The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - So you Haven't Read

So You Haven't Read The Remains of the Day by the Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishiguro?! Then pull up a chair and get comfortable as we follow the recounts of Stevens. A butler who devoted his life to the Lord he served at Darlington Hall. A Lord who did not have the best reputation and now Stevens is beginning to regret what may have taken place at the manor. Did he sacrifice his own life in the name of service and professionalism?

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♪ Intro music: "Coffee Beans" by Mike Wuerth
♪ Outro music: "So You Haven't Read Theme" by Tiffany Roman

#SoYouHaventRead #RemainsoftheDay #KazuoIshiguro

[AtheistPirate]

An American boss encouraging one of his employees to go on vacation is quite a stretch, but the rest of the story sounds pretty good.

[KrasMazovHatesYourGuts]

Ishiguro's books all have this reoccurring theme of the haziness of memory. It's not unusual for his protagonists to convey a scene, only for them then to think 'or maybe it happened another way' halfway through. It's a form of emergent storytelling that peels away layer after layer of the stunning and often ugly truths underneath the plot. His prose isn't for everybody, but when he writes well, it's transcendent.

[edisonlima]

I teared up at the last page of Remains of the Day. Not just a little.

Those closing lines and that freaking name drop!

[justaperson]

I love seeing the so you haven't read series, thank you for covering books I've never heard of/wanted to read but never got the chance! It makes me go out and want to actually read them like a trailer for it or something! But keep it up and thank you for your dedication and Time!

[snowsong]

I love Ishiguro; I read Never Let Me Go in high school and it's stuck with me for years as such a powerful view into the meaning of humanity, empathy, and sacrifice. It's so mundane and it just feels like a real reflection by a real person.

[ChefMimsy]

My go-to pleasure reading is always dystopia sci fi, so reading this book was a major departure for me. I'm SO glad I read this book. It was so beautifully written, it defies comparison. Kind of like when you find a new classical composer that you love. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to see English used to perfection.

[Seadragon]

I have read it, and actually, it was one of two novels I had to read for Academic Decathlon in 1998 (my freshman year - BTW, the other novel I had to read for the Literature category was Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Hoping the EC guys can cover that book sooner rather then later).

It's a great story about how being so into your work can make you forget that not everything was great.

[evelynwidmer]

I love this series, unfortunately the Extra Mythology series hasn't posted in a while.

[warbearin]

Kinda relatable story, professionalism above all and realizeing all you missed out on and that maybe being so professional all the time wasnt worth the memories and experiences it cost.

[Summer_Snows]

I remember first reading this in high school and just being absolutely blown away by the ending. Definitely going to have to reread this

[harrisonlee]

"At that moment, my heart was breaking."

[bearcb]

I watched the movie, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson deliver some of the best performances on screen ever. But because I liked the movie so much I never cared about reading the novel, because I believe great novels don't yield good films. Maybe this is an exception?

[wiseSYW]

Ishiguro also wrote screenplay for Living, which if you squint hard enough could be called the sequel to this novel.

[biancaironwood]

I love story and characters on this book

[shawnheatherly]

It's always hard looking back on life and wondering if you were wrong.

[sd-chcq]

I only saw the movie. And i felt it showed the butler as being very autistic. He used his job as a shield against change (the death of his father, the possibility of romance).

Maybe it's different in the novel, but in the movie the job itself is not all that relevant, and the crazy level of devotion is very much his own choice and constantly weirds out his employer. Being 'too motivated' in jobs is also something i struggle with a lot as an autistic person (this is in a quiet works-long-hours way, and not a bubbly way)

The story resonated with me because there is no happy ending or deus-ex-machina: a lot of stories at the time packaged a kinda similar message about regrets and living-with-your-descisions in a story about second chances (often involving time-travel or parralel dimensions or some such)

[brendansherer]

This was great stuff, good memory refresher for something I haven't read in like years.
Have y'all considered doing House of Leaves??

[zidarose]

Always ready for book recommendations. This sounds good!

[joshuawells]

Read it in my Brit. Lit. class in college.

[sanjairaj]

I liked the book but I don’t understand what made people cry a lot..Steven went for professionalism and a career oriented life..whatever regrets he has is futile now as he realises and it was getting kinda irritating how he was treating the housekeeper and his repeated and forever praise for his professionalism and his former employer