The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

(Book Review)

Since I began my commitment to read more fiction, I’ve made a point of asking people for their top 5 book recommendations. (I’m still taking recommendations if anyone has any good suggestions).

“The Remains of the Day” was at the top of the list from not just one, but two good friends. And since they were both people whose opinions and tastes I respected, I decided to give this book a try.

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, although it took me a while to get into it. Because the book starts out a little slow, I had a couple false starts before I finally settled down and read the whole thing. At 20 pages in this book may seem a little dry, but if you can make it to page 75, you’ll be hooked.

Before I started this book I noticed that my friends, although they recommended it highly, were not able to tell me what it was about. The only thing I could get one of my friends to say was, “I read it when I was 25, and recognized in it all the mistakes I had made it in my own life. I re-read it at 30, and saw even more mistakes.”

And when I looked at professional reviews, I noticed the same pattern. Now that I’ve finished the book, I find myself in the same position. Because of the structure of the book, and the many themes it juggles, it doesn’t lend itself well to summary.

The book is about an English butler who takes a road trip. While encountering the various sites on the road, he spends most of the time reminiscing about his life of service to his master, Lord Darlington.

Although it is not for me to say whether or not this book will be a classic in 100 years time, it did remind me a lot of the classic books that we discussed in my high school and college literature classes. It is a very short book, and yet it manages to touch on many different themes, and is able to interweave all of these themes seamlessly into on story. If one were to use this book in a literature class, there would be no shortage of topics to discuss. The book deals with class culture in England, inter-war politics and the tendency of the British upper class to sympathize with Nazi Germany, the nature of dignity, the importance of one’s life work, the nature of relationships, and how one evaluates one's life at the end of it.

The book also manages to touch many different emotions flawlessly. There are a lot of really funny parts in this book. My personal favorite was when the Butler was given the job of explaining the birds and the bees to his employer’s 23 year old godson. But there are also a lot of sad parts in this book, and the ending is absolutely devastating. Salman Rushdie is supposed to have said of this book “A story both beautiful and cruel”, and I’m inclined to agree with him.

Definitely worth reading.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
Originally titled "Maharishi", The Beatles changed the title to "Sexy Sadie" to avoid possible litigation as the song's lyrics portray the Maharishi in a less than favorable light. John Lennon became discouraged after the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi had allegedly made a pass at one of the female members of their entourage. John Lennon once said about this song: "That was inspired by Maharishi. I just called him, 'Sexy Sadie,' instead of (sings) 'Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool...' I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt.

Link of the Day
Sanitizing the Death of Ford, What the Media isn't telling us

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro: Book Review (Scripted)