Book - The Remains of the Day

Lately, I’ve been reading classic novels and some newer ones and watching movies. Well one reason because I am not feeling well, been sick since few days, and somehow my mood is not for research and serious reading matters. I bought two books of Kazou Ishiguro’s books, one of them was the Remains of the Day (The Remains of the Day) and the other was Never Let Me Go. Each book sold in excess of one million copies in Faber editions alone. The author won the “Booker Prize” for his “The Remains of the Day”. “In 1956, Stevens, a long-serving butler at Darlington Hall, decides to take a motoring trip through the West Country. The six-day excursion becomes a journey into the past of Stevens and England, a past that takes in fascism, two world wars, and an unrealised love between the butler and his housekeeper” - GoodReads. 

While it wasn’t that bad for a read but honestly I didn’t like it much either. For me, this novel could have been finished in less pages. Again unlike most others, I am not giving this more than 6 out 10. What I regret is that after wasting my time on the book, I noticed there was a film adaption, and last night I watched it. The ending of the story is sad like his other book “Never Let Me Go” it seems the author likes sad endings.

Having said that, there are some really beautiful quotes in the book which I am sharing here: “If you are under the impression you have already perfected yourself, you will never rise to the heights you are no doubt capable of.”  One more beautiful quote: “What can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment” and a quote for our managers today: “But you will no doubt agree that the very best staff plans are those which give clear margins of error to allow for those days when an employee is ill or for one reason or another below par.”