The novel\'s narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession.
Still, there are even larger matters at stake in this heartbreaking, beautifully crafted novel-- namely, Stevens\' own ability to allow some bit of life-affirming love into his tightly repressed existence..
In a career that spans the second world war, Stevens is oblivious of the real life that goes on around him--oblivious, for instance, of the fact that his aristocrat employer is a Nazi sympathizer.
The novel\'s narrator, Stevens, is a perfect English butler who tries to give his narrow existence form and meaning through the self-effacing, almost mystical practice of his profession