www.wormsscifi.com / haven )
Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go did not win Britain's prestigious Booker prize this year , an honor the author claimed in 1989 for The Remains of the Day , but I suspect people will read this novel-a sublime and haunting account of innocence , injustice and social deconstruction-long after John Banville's The Sea , which did win , disappears from the collective social conscious .
To peak everyone's interest and to keep them from pulling their hair out , I'll come right to the point , which , as Sarah Kerr noted in her New York Times review , is impossible for a critic to dance around anyway . Never Let Me Go is about human cloning . More specifically , it is about a group of cloned children growing up in an English boarding school , where the truth about their biology is both the cause and effect of some very strange happenings , which ultimately make for one of the best contemporary novels I have read , a book that should not be overlooked and cannot be ignored .
Ishiguro , a student of Freud , likes to employ subtle psychology in his work . He likes his narrators too damaged to ever truly reveal themselves . What the reader learns , he or she learns mostly through the information the narrator chooses to withhold about their pasts and through the plainness of their reactions to the present . In this regard , Never Let Me Go is more of the same , in that what is most essential to novel's plot is barely mentioned , or concretely addressed . Few writers dare to say so little of what they mean , wrote one critic , describing Ishiguro's style of approach . Because of this , any lengthy description of the novel's thorny arc of action would dull its effect for first-time readers .
What can safely be said is that Ishiguro , who is also a student of the English novel , knows all to well that the patches of literary ground where science and morality clash have always been arenas of brutal and bloody contests , with neither side interested in armistice . From Bacon's New Atlantis to Shelley's Frankenstein and Huxley's Brave New World , the tradition of tackling tough social issues through speculative fiction has always been a favorite pastime of English writers with highly refined sensibilities . I cannot imagine that Ishiguro doesn't understand the traditions he has inserted himself among by writing a boarding-school novel about the politics of scientific advancement . He knows exactly what he's doing . He's provoking us . And , for the most part , it works .
Told from the backward perspective of Kathy H , who is 31 - years old when the story begins , we learn about the young lives of Tommy and Ruth , who are her two best friends , and the lives of all the children at a special school called Hailsham-a wonderful Dickensian name whose sinister perfection can only be fully understood at the novel's end . Most of the early-going is typical . Social cliques form , loyalties are established and tested , a juvenile form of sexuality begins to bloom-all of which is handled very skillfully by Ishiguro , whose powers of perception and whose ability to capture the reality of human interaction have never been more functional . Add to this picture a host of inklings , of hints and whispers , and you'll begin to understand how wonderfully terrifying and brutally banal the core of this novel is . The children have questions that aren't answered , certain subjects that are off-limits . They notice nobody ever leaves the grounds , that some people don't seem to know how to act around them and that everyone who is not a student seems to have access to a universal truth being kept from them . They notice all of this and they explain it all away .
For the reader , whose suspicion is apt to grow after a few chapters , the answers the children come up with don't satisfy . Are the teachers sheltering the children from harm , or are they fooling them before the slaughter ? The answer is not a simple one . Some of the teachers burst into tears and leave the school under painful circumstances after they are apparently unable to continue working among the children . Others , who at first seem cold proponents of the children's dark fate , which is continually teased and hinted at but not immediately revealed , later turn out to be some of the strongest advocates for them .
And what of Kathy and the other cloned children ? Are they sheep , or are they sheep with souls ? Even most the teachers who've lived and worked among them are incapable of going beyond this either / or examination of the children , and because of this , there is no reckoning at the novel's end . There is only twisted discovery and gradual acceptance . This is one of Ishiguro's most brilliant tricks . He parcels out information to the reader at the same pace he does the children . The result is by the time we have the whole picture straight in our heads it is no where near as shocking as it initially would have been . Just as the children have done , we become accustomed to it ( even Kathy , the novel's unreliable narrator , is incapable of judging the circumstances of her undoing and assigning any morality to it ) . So the epiphany , when it finally comes , fails to engineer any discernible effects on the plot or the characters at all . And in many ways , this is the novel's most sobering and realistic assertion . People , more often times than not , fail to act or act ineffectively . 。 énouement is a slippery French word that describes the culmination of a fabricated plot ; it does not describe or represent reality . Part of Ishiguro's genius is his ability to realize this and codify it as art , just as he does in the very last conversation Tommy has with Kathy , when it's made clear they both know more than they let on about the reality of their existence , but neither are capable or prepared to do anything about it .
