This must be one of the greatest books ever written in the english language. I love this book so much. I began the book expecting it to be well-written, but perhaps a little stuffy and dry. I was wrong. The book is very, very readable and Stevens is one of the most delightful and humorous narrators I have ever had the pleasure to meet between the covers of a book.
I don't want to give away any part of the book or story, but let me just say that if you have not read this book already then do yourself the favor of reading it at once. If you are like me, there are always too many books and too little time, but don't put this one off. Let this quiet, powerful book move you in the way that only great literature can.

I am sending this copy to to bookcrosser JDT in California...

Just received this book in the mail!
As soon as I saw it, I remembered how much I enjoyed reading this understated, powerful story years ago - even more than the movie- which I also enjoyed.
It will be a treat to re-read and release.
Thank you, tamarabk!

I just received this from JDT. I'll read it shortly and then pass it on. Thanks, JDT!

I finished this book last night and I'm still having trouble figuring out how I feel about it. The writing is beautiful but the story just never reached me. This is my second Ishiguro and I felt the same way about the first one (When We Were Orphans). Maybe I'll give him one more try . . .

This is up for trade!

Release planned for Monday, January 05, 2004 at Post Office in Spring, Texas USA.

This book is going to fsr44 as part of a trade. THANKS!

Received today from roadrunner in trade for Dream of Scipio (as soon as that one clears my TBR pile. Thank you!

What a completely beautiful book! I had seen the movie (and can now appreciate what a good adaptation it was) but this was my first time reading the book. I'm amazed that the author was able to create a character (and then inhabit it, as the narrator) as fully fleshed-out and believable as Stevens. A stunning achievement.

Released on Tuesday, July 06, 2004 at n/a in n/a, By Post Controlled Releases.

Sending to KF-in-Georgia for winning "Spot the Irony".

This RABCK from fsr44 arrived today. Thank you very much, and I'll journal it when I've read it.

I’ve just finished reading this. It’s beautifully written. Ishiguro’s Mr Stevens—an English butler—is thoroughly convincing.
_____I’ve tried to come up with a way to review the book without giving away too much information; I’m not sure that’s possible. So let me just give you the text from the back cover:
_____The Remains of the Day is a profoundly compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular world in postwar England.
_____At the end of his three decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving “a great gentleman.” But lurking in his memory are doubts about the true nature of Lord Darlington’s “greatness” and graver doubts about his own faith in the man he served.

And I’ll give you a feel for Ishiguro’s writing (pages 240-241):
_____The pier lights have been switched on and behind me a crowd of people have just given a loud cheer to greet this event. There is still plenty of daylight left—the sky over the sea has turned a pale red—but it would seem that all these people who have been gathering on this pier for the past half-hour are now willing night to fall. This confirms very aptly, I suppose, the point made by the man who until a little while ago was sitting here beside me on this bench, and with whom I had my curious discussion. His claim was that for a great many people, the evening was the best part of the day, the part they most looked forward to. And as I say, there would appear to be some truth in this assertion, for why else would all these people give a spontaneous cheer simply because the pier lights have come on?
_____Of course, the man had been speaking figuratively, but it is rather interesting to see his words borne out so immediately at the literal level. I would suppose he had been sitting here next to me for some minutes without my noticing him, so absorbed had I become with my recollections of meeting Miss Kenton two days ago. In fact, I do not think I registered his presence on the bench at all until he declared out loud:
_____‘Sea air does you a lot of good.’

The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro
ISBN 0-679-73172-5
©1988 (1993 edition) / trade paperback / 245 pp.
(This book contains underlining and notes from previous readers.)

Bookray participants (so far):
pauloca (in Portugal, international)
Suzy26 (in the Netherlands, international)
q-cow (in the Phillipines, international)
Lerita (in Argentina, mail international)
surfenkitten (in U.S., mail in U.S.)
WintersQT4ever (in U.S.)
Ramya (in U.S.)

The book went in the mail today to Pauloca. The book was shipped "Global Priority Mail," so it should reach Portugal in 4 to 7 days.

Enjoy!

