" behavior with the spunky former housekeeper, Miss Kenton. Ishiguro builds Stevens's character with precisely controlled details, creating irony as the butler unwittingly reveals his pathetic self-deception. In the poignant denouement, Stevens belatedly realizes that he has wasted his life in blind service to a foolish man and that he has never discovered "the key to human warmth." While it is not likely to provoke the same shocks of recognition as it did in Britain, this insightful, often humorous and moving novel should significantly enhance Ishiguro's reputation here.
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Review
“This is a work that goes to the heart of a lost life. Beautifully composed, totally unsentimental, immeasurably tender.”
—Harold Pinter, The Observer

“Apart from being suspenseful, intriguing, elegiac and politically astute, this is also the funniest novel I've read in ages. . . . Both subtle and humane. . . . Simply read it for pleasure, and be richly rewarded.”
—Jonathan Coe, The Guardian

“A perfect novel. I couldn't put it down.”
—Ann Beattie

“Marvellous. . . . Superb.”
—The Globe and Mail

“The novel rests firmly on the narrative sophistication and flawless control of tone . . . of a most impressive novelist.”
—Julian Barnes, The Literary Review

“Brilliant. . . . A story both beautiful and cruel.”
—Salman Rushdie, The Observer

“One of the best books of the decade.”
—The Boston Globe
Product Description
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.

From the Inside Flap
A tragic, spiritual portrait of a perfect English butler and his reaction to his fading insular world in post-war England. A wonderful, wonderful book.
About the Author
KAZUO ISHIGURO is the bestselling author of six novels, including An Artist of the Floating World, winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; When We Were Orphans, shortlisted for the Booker Prize; and Never Let Me Go, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Man Booker Prize, among others. The Remains of the Day, winner of the Booker Prize, became an international bestseller, selling over a million copies in the English language alone. Ishiguro lives in London, England.

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