174 books
—
82 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “The Remains of the Day” as Want to Read:
The Remains of the Day
by
In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside and into his past . . .
A contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House, of lost causes and lost love. ...more
A contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House, of lost causes and lost love. ...more
Get A Copy
Paperback, 258 pages
Published
April 1st 2010
by Faber & Faber
(first published 1989)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
The Remains of the Day,
please sign up.
Popular Answered Questions
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of The Remains of the Day

Every day, for the past week I've encouraged myself to start writing this review. It feelt impossible to find my words to discuss such a literary masterpiece. Who gives me the right to even try?
After staring blankly at the screen for some time, I finally remembered a beautiful passage that can perfectly describe what I felt about this novel. So, I will let the author describe his work. Although the quote depicts the magnificent English countryside It can be applied to the novel as well.
“What i ...more
After staring blankly at the screen for some time, I finally remembered a beautiful passage that can perfectly describe what I felt about this novel. So, I will let the author describe his work. Although the quote depicts the magnificent English countryside It can be applied to the novel as well.
“What i ...more

Kazuo Ishiguro writes the anti-haiku: instead of consciousness awakening to the immediacy of the immutable natural world, subjective memory is peeled back layer by layer to expose consciousness; instead of the joyous eruption of awareness, the tension of the gradual decompression of ignorance; instead of a humility that acknowledges the unknowable on its own terms, rambling that tries to fill the chasm of existential angst that has suddenly opened up like a sinkhole in being. Yet what his writin
...more

This is one of the most beautifully mannered, subtle books I've read in a long, long time. Ishiguro's command of prose is perfect; there was never a point where I felt that this book wasn't written by a consummate English gentleman's gentleman. Remains of the Day is also one of the best examples of first person POV that I've read. Stevens' voice is always clear and distinct, and always used to frame the narrative in such a way that the reader is able to see things and guess things which the prot
...more

“The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it.”I suppose what one really needs at the end of it all, in the twilight of life, is to know that it was worth something, that there was some meaning, some purpose to it. Because if it was all in vain, why even try?
With The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro created a masterpiece, mesmerizing, evocative, subtle, elegant and perfectly crafted, with precise mastery of language, setting ...more

Aug 21, 2007
Kecia
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
readers who appreciate subtly
It's not what happens in this story that's important, it's what doesn't happen. It's not what is said, but what is not said.
I almost feel like Stevens in a real person and not a fictional character. He may well be the most tragic figure I've had the honor to meet/read. He tried so hard to do what he thought to be the right thing and in the end it all turned out to the wrong thing...I cried for at least a half hour after I finished the final page. It was a bittersweet moment when he admitted to h ...more
I almost feel like Stevens in a real person and not a fictional character. He may well be the most tragic figure I've had the honor to meet/read. He tried so hard to do what he thought to be the right thing and in the end it all turned out to the wrong thing...I cried for at least a half hour after I finished the final page. It was a bittersweet moment when he admitted to h ...more

So Ishiguro has won the noble prize for literature 2017. This quote from the yeasterday's guardian article says it all to me:
The British author Kazuo Ishiguro said he was both honoured and “taken completely by surprise” after he was named this year’s winner of the 2017 Nobel prize in literature, even initially wondering if the announcement was a case of “fake news”.
[...]
“Part of me feels like an imposter and part of me feels bad that I’ve got this before other living writers,” said Ishiguro. “Ha ...more
The British author Kazuo Ishiguro said he was both honoured and “taken completely by surprise” after he was named this year’s winner of the 2017 Nobel prize in literature, even initially wondering if the announcement was a case of “fake news”.
[...]
“Part of me feels like an imposter and part of me feels bad that I’ve got this before other living writers,” said Ishiguro. “Ha ...more

Aug 13, 2016
Kevin Ansbro
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Kevin by:
Glenn Sumi
"When work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery."
-Maxim Gorky.
I bought this novel in tandem with Never Let Me Go, a book so tedious that I abandoned it, preferring to watch paint dry.
Nevertheless, I was prepared to give Ishiguro the benefit of the doubt, wipe the slate clean and start afresh.
The story is told from the POV of Mr Stevens, English butler to Mr Farraday, his nouveau riche American master: I invite you to imagine Mr Stevens to be an amalgam of Wodeho ...more
-Maxim Gorky.
I bought this novel in tandem with Never Let Me Go, a book so tedious that I abandoned it, preferring to watch paint dry.
Nevertheless, I was prepared to give Ishiguro the benefit of the doubt, wipe the slate clean and start afresh.
The story is told from the POV of Mr Stevens, English butler to Mr Farraday, his nouveau riche American master: I invite you to imagine Mr Stevens to be an amalgam of Wodeho ...more

190. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
The "Remains of the Day", is a 1989 novel by Nobel Prize-winning British writer, Kazuo Ishiguro.
In the summer of 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealized love between the butler and his housekeeper.
نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و سوم ژوئن سال 1997 ...more
The "Remains of the Day", is a 1989 novel by Nobel Prize-winning British writer, Kazuo Ishiguro.
In the summer of 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealized love between the butler and his housekeeper.
نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و سوم ژوئن سال 1997 ...more

Firmly in My Top 3 Ever. Overwhelmingly Profound.
Regret came shivering through my veins,
And bound my tongue in iron chains;
My soul in prison seem'd to be,
And ever must if torn from thee.
"The Recall to Affection," Susanna Blamire
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.
"Yesterday," Lennon-McCartney, 1965
It is nearly impossible to describe this novel without alluding to what I believe is the most heartbreaking scene in all literature.
Ishiguro's novel whisks the human memory - its capacity, reliability, fallib ...more
Regret came shivering through my veins,
And bound my tongue in iron chains;
My soul in prison seem'd to be,
And ever must if torn from thee.
"The Recall to Affection," Susanna Blamire
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.
"Yesterday," Lennon-McCartney, 1965
It is nearly impossible to describe this novel without alluding to what I believe is the most heartbreaking scene in all literature.
Ishiguro's novel whisks the human memory - its capacity, reliability, fallib ...more

This is one of the most satisfying, atmospheric and profoundly moving rereads for me, Kazuo Ishiguro's 1989 Booker Prize winner, a perceptive, inspired character study of a retiring butler, Stevens, and through him, the insightful penetration of a turbulent period of British history, detailing a bygone era, its class structures, a changing country losing its empire and way of life. Stevens embodies a rigidity and formality that seems all too absurd in our modern times, obsessive about and puttin
...more

Beautiful, beautiful book, wonderful writing, great story. I am now officially a fan of Ishiguro, a book so different from Never let me go, which was also an incredible story to me. This story however is very different but equally high quality, which in my opinion indicates the quality of the writer, able to put down totally different stories, both intriguing in their own way. It is beautiful in language, heartbreaking in storyline, gives a view of life in England in between wars and how politic
...more

4.5/5 Stars
Kazuo Ishiguro just won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year and this book supports that achievement. The Remains of the Day is a wonderful book to close my reading year in 2017.
This book was first published in 1989 and since then, there have been countless professional reviews on it that everything I said here—although they are my honest opinion—would most likely be just something similar to any of those reviews. That’s why I’ll keep this brief; The Remains of the Day is a thorou ...more
Kazuo Ishiguro just won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year and this book supports that achievement. The Remains of the Day is a wonderful book to close my reading year in 2017.
This book was first published in 1989 and since then, there have been countless professional reviews on it that everything I said here—although they are my honest opinion—would most likely be just something similar to any of those reviews. That’s why I’ll keep this brief; The Remains of the Day is a thorou ...more

Mood, atmosphere, character. Encapsulation of the zeitgeist, & social commentary; "The Remains of the Day" delves into the dark side of humanity. So much is held within the pages of this marvelous book, the account of one of the last butlers to work at a large manor in England. What is Dignity? seems to be the major thread that unites all of his different experiences of becoming a largely marginalized person, of becoming someone with a worth different from others. The love story is heart wrenchi
...more

The book „Was vom Tag übrig blieb” written by kazuo Ishiguro is about the duties and the value system of the butlers profession in a past era. This roman is written in a beautiful language which shows the perspectives of butler´s responsibilities in former times. It includes themes like European history, politics and social structures in the 20th century, self-deception, lost love and the human dignity.
Kazuo Ishiguro gives the protagonist Stevens a virtuously formulated narrative voice which rep ...more
Kazuo Ishiguro gives the protagonist Stevens a virtuously formulated narrative voice which rep ...more

As far as I could see this was like a maid and a butler in one of those British mansions that lords live in and they didn't shag each other. End of. This for more than 200 pages. It's like I could organise more interesting snail races. Even if the snails fell asleep it would be more eventful than this book. I would say that this book is supposed to be good and they made a film but this is a very good example of why literature is being replaced by computer games. You will not see a computer game
...more

You know, you get to the end of this book and it makes you wonder if there is such a thing as too perfect. Not only are all the i's dotted and all t's crossed, the dots have embroidered edges, and the crosses are tied in a bow. A follows B follows C, but there's a part of you that wishes that just once you could see Stevens really lose his cool, perhaps drop an f-bomb--it is probable that the fault lies entirely with me. It must, surely. Perfect, too perfect--no such thing. I've simply seen The
...more

YES! YES!YES! The Nobel Prize totally deserved! So jubilant as one of my favourite Authors to whom I've been faithful for nearly 20 years has been honoured with the Prize!
...more