I keep thinking about this river somewhere , with the water moving really fast , Tommy says . And these two people in the water , trying to hold onto each other , holding as hard as they can , but in the end it's just too much . The current's too strong . They've got to let go , drift apart . ( They want to stay forever ) . . . but in the end , we can't stay forever .
Thus , the novel ends the way it was always going to end-with a stoic resignation that hauntingly recalls the bleak sort of acceptance victims of the Holocaust exhibited as they stood patiently in line waiting to be gassed .
Or as another reviewer , quoting a snatch of some Schopenhauer , put it : In our early youth we sit before the life that lies ahead of us like children sitting before the curtain in a theatre , in happy and tense anticipation of whatever is going to appear . Luckily we do not know what really will appear .
The horror of Never Let Me Go is that the children of Hailsham know almost exactly what lies beyond the curtain and they continue to look and participate in the pageantry of life anyway . How human of them .
Five out of five
001 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
Set in the 1990 ' s , Kazuo Ishiguro's quietly disturbing novel aims to make us question the ethics of science even though the author never directly raises the topic . The narrator of Never Let Me Go is Kathy H . , a woman who introduces herself as a carer mere months away from becoming a donor , as though we should know what these terms mean . This nearness to ending one stage of her life to entering another causes her to reminisce about Hailsham , the school in the English countryside where she grew up with her two closest friends , Tommy D . and Ruth . The three form an unlikely trio : Ruth is headstrong and imaginative ; Tommy has an uncontrollable temper ; and Kathy is steady and observant in the subtleties of human behavior . It is this last quality belonging to Kathy H . that sets the tone of the novel . Everything is precisely told in an even , matter-of-fact voice that never questions the strange terminology and conversations that alert the reader to something more grave lurking under what seems , on the surface , to be an ordinary story about three childhood friends . As the three grow up , they begin to face moments more important than the minor disagreements of childhood .
Ishiguro's richly textured description of the relationship among the three supplies all the details without confronting the larger issues . As Kathy tells us , the guardians at Hailsham both tell and not tell the students the truth about Hailsham and their lives - - exactly what Ishiguro does to the reader . The truth is doled out in increments , over the course of the entire novel , requiring the reader to understand what is implied as much as what is told . The frightening side to all this is that the characters never question the course of their lives . No one runs , or questions why they are the ones to make the ultimate sacrifice . One of the most poignant moments comes near the end when Kathy says , Why should we not have souls ? By this point , it has been apparent to the reader that Kathy , Tommy , and Ruth are human in every sense of the word , with talents and intelligence and foibles and complex emotions , and yet are regarded as both freaks and disposables by the normals . For the reader , these characters are anything but expendable .
Ishiguro's literary style of examining small moments might disappoint readers who expect a strong plot . Although the premise may belong to science fiction , this novel is more concerned with characterization and theme . If you like writers in the tradition of Ian McEwan , Marilynne Robinson , Chang-Rae Lee , and Margaret Atwood ( whose The Handmaid's Tale creates a different dystopia ) , you'll be immediately swept into this alternate world where the past is also the future .
002 4 Set in the 1990 ' s , Kazuo Ishiguro's quietly disturbing novel aims to make us question the ethics of science even though the author never directly raises the topic . The narrator of Never Let Me Go is Kathy H . , a woman who introduces herself as a carer mere months away from becoming a donor , as though we should know what these terms mean . This nearness to ending one stage of her life to entering another causes her to reminisce about Hailsham , the school in the English countryside where she grew up with her two closest friends , Tommy D . and Ruth . The three form an unlikely trio : Ruth is headstrong and imaginative ; Tommy has an uncontrollable temper ; and Kathy is steady and observant in the subtleties of human behavior . It is this last quality belonging to Kathy H . that sets the tone of the novel . Everything is precisely told in an even , matter-of-fact voice that never questions the strange terminology and conversations that alert the reader to something more grave lurking under what seems , on the surface , to be an ordinary story about three childhood friends . As the three grow up , they begin to face moments more important than the minor disagreements of childhood .
