Reading guide: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving ‘a great gentleman’. But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s ‘greatness’ – and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he has served.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s moving portrait of the perfect English butler, his loyalty and his fading, insular world in post-war England, won the Booker Prize in 1989.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s works of fiction have earned him many honours around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature.

He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to the UK at the age of five. His work has been translated into over 50 languages. The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go have each sold more than two million copies and were both made into acclaimed films. Ishiguro was awarded a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature. He also holds the decorations of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from Japan.

Lawrence Graver, The New York Times

‘Kazuo Ishiguro’s tonal control of Stevens’ repressive yet continually reverberating first-person voice is dazzling. So is his ability to present the butler from every point on the compass: with affectionate humor, tart irony, criticism, compassion and full understanding. It is remarkable, too, that as we read along in this strikingly original novel, we continue to think not only about the old butler, but about his country, its politics and its culture.’

Peter Beech, The Guardian

‘The Remains of the Day is a book about a thwarted life. It’s about how class conditioning can turn you into your own worst enemy, making you complicit in your own subservience. It’s probably quite an English book – I can’t imagine readers in more gregarious nations will have much patience with a protagonist who takes four decades to fail to declare his feelings. “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way,” as Pink Floyd sang. It’s a book for anyone who feels they’ve ever held themselves back when something that truly mattered was within their grasp.’

Kirkus Reviews

‘This novel has won high praise in England, and one can certainly respect the convincing voice and the carefully bleached prose; yet there is something doomed about Ishiguro’s effort to enlist sympathy for such a self-censoring stuffed shirt, and in the end, he can manage only a small measure of pathos for his disappointed servant.’

Salman Rushdie, The Guardian

‘The real story here is that of a man destroyed by the ideas upon which he has built his life. Stevens is much preoccupied by “greatness”, which, for him, means something very like restraint. The greatness of the British landscape lies, he believes, in its lack of the “unseemly demonstrativeness” of African and American scenery. It was his father, also a butler, who epitomised this idea of greatness; yet it was just this notion which stood between father and son, breeding deep resentments and an inarticulacy of the emotions that destroyed their love.’

Publishers Weekly

‘Greeted with high praise in England, where it seems certain to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Ishiguro’s third novel is a tour de force – both a compelling psychological study and a portrait of a vanished social order […] This insightful, often humorous and moving novel should significantly enhance Ishiguro’s reputation here.’

The Remains of the Day is narrated in the first person by Stevens, who often addresses the reader directly. ‘You will perhaps understand,’ he often muses. What effect does this use of narrative voice have on the reading experience, and does it allow for a deeper connection with Stevens’ experiences?  

The novel’s structure also incorporates a series of flashbacks, which allow Stevens to reflect on events from his past. How do these moments contribute to Stevens’ character development, and our overall understanding of the story?

Stevens is commonly understood to be an unreliable narrator. Discuss how Ishiguro has employed unreliable narration throughout The Remains of the Day, noting some key scenes where you may have questioned the veracity of Stevens’ account.

While the novel is a deeply personal account of Stevens’ life, the background is coloured by significant historical and political events around the Second World War. What role does the arc of history play in the novel, and how does it intertwine with the life of the individual?

Loyalty is a key theme within the novel. Stevens often fondly reminisces about Lord Darlington, whom he describes as ‘a gentleman’. Darlington later dies in disgrace after being labelled a Nazi sympathiser. To what extent do you see a detachment between Stevens’ view of Lord Darlington and your own as a reader, allowing for perspective of the broader political history of the time?

The Remains of the Day observes social hierarchies and the times at which these may be exploited. Writing in the Guardian, Peter Beech said ‘It’s about how class conditioning can turn you into your own worst enemy, making you complicit in your own subservience.’ At which points in the novel could you consider Stevens to have been complicit?

Stevens spends much of his time preoccupied with upholding dignity. To what extent does this relentless pursuit constrain him, and how does it extend beyond the boundaries of his professional life?

When Miss Kenton reveals ‘there’s no turning back the clock now. One can’t be forever dwelling on what might have been.’ Stevens takes ‘a moment or two’ to fully digest her words, and finally admits ‘at that moment, my heart was breaking’. It is one of the few fleeting moments in the novel in which we observe a display or admission of emotion by Stevens. Discuss how this emotional restraint has shaped Stevens’ life. 

Throughout the novel, Ishiguro depicts a distinctly parochial England, through its distinctive landscapes and perspectives. To what extent is he utilising stereotypes and are there any points at which he could be manipulating the reader by reflecting cliches, rather than an authentic version of English life? 

In an interview with The New York Times, Ishiguro said: ‘What I’m interested in is not the actual fact that my characters have done things they later regret’, adding: ‘I’m interested in how they come to terms with it.’ What role do you see regret playing within the novel, and do you think, in the end, Stevens’ can ever come to terms with the events of this life and the opportunities he has denied himself? 

The Booker Prizes: How The Remains of the Day changed the way I think about England

The Guardian: Salman Rushdie: rereading The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Guardian: Kazuo Ishiguro: how I wrote The Remains of the Day in four weeks

January Magazine: Kazuo Ishiguro Interview

The Paris Review: Kazuo Ishiguro interview, The Art of Fiction No. 196