The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - Book Discussion

We're talking about the utterly sad The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Woooooo! This is part 3 of my series on Ishiguro's books, I'm reading one a month with the intention of finishing with 2021's Klara and the Sun! Subscribe for more books on Ishiguro, and more videos on books in general.

Articles Referenced:
Patras, R, 'A Rhetorical Approach to Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day'
Rich, K, 'Troubling Humanities: Literary Jurisprudence and Crimes Against Humanity in Ishiguro's Remains of the Day and McEwan's Atonement'
Furst, L, 'Memory's Fragile Power in Kazuo Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day" and W. G. Sebald's
"Max Ferber"'
O'Brien, S, 'Serving a new world order: Postcolonial politics
in Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day'
Scherzinger, K, 'The butler in (the) passage: The liminal
narrative of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains
of the Day'
Gehlawat, M, 'Myth and Mimetic Failure in The Remains of the Day'

Socials:

#booktube #ishiguro #eddiecational

[vinkyvargs]

you explained it so well! I think we all came out of reading this novel not wanting end up like Stevens and regretting our lives one day. so sad, so beautiful

[thapelomatladi]

i just finished the book and I love the way you described everything, especially Stevens. I couldn't handle reading all the missed opportunities at love or whatever. All because of ''dignity' or "loyalty" to your employer, but then again each to his own.

[terrynieuwoudt]

"Probably a bit of both, innit?" Lovely dissection, thank you for the nuanced interpretations!

[gambino]

thank you for this!<3 you explained it so well it was very helpful!

[nedmerrill]

They say you should read such masterpieces slowly. I couldn't! I gobbled this one in three days. What a wonderful novel! I will say I liked this quite a bit better than the film.

[thegrinderman]

Nice summary. I've just finished this book, and something you didn't touch on which I think is worth mentioning is the influence of his father, and the cycle of becoming your parents.

Stevens inherited his father's ambitions, imprinted on him not by the stories of the perfect butler his father told him, but by how proud it made his father to recount these tales. Stevens wanted to make his father proud by becoming that butler himself. We know his father was an incredibly stoic man, and none of Stevens' skills in running the house seemed to impress him. It was only on his deathbed that he revealed how proud he was. This confirmed to Stevens that he was living his life correctly, and propels him to lean into his own emotionlessness even more, even though he doesn't see his father as a happy man.

It's another example of him 'leaving his fate in the hands of great gentlemen', but in a way he's not even aware of. He wasted his life by never challenging the assumption that those with power know best - but those indoctrinated rarely do... which links back into the political themes of the book.

[LarryHasOpinions]

it's a great book, stevens's a lad xD i enjoyed listening to your thoughts. I've read 4 ishiguros, this would be at no 2 in my ranking.

[johanfaisal]

awesome awesome awesome. am subscribed for more

[nksurf]

This was such a wonderfully insightful! A great find!

[lastdays]

Love British writers. Love hot nerds. Needless to say, great video.

[labrador-fxfb]

Did you ever consider that Stevens was a case study in Schizoid Personality DIsorder? Think about it.