Ishiguro's richly textured description of the relationship among the three supplies all the details without confronting the larger issues . As Kathy tells us , the guardians at Hailsham both tell and not tell the students the truth about Hailsham and their lives - - exactly what Ishiguro does to the reader . The truth is doled out in increments , over the course of the entire novel , requiring the reader to understand what is implied as much as what is told . The frightening side to all this is that the characters never question the course of their lives . No one runs , or questions why they are the ones to make the ultimate sacrifice . One of the most poignant moments comes near the end when Kathy says , Why should we not have souls ? By this point , it has been apparent to the reader that Kathy , Tommy , and Ruth are human in every sense of the word , with talents and intelligence and foibles and complex emotions , and yet are regarded as both freaks and disposables by the normals . For the reader , these characters are anything but expendable .
Ishiguro's literary style of examining small moments might disappoint readers who expect a strong plot . Although the premise may belong to science fiction , this novel is more concerned with characterization and theme . If you like writers in the tradition of Ian McEwan , Marilynne Robinson , Chang-Rae Lee , and Margaret Atwood ( whose The Handmaid's Tale creates a different dystopia ) , you'll be immediately swept into this alternate world where the past is also the future .
003 4 Kazuo Ishiguro's brilliant new book , NEVER LET ME GO , returns the author to the themes and approaches he first addressed in THE REMAINS OF THE DAY . Just as Stevens the butler devoted himself unthinkingly and uncritically to the minutiae of daily life on behalf of his Nazi sympathizing master , Lord Darlington , the main characters in Ishiguro's latest book focus on the irrelevant small details and minor tribulations of their lives without ever once contemplating the bigger picture . In both cases , the author not only conjures the question of the meaning of life , he asks us to contemplate the tragedy of wasted lives .
On its surface , NEVER LET ME GO tells the story of three special young people - Kathy H . , Tommy D . , and Ruth - all of whom meet as students at an idyllic private school called Hailsham . Kathy H . is the narrator , now 31 years old , telling her story in hindsight . She recalls her student days at Hailsham fondly , filling her tale with numerous minor anecdotes about the most mundane affairs that slowly reveal the nature of the school and its students ' place in the world . ( . . . ) Ishiguro creates a convincing vocabulary , milieu , and mythology for this setting : guardians , carers , donors , completing , Exchanges , Sales , the Gallery , Norfolk , and an eerie sense of the students having been told and not told .
NEVER LET ME GO accomplishes the remarkable challenge of presenting 288 pages ' worth of reading between the lines . Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy are not the real main characters of this story , only the visible ones . The real main characters are invisible , the ones who have not only facilitated the use of cloning as a form of organ farming , but who have created a conditioning environment in which their victims accept their fate without question , as the natural order of things . Kathy , Ruth , Tommy , and their ilk live among normal people yet virtually never approach them , willing segretating themselves from the rest of society as though they were lepers . They live in Skinner boxes without boundaries , conditioned to believe they exist only to sacrifice their lives for the continued life of others . We never see the bioengineers or social scientists who create and maintain this horrifying use of humanity . Instead , they are represented ( only on a limited scale ) by Hailsham's headmistress , Miss Emily , and the mysterious , art-collecting Madame Marie-Claude .
In 1963 , after attending the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Israel , the renowned Hannah Arendt wrote a profound and controversial book entitled EICHMANN IN JERUSALEM : THE BANALITY OF EVIL . Arendt went to the trial expecting to see a monster . Who else could be responsible for such evil as the Holocaust ? Instead , she found an accounting clerk . Not only were the most normal of people apparently capable of mindless cruelty , but their evil was senseless , meaningless even to themselves . In this way , their evil was banal . Ishiguro creates a similar feeling , using the triteness of Kathy H . ' s reminiscences and Miss Lucy's behaviors and rationalizations to illustrate the banality of their own peculiar form of evil : science practiced for its own sake , without the application of moral standards . NEVER LET ME GO is neither preachily anti-science nor moralistically pro-religion . It is simply a call to include our consciences in the application of science . Perhaps the fact that the first identified character in the book to speak other than Kathy and Ruth is a student named Hannah ( who never appears again in the text ) is Ishiguro's way of telling us to beware the dangers of banality , that sliding over the edge from ordinariness to Ruth-less evil is easier than we think .