An exquisite novel featuring one of the most fascinating unreliable narrators in all of fiction.
In post-war England, Stevens, an aging, old-school English butler who’s worked for decades at Darlington Hall, plans a car trip to visit the estate’s former housekeeper, Miss Kenton, in the west country. During the journey, he reflects on his long career, and we get a good sense of his life – inextricably linked to his long-time employer, Lord Darlington – and that of his country.
Thanks to Downton Abb ...more
In post-war England, Stevens, an aging, old-school English butler who’s worked for decades at Darlington Hall, plans a car trip to visit the estate’s former housekeeper, Miss Kenton, in the west country. During the journey, he reflects on his long career, and we get a good sense of his life – inextricably linked to his long-time employer, Lord Darlington – and that of his country.
Thanks to Downton Abb ...more

Nov 11, 2011
Jim Fonseca
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
upstairs-downstairs,
british-authors
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
This book is by the 2017 Nobel prize winner and it won the 1989 Booker prize. Many people know it from the 1993 movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.
Stevens is a British butler approaching retirement after a distinguished career at a manor house. For those familiar with the TV series Downton Abbey, he’s a lot like Mr. Carson. Stevens’ world has changed. It’s 1956. The glitzy and glorious times of the manor during the 1920’s and 1930’s are gone ...more
This book is by the 2017 Nobel prize winner and it won the 1989 Booker prize. Many people know it from the 1993 movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.
Stevens is a British butler approaching retirement after a distinguished career at a manor house. For those familiar with the TV series Downton Abbey, he’s a lot like Mr. Carson. Stevens’ world has changed. It’s 1956. The glitzy and glorious times of the manor during the 1920’s and 1930’s are gone ...more

Don't let your principles steal your judgment, your feelings, your life!
This novel - like all of Kazuo Ishiguro's work - has many quiet messages, and it can be read in many different ways. When I first read it, a long time ago, I thought it was a brilliant study of English customs and history before and during the Second World War, and I used to give it to friends and family as a reminder of how fascism can be supported and cultivated in an environment of duty and loyalty. During later reading ...more
This novel - like all of Kazuo Ishiguro's work - has many quiet messages, and it can be read in many different ways. When I first read it, a long time ago, I thought it was a brilliant study of English customs and history before and during the Second World War, and I used to give it to friends and family as a reminder of how fascism can be supported and cultivated in an environment of duty and loyalty. During later reading ...more

Sep 11, 2013
Diane
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Diane by:
Samadrita
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

When I had merely read about 30 or so pages of this book, I must confess I was debating whether or not to continue with it, given the unbearably slow pacing of the plot.
And then when I had finally reached the end, I couldn't help but feel immensely thankful to my own better judgement against giving it up. Since by that time I had been reduced to a pathetic, blubbering mass of emotions and tears, teetering on the verge of a major breakdown and marvelling at the writer's remarkable achievement at ...more
And then when I had finally reached the end, I couldn't help but feel immensely thankful to my own better judgement against giving it up. Since by that time I had been reduced to a pathetic, blubbering mass of emotions and tears, teetering on the verge of a major breakdown and marvelling at the writer's remarkable achievement at ...more

This is a compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world in postwar England – At the end of his three decades of service in Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a vacation, driving in the country, hoping to reconnect with a woman with whom he had once worked, and with whom he felt some stifled form of intimacy.

Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins in the film - from The Guardian
Over these few days, he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has serv ...more

Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins in the film - from The Guardian
Over these few days, he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has serv ...more

Beautiful, heartbreaking book of understatement and about the price for following convention and one's sense of duty over the desires (expressed or not) of one's heart. I have not seen the movie yet, but I have heard it captured the subdued tone and deeper philosophical questions posed by Isihiguro's choices in narration and subjects.
...more

Mr James Stevens, an English butler setting out towards the west country, is the most wonderful man, one could possibly have an encounter with. His loyalty to the perished, service to the prominent and sense of dignity that elevates others' as well, command of utmost awe and regards.
Mr Stevens, during a well earned motoring trip, here reflects upon several scattered events that forming a pattern, trace back to the past of his honorable service in House Darlington which stood formidably in the fa ...more
Mr Stevens, during a well earned motoring trip, here reflects upon several scattered events that forming a pattern, trace back to the past of his honorable service in House Darlington which stood formidably in the fa ...more

Feb 15, 2017
Joe Valdez
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction-general
Love is in the air--or maybe anxiously repressed--in February and my romantic literature jag continues with The Remains of the Day, the 1989 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction the same year. This is a magnificent novel, artfully focused in its portraiture of William Stevens, butler of the fictitious Darlington Hall near Oxford. On one level, Stevens' first person account of his service is rendered in beautifully crafted language, full of one Englishman's stoic
...more

