Review: The Remains of the Day

Not very often do I follow booktubers and booktoks on Instagram because the most of a recommendation I have ever gotten from there is Colleen Hoover. But lazily scrolling through my Youtube recommendations lead me to this one channel with barely 3k subscribers but videos of excellent quality and content. As I binged through all of this channel's videos, I concluded that this guy surely does have a fine taste in books and could actually be taken seriously.  As ashamed as I am, I do admit to living in a bubble for not having read it earlier.

I remembered having seen this book in some corner of my bookshelf and hence soon began reading it one warm afternoon. Here, I would like to mention that the book was an old copy of 1996 with an old printed bill of books purchased worth $40. Silly things like these excite me. 

Although I am a very slow and distracted reader, I could see myself waiting for the peaceful night hours which I had assigned myself for reading (considering I was busy all day). As soon as I finished reading it, I was left with this eerie realization of how transient and senseless one's life is. How, no matter what, everyone comes to acceptance by the end of it. I wanted to announce to the world (even though I am terribly late at it) my take on this mastery of human emotion, elegance, relationships and language which starts off as a rose coloured reminiscence gradually turning into a thoughtful remorse.

“I have given what I had to give. I gave it all to Lord Darlington.” Mr. Stevens says, as slowly he comes to acceptance with his age and regrets of life.

The Remains of the Day has been one of the simplest yet most beautiful books I’ve read so far. The book takes us through not only the countryside and landscapes of Great Britain but through the life of Mr. Stevens, the great Butler of Darlington house. As you read the book, you can almost imagine him writing every intricate thought sitting in a dark stuffy room. Even though he writes it for himself you can see him living in denial, which seems almost on purpose now that he has walked past the best days of his life and hence trying to conclude that he has given a dignified service to his Lord Darlington. 

In one of his speeches, Kazuo Ishiguro tells us how the voice of Tom Waits in the song “Ruby’s Arms” was the inspiration for its ending. The final few pages leave the same impact as we see the protagonist make some sense of his life and positively look forward to the days to come. In the bid to become the perfect servant he forbids himself to love or accept love by the one woman he cares for, deceiving himself in the process. At one point, Mr. Stevens subtly denies having worked for Mr. Darlington only to instantly regret it so as to not feel like his life was wasted for a Nazi sympathizer. He failed to take political responsibility which led to negligence of moral responsibility. 

Although we see the narrator drift through his memories all the while living in the present, not once does the reader feel disconnected. In fact, it leaves the reader sailing smoothly in the seas of the narrator’s experiences. 

“Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of the day”, he says after a brief interaction with a passerby. This is the moment when he finally admits to himself how one must leave the past alone instead of forcefully finding a meaning in it. 

“The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services.” Ishiguro puts it gracefully, leaving both Mr. Stevens and the readers at peace. The book brings out nuanced deep feelings through the imperfection and unshakeable loyalty of Mr. Stevens. Moreover, The Remains of the Day tells us more in what is unsaid rather than the evidently uttered incidents.