I puzzled for a while over the setting - England in the 1990 ' s - until I realized that the first sheep clone , Dolly , was created in England in 1996 and died prematurely a few years later . In a sense , all of Hailsham's students are sheep , raised in out-of-the-way rural settings , separated from society and isolated from knowledge of both the practical world and the world of ideas , limited in their human interactions except with one another , and , of course , bred to be consumed ( for their vital organs ) . On several occasions , I was reminded of the cowlike creature in Doug Adams's RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE who greets diners by declaiming the tasty virtues of his best parts and declares : . . it was eventually decided to . . . breed an animal that actually wanted to be eaten and was capable of saying so clearly and distinctly . And here I am . Adams presented his creature for comic effect ; Ishiguro presents his poor creatures ( as Madame repeatedly calls them ) for a low key but nightmarish effect .
NEVER LET ME GO is a transcendent novel , an astonishingly powerful work of literature . The pace is slow and the details seem trivial , but patient readers will be rewarded for their efforts with a thought-provoking exposition on whose life is worth living and who , if anyone , has the right to set the terms and conditions . Arendt contemplated the banality of evil - Ishiguro warns us of the evils that lurk behind banality .
004 4 WARNING : This review contains spoilers , information that reveals key plot details .
This novel works beautifully on multiple levels , giving it a quality that kept me thinking about its plot , characters and themes long after I finished its final page . On the most obvious level it is a sort of alternate history that depicts a dystopian society in 1990s England that breeds human clones to become organ donors for the normals . In that aspect , it brings to mind Aldous Huxley's Brave New World , where humans are created in test tubes and have fixed functions that they grow up to perform in society .
However , Never Let Me Go is more subtle than either Huxley or - - another obvious comparison - - George Orwell's 1984 , in that the oppressor is not specifically depicted and there is no one person or group that is in obvious conflict with Ishiguro's main characters . There is nothing overt that keeps them in their places , whether that place is at school when they are children , or at recovery centers while their internal organs are being systematically plucked out . I kept wondering why the two lovers , Kathy and Tommy , didn't just pick up their stuff , get in her car and take off for parts unknown , eventually blending in with the normal population .
And that brings me to the next , deeper level , of the novel , which is about the nature of humanity . All of this novel's characters seem to meekly accept their fates , even Tommy , who has a temper and often throws fits of rage when frustrated . They are also hyper-sensitive to one another , reading motivations and emotions into each small gesture and remark , as though every utterance and movement each one makes is deliberate , premeditated and loaded with significance . To me , human behavior is much less reasoned than that , with much said and done that has no rational basis . ( Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar . )
In that regard , perhaps the clones ( euphemistically called students in the novel ) really are not human beings with souls , but beings bred for a specific function , which strong emotions tend to derail . If that is the case , perhaps the students ' creators bred human emotion out of them in order to facilitate their end purpose . Most normals seem to view the students as sub-human , which is of course necessary if the students ' organs are to be harvested in good conscience . This brings to mind a host of justifications for deplorable acts and practices throughout human history , from slavery to the contemporary killing of the Great Apes .
Ishiguro reveals to his readers that the students ' adult guardians believe they are human beings with souls , and the guardians spend a great deal of time and effort trying to prove this to the other normals . This takes us to yet another , deeper question posed by the story : Can members of a privleged class save those who are less so , or must the oppressed save themselves ?
The actions that the guardians take on behalf of their students do not change the ultimate fate of the latter . They do , however , change the conditions in which the students are reared . So , in the end , the main student characters are well-read , cultured and , as children , had more creature comforts than many of their peers . But they also have false hope that some outside force may defer their fates , and in the end those dashed hopes may be more painful to endure than if they never had hope at all .