Sep 29, 2011
Nandakishore Varma
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
general-fiction
This is not a review of the book as such - but a blog post I wrote in March 2015, when I suddenly felt the onset of age. I feel it can be an appropriate tribute to this wonderful novel.
This year in August, I will turn fifty-two.
For the past few years, thoughts of my eventual demise have been persistent at the back of my brain. It is not actually fear of death – it is more like the certainty of an unpleasant fact of life which cannot be avoided; something you would like to put off as much as ...more
This year in August, I will turn fifty-two.
For the past few years, thoughts of my eventual demise have been persistent at the back of my brain. It is not actually fear of death – it is more like the certainty of an unpleasant fact of life which cannot be avoided; something you would like to put off as much as ...more

Hmm. Literary classic, very well regarded author, well rated by lots of people - I should really like this one. Sadly I only found it okay.
What I didn't like:
* too much inner dialogue. I was well aware that the main character was an unreliable narrator and that we have to read between his lines to get to the truth but there were still too many lines!
* I was never emotionally involved. I have read reviews where people are devastated by the ending. I just said "oh well" and put the book down.
What ...more
What I didn't like:
* too much inner dialogue. I was well aware that the main character was an unreliable narrator and that we have to read between his lines to get to the truth but there were still too many lines!
* I was never emotionally involved. I have read reviews where people are devastated by the ending. I just said "oh well" and put the book down.
What ...more

Jun 13, 2012
Louize
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Louize by:
The Filipino Group
Shelves:
tfg-f2f
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY – AN OPEN LETTER
Dearest James,
I know that introduction is a must, polite even, but on this one I do suggest that we skip that. It is you who matters, and no one else.
Foremost, how was the end of your motoring trip? Was it pleasant on your return? I do hope that none of the inconveniences you encountered on leaving crossed your path on the way home. It was a good thing Mr. Farraday suggested this motoring trip. You’ve been cooked up in that hall for a very long time. Differ ...more
Dearest James,
I know that introduction is a must, polite even, but on this one I do suggest that we skip that. It is you who matters, and no one else.
Foremost, how was the end of your motoring trip? Was it pleasant on your return? I do hope that none of the inconveniences you encountered on leaving crossed your path on the way home. It was a good thing Mr. Farraday suggested this motoring trip. You’ve been cooked up in that hall for a very long time. Differ ...more

Sep 27, 2017
Matthew Quann
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
early 1900s, really good writing,
Shelves:
favourites,
booker-prize
Dear Reader,
It is my hope that this missive finds you in good stead and lodgings befitting a person who has displayed nothing but the utmost professionalism throughout their career. I have, after a considerable period of deliberation, undertaken the not-insignificant task of recommending a novel to your noble personage. If you will permit me a brief tangent on the topic of the novel itself, I believe you will find yourself in the position to do nothing short of reading the pages in question.
It h ...more
It is my hope that this missive finds you in good stead and lodgings befitting a person who has displayed nothing but the utmost professionalism throughout their career. I have, after a considerable period of deliberation, undertaken the not-insignificant task of recommending a novel to your noble personage. If you will permit me a brief tangent on the topic of the novel itself, I believe you will find yourself in the position to do nothing short of reading the pages in question.
It h ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
EVERYONE Has Read...: The Remains of the Day - Buddy Read | 5 | 10 | 4 hours, 43 min ago | |
Reading 1001: Remains of the Day | 6 | 57 | Dec 05, 2020 04:51PM | |
James Mustich's 1...: The Remains of the Day (related media) - November 2020 | 1 | 7 | Nov 28, 2020 11:47PM | |
James Mustich's 1...: The Remains of the Day (part three: third, fourth and sixth days) - November 2020 | 8 | 11 | Nov 23, 2020 09:08AM | |
James Mustich's 1...: The Remains of the Day (general discussion) - November 2020 | 5 | 12 | Nov 20, 2020 07:22AM | |
James Mustich's 1...: The Remains of the Day (part one: first day) - November 2020 | 7 | 10 | Nov 20, 2020 04:02AM |
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro (カズオ・イシグロ or 石黒 一雄), OBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist of Japanese origin and Nobel Laureate in Literature (2017). His family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from the University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing course in 1980. He became a British citizen in 1982. He now lives in London.
Hi ...more
Hi ...more
Articles featuring this book
Some interesting news for book nerds: According to recent industry research, book sales spiked dramatically in 2020–otherwise a rather...
34 likes · 16 comments
26 trivia questions
More quizzes & trivia...
“Indeed — why should I not admit it? — in that moment, my heart was breaking.”
—
401 likes
“What is the point of worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one's life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.”
—
374 likes
More quotes…