Ah, where to start….I suppose at the beginning is probably a good idea.
The Remains of the day details the life of a butler (Mr Stevens) in a stately home in the time around the second world war, leading up to approximately contemporary times. The story is told from a first person perspective and a great deal of the novel occurs either in flashback or within the mind of the protagonist. Rather than the claustrophobic feeling that sometimes comes with this approach, it feels rather comfortable being in Mr Steven’s head and observing his rather unorthodox world view.
The twin cruces of the tale (in my mind anyway) are the relationship between Mr Stevens and another household worker, and the manner in which our ‘hero’ believes so totally in his concept of his servitude and dignity.
It’s not a particularly happy book and I admit that I’m slightly confused by the message, if there is one, that it tries to promote. It seems to me to show a person that used a false persona for so long that his true self has never taken root and that his life is akin to that of a pantomime. That only nearing the winter of his life (and I’m guessing that’s what the title refers to) is he able to look back with regret. There is a scene with his erstwhile ‘Juliet’ towards the end of the book that explicitly causes him to ponder on what life could have been like, if only he’d truly lived.
That said, it’s a very well written and insight book. Humorous in parts and quite involving. I just wish that there had been some sort of satisfactory conclusion or even, and I realise that this smacks of naiveté, a happy ending. I was so engrossed with the life that he had lead that it was hard not to feel empathy towards him and upset that his existence has been filled with only duty and sadness.
Rating: 