Essentially , the guardians are reformers of the Jane Addams type , who move in with the oppressed and try to help them . But the final outcome is not changed , and one is left wondering about the validity of a reform movement in the first place . Perhaps the only real way to make institutional change of the magnitude required in this novel's world is for the students to embrace their true identity as clones and start focusing on how to stay alive .
Ishiguro does not offer opinions on any of these issues , rather presents the questions in powerfully compelling ways that make us stop and think about our assumptions and the way the tasks of daily life tend to distract us from considering deeper issues .
While it's always true that a great novel will mean different things to each person who reads it , I believe that this is particularly the case with Never Let Me Go . There is so much thought-provoking stuff packed inside this relatively short novel that its title becomes prophetic - - you won't stop thinking about it for a long while .
005 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Paperback )
The title of my review is taken from the Guardian's review of Never Let Me Go . It just seemed much more appropriate way to describe Ishiguro then anything that I could think of to say .
This novel is a delicate and complicated thing . On the surface , it appears predictable , and the cloning plot hackneyed . What world would support that kind of treatment of people ? How does the science of the donations work ? But , if you give the book a chance to do its work , you realize after all that the plot doesn't really matter . The alternative world and all the science in it is just a trope to explore a notion of response to striving , destiny and ultimately , resignation .
Even though this book is nominally science fiction , please do not focus too much on that aspect of the plot . If you do , you are going to keep hoping for a kind of resolution that Ishiguro never intends to deliver . The main character is nearly perfectly passive . Her lover , Tommy , is more rebellious . However , he never manages to use that rebellion or its energy in a focus or directed way . A lot like life , in other words , rather than a lot like genre fiction .
If you're tempted to be put off by the idea of science fiction , think again . Never Let Me Go should appeal to people who prefer the most delicate of literary novels . Once again , I'm deeply impressed by Ishiguro's feel for craft . Just lovely .
006 4 The title of my review is taken from the Guardian's review of Never Let Me Go . It just seemed much more appropriate way to describe Ishiguro then anything that I could think of to say .
This novel is a delicate and complicated thing . On the surface , it appears predictable , and the cloning plot hackneyed . What world would support that kind of treatment of people ? How does the science of the donations work ? But , if you give the book a chance to do its work , you realize after all that the plot doesn't really matter . The alternative world and all the science in it is just a trope to explore a notion of response to striving , destiny and ultimately , resignation .
Even though this book is nominally science fiction , please do not focus too much on that aspect of the plot . If you do , you are going to keep hoping for a kind of resolution that Ishiguro never intends to deliver . The main character is nearly perfectly passive . Her lover , Tommy , is more rebellious . However , he never manages to use that rebellion or its energy in a focus or directed way . A lot like life , in other words , rather than a lot like genre fiction .
If you're tempted to be put off by the idea of science fiction , think again . Never Let Me Go should appeal to people who prefer the most delicate of literary novels . Once again , I'm deeply impressed by Ishiguro's feel for craft . Just lovely .
007 4 As with Margaret Atwood's Hand Maid's Tale , Never Let Me Go begins like a contemporary mainstream novel . It takes awhile for the reader to realize that the world described is not the real world .
Gradually , you catch on to the differences and learn the rules of this world , as the characters themselves learn . The mis-direction starts on the page before the first chapter , where Ishiguro indicates that the scene is England , late 1990s . Everything is plausible . No scifi technology would be needed to have led to this alternate world . No major cataclysmic change . Just a subtle change of direction - - quite natural , quite credible , and hence foreshadowing a dismal future we may yet encounter .
From the first page , you feel that something is just a little bit off . Even the typeface is disconcerting , with a lowercase a that looks more like a handwritten a ( an o with a tail coming off to the right ) , instead of the usual printed a , as here ) .
You also quickly notice that the narrator is a bit obsessive and oversensitive , over-interpreting every look and gesture and event . And by keeping this up , over the course of the book , the author manages to completely redefine the basis of communication and the texture of life , including how to rad body language and context . Ishiguor gives an otherwodly aura to ordinary situations . You sense that there is always a mystery-to-be-solved behind what is happening , what is described , what is interpreted . Oridinay terms are used in extraordinary ways ( cf . 1984 , but far more subtle ) - - carer , donor , possible , guardian , deferral become laden with new and sinister meanings , hinting at the difference between these people and ordinary people , between their world and ours .
