“Quietly devastating.” This comment written on the back of the book could not be closer to the feeling left after finishing the book. Here, what is not told tells the story.
This is a book of selective memories packed with the “what could have been” angst. A book where the protagonist-narrator is looking back into his past in order to justify and find meaning in his mediocre life caused by his inability to express emotions, his refusal to accept his true emotions, and his projection of purpose onto someone else’s life.
Now for the setting: England. Transition between wars and the fall of the grandeur of the old aristocracy which consequently led to the decline of butlers. Stevens—our protagonist, not our school—is a butler. Ishiguro uses him to paint an image of a stoic who prides themselves on effectively suppressing their emotions and putting their profession above everything and everyone. He buried his emotions so deep he lost the love of his life and the chance to grieve for his father. It is torturing to see him realize that.
Stevens thought that helping someone in the fulcrum of the world would equate to him being in the same level of importance as them. As if by serving a lord who served humanity, he would therefore be serving humanity as well. All he got out of it was a mediocre life where he found meaning in the servitude of a decaying aristocrat related to the Nazis.
Now Stevens has to figure out what to do with the remains of his days. A recipe of sheer anxiety. Again, quietly devastating.
Book of the Week is an Opinion culture column written and created by Keenan Yates ‘24 used to give weekly book recommendations in the form of short blurbs and reviews.
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