Review: Remains of the Day

Finally! I have finished Remains of the Day by the very delightful Kazuo Ishiguro. It took me quite some time to really get involved in this novel, and to care about the characters in it. I thought when I first started this book, Really. What is the big deal? This one guy is rambling on incessantly about being 'dignified' and British and being a 'proper butler.' blah blah blah... But really, once I sat down, took some time out of my day for this story, I could not put it down. I am also nearing the end of Dream of Perpetual Motion, about which I am extremely pleased (as this book has taken me quite some time to finish, as well). I made myself promise not to indulge in any recent purchases without finishing the already half-completed books waiting so patiently to be finished. After DoPM, the only book left for me to tackle is 1Q84, which I absolutely adore, and cannot wait to spend time with my nose buried deep in its pages. On a side-note: my wittiness is lacking today, so bear with my droning on in a very matter-of-fact manner.

Plot: Very simply, an aging butler takes up an employer's recommendation to take a trip for himself. The trip would have been gracefully declined if it were not for a lovely little letter Mr Stevens (the butler) received from an old co-worker. He travels the countryside of England in a six-day journey, chronicling his reminiscing on his past, his previous employer, and the delightful woman behind the letter. Slow to start? Yes. Worth it in the end? Absolutely. Not everything is what we once thought it was, our judgments cannot be relied upon, and our interactions can be deceptive of what lies beneath.

Style: Unlike Never Let Me Go, which I read first, this novel reminds me very much of Virginia Woolf's style of writing. Only with more action. There were sometimes I really wanted to slap Stevens and sort him out a little. Other times, he was really quite insightful to more than just what a butler knows, sees, feels, or doesn't feel. Writing on a four-day journey into the English countryside could really be quite boring, but to have a guide into the past and what it does to the future (or, the present) made it delightful. Just enough descriptives to understand what is happening in the scene without having it detract from the important conversations carrying on. Very passive style, very much as if an actual butler wrote these pages. I found this story unfolding across the pages, across history, much like the big reveal in Never Let Me Go, which I thoroughly enjoyed. *gasp*

Overall: This book deceived me, greatly, but not in a bad way. I guess I expected more of an admission of feelings from one person to another *spoilers,* or for the revelation to be greater... After reading page after page, I ended up craving to know what happened with Lord Darlington and Miss Kenton and Mr Stevens, Sr and everything. The current Mr Stevens can be so passe with everything that happens to him on the surface, I just want to keep poking and prodding until something substantial surfaces. I feel that this is definitely something I would read again once I am older, possibly with more life experience under my belt. Delightful, overall.