What we wind up with is a bizarre coming-of-age love story , combining innocence and horror , in a situation where the simplest everyday events and decisions take on heroic implications .
This is one of the best novels published in the last 100 years . Don't miss it .
009 4 While I agree with most of the positive reviews here , no one has mentioned what I think is a major flaw of the novel . To explain what I mean , let me back up a bit ( as protagonist Kathy H . was fond of saying ) .
The book is structured in such a way that the reader only gradually understands the dystopian aspects at work . Small details are casually revealed to indicate something different than what was first presented . I enjoyed this feature of the book as it kept the plot and characters slightly mysterious . What I did NOT like , in fact a device that I found highly distracting , was how the author ended almost every chapter ( and even sections within a chapter ) with a cryptic statement about an event that had happened ( unmentioned previously ) and the consequences it was to have on the current situation .
Some examples :
What happened after that row over the chess illustrates pretty well the point I'm making . As a reader you're asking what row over chess ? And then of course it's all explained .
I'm looking at them in light of what came later - particularly what happened that day at the pavilion while we were sheltering from the downpour . What day at the pavilion ? And then that day is explained .
But then everything changed again , and that was because of the boat . What boat ? Keep reading !
I find it hard to believe that this stylistic device didn't bother anyone else . I found it irritating because its placement was so predictable and because it's found often in children's books to keep reluctant readers interested in the plot .
Overall I did enjoy the book , but this constant allusion to unknown events I found tiresome and condescending to the reader .
010 4 I've read most of the reviews here . I've found this book troubling in many ways , and months after I read it , I just had to comment for others . The amazing insight I got from Ishiguro's book was that these clones are much like all of us - - always ready to move on , even when we know that what we're moving toward is awful .
Several people have commented that they wanted Kathy to escape her fate , and were profoundly disturbed that this never occurred to her as she meekly marched toward her destiny . I think this is a realistic observation of the human condition , and after reading the book , I began finding myself noticing that all people seem to move through all the rites of passage in their lives with eagerness , just as Kathy and her peers did . In fact , Kathy , like all of us , is always impatient to get to the next milestone , even as this movement brings her inexorably toward pain and death . Why would we be surprised by this intensely human reaction ?
The story didn't feel like science fiction , nor like a reprise of other clone books written in the past several decades . It felt like a very normal coming-of-age story about humans who just happened to be clones , callously created to rescue others . So , I was never shocked , nor did I want them to escape . It was only upon finishing the book that I was bowled over by the matter-of-fact approach , and that is why it continues to move me months later .
011 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
I finished Never Let Me Go with enormous relief . I could not stop reading it until the end , it was engrossing , but this novel evoked in me very strong emotions despite the fact , that the language is almost ascetic ( a big plus ) and the actual descriptions of emotions are virtually non-existent ( typical for Ishiguro ) .
The narrator is Kathy H , a woman my own age , who recalls her childhood in a boarding school , Hailsham , and slow uncovering of the secrets , which are hidden or half-revealed . Kathy is intelligent and questioning , and together with her friends , Ruth and Tommy , comes very close to the truth .
Very early on in the book we learn that the children are reared to be donors of organs and their life after school is carefully programmed . The school exists , however , to give them some dignity in life and is run by some enthusiasts who want to prove that the students are no less human than ordinary people .
I got very angry with the students for not being more active and rebellious . Kathy , Tommy and Ruth ask questions , but they go on with their lives as they are expected to , although there is no mention of punishments or ordeals , which await those who try to get out of the scheme . It is implied that nobody did . Why ? At the same time , I cannot believe , that the guardians who wanted to prove that their students had souls , seem not to believe it strong enough themselves !