Got it today.
I'll read it as soon as I finish Memoirs of a Geisha

It is a beautiful book and a very well writen, too. Steven really is what I should expect of a buttler, an english one, of course. It reminded me other books I read and some movies I saw (though I have never seen this one). I enjoyed reading it very much.

I am now going to pass it along to Suzy26, in the Netherlands.

Sent to Suzy26 today.

Received this book in the mail today. Thank you very much for sending it to me, Pauloca and thanks KF-in-Georgia for sharing this book with us.

What a beautifully-written, deeply-moving story this is! The manner in which the relationship between Mr Stevens and Miss Kenton is described in this unemotional, typically British, in-between-the-lines sort of way is simply brilliant. It was really stunning to read that in order to keep his dignity and out of a total commitment to his employer, Mr Stevens denied himself any normal feelings a human being might have and was proud of himself into the bargain. Really, a wonderful read!

Now I will send this book on its way to q-cow.

It sounds very deep. I will get right on it. I hope i will have the same moving experience everyone else had.

Hi, folks--

q-cow reports that this book went out in the mail about a month ago. It's got a long trip (Philippines to Argentina), so we'll be patient.

This book arrived in the mail today!! Thanks! It was a long journey indeed, but it's in great shape.
I will start reading this really soon, and journal again when I finish it.

Before I get on with what could be a never ending praise for this book, I want to thank my fellow Bookcrossers, for making it possible for me to read such a delighting book.(thanks guys). I know we are still very little into this year, but I have the feeling that I will not be making a mistake if I declare that this is one of the best books that I am to read in the current year.
This book stands out by the writing, so much, that it even if the story wasn't too great, it'd still be a solid book. But the story was good as well, so this book became a great one.
"And yet what precisely is this 'greatness'? Just where, or in what does it lay? I am quite aware it would take a far wiser head than mine to answer such a question, but if I were forced to hazard a guess, I would say that it is the very lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty...(pg 28). Very English altogether. I loved it.
I have received surfenkitten address, I'll be shipping this on Monday.

Edited on 02/08/2005 to Add: after a few very complicated days, I was able to mail this book this Wednesday morning via air mail. It should get to Surfenkitten in about two weeks fromm today (that's what my previous packages have taken to arrive to the US). Have a safe trip!

yay, i've been waiting for this one! i'm, um, "bumping" it in my TBR pile, but i still have 2 bookrings to finish first :( one is very short though, so i'll hopefully get to this one in a week or so. i really have heard great things about this and reading the journal entries makes me excited to read it!

finished this a day or so ago. i hate to be a party pooper, but i didn't enjoy this as much as i thought i would. don't know if this is because i've been under some pressure to finish bookrings quickly (3 in a row now!) but i think a lot of the between the lines stuff was wasted on me.

i found Stevens to be rather stiff and almost arrogant; even as a servant he seemed to be quite uppity. and even more sad is that i'm sure there's some political stuff going on in the background (behind of course, Stevens' extremely extra important butler duties, which seem to mostly include checking up on the housekeeper and standing in a corner waiting to be called) but since English politics is not my forte, i think i missed a lot. i'm really not all that familiar with the situation in England between the two World Wars, and i'm not really sure i am that much more enlightened since i have no idea who was real or fiction. (i guess we have American public schooling to thank for that! i do know who Churchill was....)

in general though, the writing was wonderful and had a beautiful rhythm. it really wasn't until the last chapter or so that i really started to see through Stevens' stuffiness. the last few pages, though, were beautiful. what a fantastic metaphor for life. on to Ramya as soon as i get an address!

just wanted to update: i just sent this a few days ago. sorry for the delay but i didn't realize that there was a bookring in my To Be Mailed pile! Ramya wanted to be skipped, so now it's on to WintersQT4ever in Wisconsin!

Ramya seems to be after me, and I live in Michigan, not Wisconsin...

I believe i signed up for this on mistake, I will be pming Ramya soon, to get an address and send it on...
-Danielle

Received in yesterday's mail. I see I'm the last in this ray, so I'll probably take the book with me on my trip to France next week and release it there once I've finished reading it.

I decided that I could always read a library copy of this -- the chance to leave the book in France was too good to miss, even though I hadn't yet read it.