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The Remains of the Day

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The Remains of the Day

Written by: Kazuo Ishiguro
Narrated by: Dominic West
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Summary

Kazuo Ishiguro's Booker Prize-winning masterpiece became an international bestseller on publication, was adapted into an award-winning film and has since come to be regarded as a modern classic.

The Remains of the Day is a spellbinding portrayal of a vanished way of life and a haunting meditation on the high cost of duty. It is also one of the most subtle, sad and humorous love stories ever written. It is the summer of 1956, when Stevens, a man who has dedicated himself to his career as a perfect butler in the one-time great house of Darlington Hall, sets off on a holiday that will take him deep into the English countryside and, unexpectedly, into his own past, especially his friendship with the housekeeper, Miss Kenton. As memories surface of his lifetime "in service" to Lord Darlington, and of his life between the wars, when the fate of the continent seemed to lie in the hands of a few men, he finds himself confronting the dark undercurrent beneath the carefully run world of his employer.
Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Witty
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What the critics say

“A dream of a book: a beguiling comedy of manners that evolves almost magically into a profound and heart-rending study of personality, class and culture.” The New York Times Book Review

“Marvellous. . . . Superb.” The Globe and Mail

“This is a work that goes to the heart of a lost life. Beautifully composed, totally unsentimental, immeasurably tender.” The Observer

“A virtuoso performance . . . put on with dazzling daring and aplomb.” The New York Review of Books

“As strong as it is delicate, a very finely nuanced and at times humorous study of repression.” The Times Literary Supplement

“By any definition, The Remains of the Day is a great book. . . . Ishiguro is a master.” Ottawa Citizen

“A triumph. . . . Ishiguro’s creative control . . . never falters. This wholly convincing portrait of a human life unweaving before your eyes is inventive and absorbing, and by turns funny, absurd and ultimately very moving.” The Sunday Times

“Brilliant and quietly devastating.” Newsweek

“One of the best books of the decade.” The Boston Globe

“Suspenseful, intriguing, elegiac and politically astute. . . . Both subtle and humane. . . . Simply read it for pleasure, and be richly rewarded.” The Guardian

“An ineffably sad and beautiful piece of work—a tragedy in the form of a comedy of manners.” Chicago Tribune

“Ishiguro writes a flowing, curiously timeless and placeless English. . . . The quietude is seductive, and matches the kindness of this book.” Vogue

“Full of music from a past that, through nuance and innuendo, is slenderly poisoned, turning wit and perfectly timed farce into a political ghost story. . . . Ishiguro has become one of the finest prose stylists of our time.” —Michael Ondaatje

“A diamond of a book, perfectly cut, with splendid and uncountable facets, deceptively modest.” —John le Carré

“A remarkable, strange and moving book.” —Sebastian Faulks, The Independent

“There is nobody writing in Britain today who quite resembles [Ishiguro]. In a fictional landscape babbling with psychodrama and magical realism, this restrained and sensitive voice falls like a balm.” —Colin Thubron, The Sunday Times

“The novel rests firmly on the narrative sophistication and flawless control of tone ... of a most impressive novelist.” —Julian Barnes, The Literary Review
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Most Relevant
The actor takes the character and the story to a whole other level. We’ll done!

Great performance

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In light of the writing and the brilliant narration by Dominic West, one wishes this book could have gone on even longer. One easily loses themselves in the character and it really makes for a brilliant listening experience.

An enjoyable experience

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I read books twice and I really enjoyed it. So glad that I finally listened to the audible version. I tried not to finish it too soon so that I could savour it more.

Really love it

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The book is rich and deep with memory and meaning. A look back on a life lived. Dominic West does a superb job narrating. So happy to have this audio version.

Masterpiece

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January 2022 | 4/5
Stevens, an English butler reminisces on his life at Darlington Hall in this Kazuo Ishiguro novel.

After the death of Lord Darlington, and a pruning of the staff, Stevens is in need of a skilled housekeeper and sets out to recruit Miss Kenton to her former role. During his travels to her home in the country, we learn progressively more about Lord Darlington, and Miss Kenton through a series of flashbacks, and it becomes obvious there's more to the stories as pieces come together.

This was a warm and cuddly mystery that I couldn't put down. And it turns out it was adapted to film in the 90s, so I can spend a little more time with Stevens and the English countryside.

If you enjoy slice-of-life historical fiction, this could be your next read.

A Life In Servitude

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