Book · 1989
The Remains of the Day
by Kazuo Ishiguro
An English butler spends his one vacation reviewing thirty years of service and realizing, too late, what proper restraint cost him.
What does Reddit think of The Remains of the Day?
r/suggestmeabook can't stop dropping this title into other people's threads, and the mentions read less like reviews than like a tic: "The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro," full stop, no elaboration, repeated across dozens of "what should I read next" posts. When commenters do explain themselves, the pitch is consistent. One ↑223 comment calls it a story where almost nothing happens and means that as the highest praise, tying the restraint of the plot to the butler's own inability to say what he means. Another (↑177) slots it onto a five-star list alongside Rebecca and The Safekeep, no separate commentary needed. r/TrueLit and r/printSF show up in the subreddit spread too, but the actual displayed arguments for the book all come from suggestmeabook. Nobody in these excerpts pushes back on it. That's a real pattern, not proof of universal acclaim.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · A butler's professional properness read as a form of self-erasure
- · Recommended as the default Ishiguro pick above Never Let Me Go or Klara and the Sun
- · Praised for a plot where almost nothing happens by design
- · Frequently named but rarely argued for at length
Common praise
- + The ↑223 comment calls it a story where almost nothing happens and treats that as the whole point of the craft.
- + It shows up on personal five-star lists (↑177) next to Rebecca and The Safekeep with no further defense required.
- + One commenter (↑163) reaches for it first when naming a favorite Ishiguro book, ahead of Never Let Me Go.
Common criticism
- − Most suggestmeabook mentions just drop the title with zero explanation, which makes the enthusiasm hard to verify secondhand.
- − r/Fantasy's displayed mention (↑616) barely engages with the book itself, using it mostly as a genre-boundary example.
- − Nobody in the top excerpts explains why it beats the other Ishiguro novels people also recommend in the same threads.
Who it's for
You already like books where the plot is a man's internal life leaking out around the edges of a very controlled voice, so if that sounds tedious, this isn't going to convert you. r/suggestmeabook treats it as the answer to almost any prompt asking for something short, sad, and well-crafted, which says more about the sub's habits than about the book's range. Read it if you want to watch someone describe their own regret without ever using the word. The butler never breaks character, and that's the tragedy the whole novel runs on.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Remains of the Day?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“Literary fantasy ABSOLUTELY exists, as does literary sci-fi and literary horror. However, you probably wouldn't want a fantasy War and Peace, since that book is a slog about how much it annoyed Tolstoy that Russian people wanted to be French. Anyways. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a stunnin…
“I could put basically anything by Kazuo Ishiguro here. My personal favorite is Klara and the Sun, but I think for this prompt I will put the Remains of the Day - because it is a story where almost nothing happens, the craft of the writing is more on display, very beautiful, very sad. Zora Neale Hur…
“I’m on book 96 for the year. These have been my five stars so far! The Remains of the Day - Ishiguro Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven - Krakauer (both non-fic) The Safekeep - Van Der Wouden Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier I Who Have Never Known Men - Harpman James -…
“Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of The Day. It’s from the point of view of a butler of the Darlington Hall and a great read.
“I’m a woman in my 30s and these are some of my 5 star reads from the last year: - Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy - I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - The Dutch House by Ann Patchett - My Dark Van…
“Not super recent but I think The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro will be a classic one day
“Remains of the Day. I love everything Kazuo Ishiguro has written, and would also highly recommend Never Let Me Go, The Buried Giant, Klara and the Sun, or even An Artist of the Floating World, but Remains of the Day is just such a weird masterpiece.
“Have you read any Kazuo Ishiguro? *Never Let Me Go*, *The Remains of the Day* and *The Buried Giant* are all excellent. He has a new novel coming out next month as well.
“The lack of 1/2 stars is very frustrating. There’s a selection bias at play- I’m unlikely to start, let alone finish, a true 2 star or 1 star book. Which leaves me 3 options- 3,4,5. This is way too limited of a scale: for example, I prefer Never Let Me Go above Remains of the Day so one is a 5 and o…
“Anything by Kazuo Ishiguro would be a great fit, but "Remains of the Day" is what came to mind first!
“The remains of the day was absolutely amazing I also read Anna Karenina which is undoubtedly one of the best novels of all time but obviously takes a lot of time and effort to read it
“These books radically altered my worldview in my early to mid twenties: - Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace - The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway - Light in August - William Faulkner - The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami - A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Bu…
“Remains of the Day or about any Kazuo Ishiguro book. Just beautiful writing.
“Remains of the Day. Just the most gorgeous writing.
“My five star reads of this year so far are: * The Beartown trilogy by Frederick Backman * Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy * The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro * Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Melinda Lo * Piranesi by Susannah Clark * The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shann…
Convinced? Pick up The Remains of the Day
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with The Remains of the Day — counted from the comments, not curated.
The Remains of the Day — frequently asked
Is The Remains of the Day worth reading if I haven't read other Ishiguro?+
Yes, per r/suggestmeabook's own habits — one commenter (↑163) names it first among Ishiguro's books, ahead of Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun. It doesn't require prior context; the ↑223 excerpt frames it as a story where almost nothing happens, which works fine as an entry point since the craft is the plot.
What does Reddit actually say about The Remains of the Day, beyond just recommending it?+
Less than the mention count suggests. Most of the 2,837 r/suggestmeabook references are bare title-drops with no argument attached. The clearest actual claim is the ↑223 comment's point that the book's stillness is the craft on display, and the ↑177 five-star-list placement next to Rebecca and The Safekeep.
Is The Remains of the Day too slow or uneventful?+
Depends what you're after. The book's biggest defenders make slowness the selling point: the ↑223 excerpt explicitly praises a story where almost nothing happens as more beautiful and more sad for it. If you need incident to stay engaged, that same description is a fair warning sign, not just praise.