The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro can write. He paints pictures with his words, and he can develop characters in a way that wordier authors cannot (wordier?).

After reading Never Let Me Go, I was intrigued. Now that I've read The Remains of the Day, I'm hooked. I'm a fan. It probably helps that Remains is set in England, my favorite study, flip-flopping between the 1930s and about 30-40 years following. The Interwar Years are fascinating, given the political and social upheaval in Europe, and yet Ishiguro focuses on a butler, Stevens, who can have nothing to do with these events. His job is to care for the manor and its owner, Lord Darlington. Stevens strives to be the perfect English butler, doing all that he can to serve a man he respects and staunchly defends against any rumors of misdeeds or... worse.

One of the most interesting running themes in Remains is the focus on dignity. Stevens is deeply concerned with maintaining the highest level of dignity as required by his profession even if that means ignoring important life events and denying himself personal relationships with those around him. As he recounts his time as a butler, his painful realization that his existance was a wasted one is revealed and he comes to see that all that he has told himself over the years of his service have been veiled lies.

Like many reviewers have written, this is a book about repression. Repressed emotions, memories, and ideas, as well as the repression of change -- or even repression of the idea of change. Britons yearned for normalcy after the horrors of WWI, and Stevens is representative of the many clinging to the ideals of the past. Understanding British history is somewhat important, especially given the fact that Europeans in general were willing to do almost anything to avoid another World War, including the appeasement of a dictator whose power grew steadily as European leaders allowed him to do whatever he wished.

This book was wonderful, and now I can see the movie -- which I just discovered existed. Add another to the Netflix queue!

Of course, while I'm waiting for that to arrive, I'll be reading When We Were Orphans. I just can't get enough of this author.