[issybird]

I'm not going to spoiler-tag this. I figure people who haven't finished can avoid the discussion until they're done.

I read this when it first came out and didn't like it that much; I found my opinion hasn't changed although it held my interest.

I don't buy the voice! To me, Stevens's ruminations sound late Victorian/early Edwardian. I can't believe anyone in the 50s would have such a tone, even with latitude given for his essential old-fashionedness. Nor do I think Ishiguro demonstrated any real knowledge of the running of a major house in the 20s and 30s or even of class issues.

The whole thing seems like a pastiche to me. Darlington Hall is clearly based on Cliveden and the activities of the Cliveden set, that aristocratic, pro-German coterie of the Astors at Cliveden, Halifax prominent among them. Unlike Darlington, however, once the war started the set was solidly loyal and suffered no repercussions.

I know the story is of Stevens's journey, real and mental, toward his epiphany, but the underlying story was too slight. I did like the device of his car trip and the ensuant associations evoking his memories. Ishiguro also succeeded in making me believe in the person of Stevens, facing the ruin of his life. It was impossible not to feel deeply sorry for him. I had much less patience with Miss Kenton, by the way. I don't know why she pined for Stevens for some ten years, and while she gets props for taking her chance to get out she loses points for those suggestive letters, unfair to both her husband and to Stevens. Oh, and I found the conversations between Stevens and Miss Kenton to be highly implausible; people don't talk that way! I know, I know, some of it can be charged to the unreliable narrator, but just the same. The best bit, I thought, was the excruciating scene when Darlington's cronies grilled Stevens about economic and foreign policy.

But perhaps the thinness of the story doesn't matter. I realized that it's meant to be a fable about Japanese responsibility for the Second World War. Stevens represents the Japanese people, who devoted themselves to living life with grace and never questioned nor criticized the actions of their god-emperor. The emperor parallels with Darlington, especially as he's seen to be someone with good intentions who was manipulated to evil purpose. While MacArthur undeified Hirohito, in the interest of social stability he placed the responsibility for the war on the war overlords, Hirohito more hapless than evil. So it was with Darlington.