Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day

This is a popular IGCSE text but, surprisingly, it is worth close study and has much to offer a young person - which is not the case for mnay such exam texts.

Looking back at it, I was reminded of the crystalline beauty of the author’s prose. Utterly exemplary and something that, wierdly, is both in stark contrast to the powerful and painful darkness of the story and which also makes it that much more powerful. Does that make sense, fellow English teachers?

The story is a ‘slow burn one and the revelation of the nature of the students lives is masterfully hedl back so that the impact is even more devastating. Once this is known there is a terrible sense of inevitability about what is going to happen and as it appraoches the end one is crying out (mentally) ‘No, no. this is NOT what should be happening’.

It is also a member of that rare family - superb books to which the film version did justice. But read it first as you lose the beauty of the prose which is such a powerful part of the story.