Reviews

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

ginbottle's review

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Nicely written novel of a butler's life. His self-effacing dedication to his employer leaves him repressed and colourless. The author expresses this character so well the working out of the story itself is understated and has a certain blandness.

honeycake69's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

god this book sucks. picked it up cuz I liked Klara and the Sun but this book sucked bad

fionayin's review against another edition

5.0

“Naturally, when one looks back to such instances today, they may indeed take the appearance of being crucial, precious moments in one’s life; but of course, at the time, this was not the impression one had. Rather, it was as though one had available a never-ending number of days, months, years in which to sort out the vagaries of one’s relationship with Miss Kenton; an infinite number of further opportunities in which to remedy the effect of this or that misunderstanding. There was surely nothing to indicate at the time that such evidently small incidents would render whole dreams forever irredeemable.”

lauralovesbookishthings's review

challenging funny mysterious reflective

5.0

cd3364's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

deb_k's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

edunn33's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

dyingotters's review

emotional funny reflective relaxing

4.5

Though I genuinely could not have cared for the book's premise, I found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable story. The subtle humour and the mundane reminds me a lot of Natsume Soseki's style. One of the best things about this book has to be Stevens himself: I found that I was always kept on edge by his unreliable narration, about other characters and his own character. Nothing is as he describes it - his father was never shown to be as competent as he described, Lord Darlington is not a good or honourable man, and Stevens himself, though always on about work and virtue, is a character bound to be more than an emotionless working machine that he so desperately wants to be. "Day Two - Morning" is one of the most engaging and well-written book chapters I have read in a long time, encompassing everything I liked about this book.

elizabeththomas's review

reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

ylvasorli's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0