The Remains of the Day

By: Kazuo Ishiguro

Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, here is “an intricate and dazzling novel” (The New York Times) about the perfect butler and his fading, insular world in post-World War II England.

This is Kazuo Ishiguro's profoundly compelling portrait of a butler named Stevens. Stevens, at the end of three decades of service at Darlington Hall, spending a day on a country drive, embarks as well on a journey through the past in an effort to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving the "great gentleman," Lord Darlington. But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington's "greatness," and much graver doubts about the nature of his own life.

©2010 Kazuo Ishiguro (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE • WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE • A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME

“An intricate and dazzling novel.” —The New York Times

“Brilliant and quietly devastating.” —Newsweek

"A perfect novel. I couldn’t put it down." (Ann Beattie)

“A virtuoso performance ... put on with dazzling daring and aplomb.” —The New York Review of Books

A masterpiece in Downton Abbey style

this book has many similarities to the tv show downton abbey - similar location, era, and lifestyle. But it adds an incredibly complex main character, amazingly portrayed, and a riveting story.

Perfection

“The Remains of the Day” is a rich, layered, deeply satisfying novel read impeccably by Nicholas Guy Smith. Bravo.

It takes patience to be truly rewarded.

I would say that even halfway through the book, I did not really know where it was going or why it had won awards. It wasn’t until the latter third that I realized that something special was indeed developing. And, in the end, I very much appreciate this piece of fine literature, which is what it is; it is not a novel in the common sense.

How many times do you think the word "indeed" is used in this book? Indeed, methinks it is quite a lot indeed. I'll be subconsciously using this guy's diction for at least two weeks now and you will be too!

If you are patient, you will be rewarded.

Brilliant

Why did I wait so long to read it? It is particularly interesting to see the different “takes” on the underlying message(s).

Multi-layered, subtle, Thought provoking

Ishiguro has rendered with compassion and subtlety the good hearted but self deluded quintessential English butler,, Stevens.., . and with him the dying embers of the times in which he served. Stevens will make his own 'hero's journey into his past and deeper self, even as the realities of years of political and cultural change have roiled around him, unnoticed and less important than his own duty to service and what he understands to be a 'great' English butler. A slow burn of a book...multilayered and resonant in our own cultural and political moment. HIGHLY recommend.

Slow but contemplative

This is a “think book”. One would only read it to encourage philosophical thought and conversation in a class or book club. Having other readers insight gives this book a depth that perhaps would otherwise be missed. A classic? In that it teaches us of a time now gone, yes I would call it a classic as to speaking to the ages only time can tell.

Fascinating

I enjoyed every moment of listening to this rather sad story of a butler who has proudly devoted his life to service. Through his own reflections late in life and a meeting with a lost love the listener experiences all his repressed emotions although they are never directly expressed. Nicholas Guy Smith is doing a fantastic job.

Brilliant narrative of a lost soul

Our lives are at the mercy of the world's events... the theme of this amazing story? The account of Mr. Stevens, once a formidable butler to a great house, who faces redundancy as a result of the radical social changes arising from the Great WAr and facing a coming more brutal war. Once Stevens devoted his life to the 'family' of the great house, sacrificed everything, even a relationship with his own father, who once was a formidable butler himself. No personal relationships were part of the picture, and here Steven examines a once possible relationship with a former housekeeper... to no avail. Exquisitely written, this is heartbreaking... change happens and we are simply clinging to hope with it.

A remarkable character study

Thematic *SPOILER* warning.

A slow and moving portrait of a man who parses everything in his life through a slippery notion of professional pride, and the dawning personal and societal reasons why he turned out that way.

Framed around a long-deferred break he’s finally heart-pulled to take wherein he has the breathing room to realize the quiet tragedy of his own life.

Perhaps the most perfect novel I’ve read in my adult life.

It’s kind of a nothing story in the best way

Sometimes a story with no stakes is what you need. This is a great slice of life that’s slow paced and meandering. It makes me feel like I’m sitting with my grandpa listening to him share about his life.