I came across an interview with Ishiguro where he claims that the book is optimistic because of the natural dignity of the students , that they are undoubtedly human although their lives are so miserable . I did not catch this optimism at all , I was left with the feeling of hopelessness . Does it mean that the author failed to deliver his most important message ? This novel is very good , it must be , otherwise it would not be so moving , yet something is not there . . . Also , I had a profound feeling of déjà vu ( Brave New World ? The Island ? ) , the science-fiction metaphor of human life is not new , therefore four stars .
012 4 I finished Never Let Me Go with enormous relief . I could not stop reading it until the end , it was engrossing , but this novel evoked in me very strong emotions despite the fact , that the language is almost ascetic ( a big plus ) and the actual descriptions of emotions are virtually non-existent ( typical for Ishiguro ) .
The narrator is Kathy H , a woman my own age , who recalls her childhood in a boarding school , Hailsham , and slow uncovering of the secrets , which are hidden or half-revealed . Kathy is intelligent and questioning , and together with her friends , Ruth and Tommy , comes very close to the truth .
Very early on in the book we learn that the children are reared to be donors of organs and their life after school is carefully programmed . The school exists , however , to give them some dignity in life and is run by some enthusiasts who want to prove that the students are no less human than ordinary people .
I got very angry with the students for not being more active and rebellious . Kathy , Tommy and Ruth ask questions , but they go on with their lives as they are expected to , although there is no mention of punishments or ordeals , which await those who try to get out of the scheme . It is implied that nobody did . Why ? At the same time , I cannot believe , that the guardians who wanted to prove that their students had souls , seem not to believe it strong enough themselves !
I came across an interview with Ishiguro where he claims that the book is optimistic because of the natural dignity of the students , that they are undoubtedly human although their lives are so miserable . I did not catch this optimism at all , I was left with the feeling of hopelessness . Does it mean that the author failed to deliver his most important message ? This novel is very good , it must be , otherwise it would not be so moving , yet something is not there . . . Also , I had a profound feeling of déjà vu ( Brave New World ? The Island ? ) , the science-fiction metaphor of human life is not new , therefore four stars .
013 4 This Ishiguro novel , shortlisted for the prestigious booker prize , had a strange impact on me . I read it in just two sittings , absorbed by the crystal clear prose that gives an immediacy and pace to the first person narrative of Kathy as she describes her passage from childhood innocence at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham to a chillingly adult acceptance of her ultimate fate as a ' doner ' . I quickly became wrapped up in the lives of Kathy and her Hailsham friends Ruth and Tommy right until I turned the last page feeling moved and slightly unnerved . Yet only in the days since have I really felt the full emotional meaning of the story .
The central theme seems indeed to be about the loss of childhood innocence but I doubt very much that the sexual meaning of the term is most relevent here . Ishiguro seems to be telling us a fable about the loss of childhood wonder at the world , the unquestioning joy of being alive in a mysterious universe full of possiblities that most children feel at least some of the time and that all are destined to slowly lose to the cold harsh realities of the adult world . It seems also to ask whether love , friendship and meaning in life can have any intrinsic value given a scientific picture that increasingly sees human nature as goverened by laws indifferent to human hopes and ideals , a world where even love and altruism spring ultimately from the cold mathematical algorithms of evolutionary game theory .
Certainly a book that I'm going to go back to expecting to find something both profound and moving each time . I thoroughly recomend this book .
014 4 Magnificent . I would give this six stars if it were possible , because it adds an unexpected and quietly devastating emotional dimension to Ishiguro's already-powerful armory . Although this book has something of the alternative-reality feel of
THE UNCONSOLED
, it is by no means so difficult to read . It probably beats even
THE REMAINS OF THE DAY
in the surface lucidity of its narration , and emotions that had been denied or repressed in that earlier novel are here allowed to flower , albeit briefly . Indeed , one strand of this book is a love story , simple , true , and almost traditional , though denied the traditional happy-ever-after ending .
I am sorry that many of the previous reviewers , professional and otherwise , have given away the secret of what the book is about , since the pace at which Ishiguro reveals information is masterly . First , he gives hints that Hailsham , the secluded co-ed boarding-school in the English countryside , is not a normal school . Then he lets drop little bits of information , though never the complete picture . Even when the book is over , there are still larger mysteries out there that are never explained . Indeed , as others have pointed out , it is not only the readers who must accept the mystery ; the characters themselves are hesitant to demand explanations for what they have not been told ; it is part of what sets them apart as a sub-class , living apparently full lives within a cage of which they are only dimly aware .
