The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro*****

What is the key to a happy life? “I rather fancy it has more to do with this skill of bantering.” The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is an introspective masterpiece by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. Mr. Stevens is the butler at Darlington House. This novel covers a week where he considers his life of dignity and service, while the reader considers the broader question of the meaning and purpose of life. Mr. Stevens ends on a melancholy note but the reader gains from sharing the week.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

The two main characters are Mr. Stevens, the butler of Darlington House, and Miss Kenton, head housekeeper. Mr. Stevens is proud of serving Lord Darlington with efficiency and dignity and fears Miss Kenton has left service only to have found sadness. From Mrs. Benn’s (nee Kenton) correspondence he learns that she has had ups and downs. She separated from her husband three times. He pities her sad life. However upon meeting her, now in the remains of the day, he discovers she is happy to retire with her husband and enjoy her grandchildren. Mr. Stevens, in contrast, has lived a life of consistent service, but now find himself with nothing.

One of Mr. Stevens disappointments is that he supported antisemitism and the Nazis along with Lord Darlington. “He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship’s wisdom.”

Much of Mr. Stevens dedication and pride in his job revolved around dignity. His triumphal memories were of situations where Lord Darlington and circumstances conspired to make extraordinary, perhaps unreasonable, requests and he met them without complaint or question. “I recall that evening today, I find I do so with a large sense of triumph.” This is his idea of the ultimate of dignity. Unquestioning, unflappable loyalty, and obedience.

Later he meets some agricultural types who have a different idea of dignity. “We won the right to be free citizens. And it’s one of the privileges of being born English that no matter who you are, no matter if you’re rich or poor, you’re born free and you’re born so that you can express your opinion freely, and vote in your member of parliament or vote him out. That’s what dignity’s really about, if you’ll excuse me, sir.” Now Mr. Stevens questions whether subordinating himself to his employer and accepting the idea that he can’t have informed opinions was the best way to go.

On a wider stage, the book can be seen as a condemnation of the British upper-class and Royalty. A particularly disturbing note was Lord Darlington’s allegiance to the German upper-class Nazis over the ordinary French diplomats, something not dissimilar from the deposed King of England.

A beautiful novel for those who have more to look back to than forward to.

For my expanded notes: https://1book42day.blogspot.com/2020/03/normal-people-by-sally-rooney.html

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The Guest List by Lucy Foley *****

The Guest List by Lucy Foley is a mystery set on a tiny island off the west coast of Ireland. Jules founded a successful online lifestyle magazine (The Download) and Will stars in a successful reality TV show (Survive the Night). They are having a fantastic wedding at the island venue, the Folly. The island is unoccupied except for the proprietors. The murder doesn’t happen until the end of the book, but by that time the list of those with excellent motives has grown quite long. Most of a mystery than a thriller. Fast Read.

There are six POV characters, but they are drawn so sharply that it is easy to follow the changes in POV. Aoife-proprietor of the Folly and wedding planner. Hannah-plus one, wife of an old friend of the bride. Jules-bride, founder of The Download. Johnno-old friend of the groom. Olivia-half-sister of the bride. Will-groom, star of Survive the Night.

Mostly the book deals with sexual predators and gaslighting, but it also skewers UK public schools (boarding schools for the sons of the elite). While the characters are chronologically in the thirties, emotionally that are teenagers.

By the end of the book, you might not have figured out the murderer, but you sympathize with all the suspects.

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How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith (#21/22) *****

How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith is #21/22 of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series. Precious Ramotswe is still a paragon of tolerance and purveyor of wisdom. “Do not think that in any case where there are two competing arguments one of them has to be right: both can be wrong.” Her partner Grace Makutsi is still judgmental, though she is mellowing with ago. This installment is about elephant poaching and scams.

 Another delightful visit to Botswana “with its careful judiciary and its largely honest police force.”

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Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen *****

Her Royal Spyness (1/15) by Rhys Bowen is the first novel in a series set in the 1930s about Georgiana, 34^th in line to the British throne, penniless, on her own in London, as in no servants, granddaughter of Queen Victoria on her father’s side and quite common on her mother’s side. In this installment, Gaston de Mauxville, a French gambler and blackmailer, is murdered in her brother Binky’s London house, and someone is after her also. More like Sex and the City than James Bond, ignoring that Georgiana is a 21-year-old virgin.

What is the spy part? Queen Mary (married to King George V) asked Georgiana to spy on her eldest son Edward who was flirting with an American Mrs. Simpson. The Queen was concerned that her son was getting too involved. Beyond the timeframe of this book, we all know what eventually happened.

Much of the book is about the social life of the upper-class. Her friend Belinda from a fancy finishing school in Switzerland dances and parties and has enough sex for both of them. On the male side of the social circle are Darcy O’Mara from Ireland, Prince Siegfried an undesirable suitor, Whiffy Featherstonehaugh a murder suspect, and Tristram, ward of a very sick man.

From the author’s website: Her ridiculously long name is Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter to the Duke of Atholt and Rannoch. And she is flat broke. As the thirty-fourth in line for the throne, she has been taught only a few things, among them, the perfect curtsey. But when her brother cuts off her allowance, she leaves Scotland, and her fiancé Fish-Face, for London, where she has:

a) worked behind a cosmetics counter—and gotten sacked after five hours

b) started to fall for a quite unsuitable minor royal

c) made some money housekeeping (incognita, of course), and

d) been summoned by the Queen to spy on her playboy son

Then an arrogant Frenchman, who wants her family’s 800-year-old estate for himself, winds up dead in her bathtub. Now her most important job is to clear her long family name.

A pleasant romp through London in the 1930s contrasting the life of the commoners and the rich.

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