There is a scene about three-quarters of the way through the book , after the heroine Kathy has got her own car and travels widely around Britain , when she takes a couple of her friends on a trip to see an old boat , beached on the edge of the marshes . It's just this old fishing boat , with a little cabin for a couple of fishermen to squeeze into when it's stormy . A common enough sight along the shoreline , one would think . But for the people in this story , it acquires almost mythic significance . Kathy first hears about it from people as far away as Wales , and people who have been to see it are given the respect due to returning pilgrims . But for people who are effectively institutionalized , such outings can seem very special indeed ; I remember feeling the same about some day-trips from boarding school , or later from a long-stay hospital . It is a brilliant device of Ishiguro's to demonstrate the smallness of his characters ' world by showing the intensity of their enthusiasm for something so apparently trivial . It is one of his dominant techniques in THE REMAINS OF THE DAY , and it recurs in each of the four books of his that I have read .
It is interesting that Ishiguro states the place and time quite baldly on the first page as England , late 1990s . Such glimpses of the outside world as we get , increasingly towards the end of the novel , are tied more closely to place and time than is usual with this author . And yet the basic premise of his story would have been impossible in the nineties . Although he is essentially writing science fiction , he needs to set it in the familiar world to prevent his readers from slipping into a special sci-fi gear . The most touching thing about his quite extraordinary characters is precisely their ordinariness , framed towards the end by long car journeys between various decrepit facilities , and lonely evenings in bed-sits . The heartbreak of the closing paragraph is conjured out of a description of windblown rubbish , torn plastic sheeting and bits of old carrier bags , caught in a wire fence .
I have noted before how in each of his novels , Ishiguro seems to take a particular genre of British popular fiction and rework it to his own ends : the Upstairs / Downstairs story in THE REMAINS OF THE DAY or the Great Detective story in
WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS
. Here , although the author surely owes much to John Wyndham's THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS , the dominant genre is not science fiction but the boarding-school novel . And once again , he has captured the convention to a tee ; it is also clear that he has been through such schools himself . This is all the more remarkable in that this book features a young woman as narrator and a mostly female cast , and thus breaks away from the classics of the genre ( for example , Kipling's
STALKY & CO
) which all have a boys-school bias . But he has the adolescent female psychology down pat , especially the way that the closest friendships can also harbor intense rivalries .
Ishiguro's appropriation of classic British tropes is parallel to what I see as his attempts to enter British society . As even a book written by an Englishman , Alan Hollinghurst's recent
THE LINE OF BEAUTY
, reminds us , English society is inherently dominated by class - - or rather caste - - with great importance placed on being a member of an in-group , and numerous ways , subtle and not so subtle , of reminding others that they are merely outsiders and not one of us . An immigrant from another culture , however talented and however well-connected , could not help but feel this even more acutely , and Ishiguro's books are peopled with characters who believe themselves to be part of a privileged elite , but are still conscious of a true elite beyond their circle to which they will never belong . The boarding-school setting is a perfect metaphor for this , beginning with shifting in-groups among the students themselves , extending to the distinctions between the older and younger students , and eventually moving into the outside world , where having been to such a school at all is both a mark of privilege and a handicap .
One might even say that it has a metaphysical component , questioning whether a life led in accordance with rules set by an unseen power that can change them at a whim is worth living at all . What , in short , do any of us live for ? Ishiguro's answer in this book seems to be that you simply have to live as best you can . I find it a strangely reassuring one .
015 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
There are some novels so intense that you are unable to read anything else immediately . NEVER LET ME GO is such a book . Reading this extremely well-written but devastating novel is a deeply emotional and troubling experience that will break your heart if you let it . The plot is such that the less said about it , the better , as there are many surprises along the way for the uninformed reader . A friend of mine sent me an e-mail saying something to the effect that I'm reading the new Ishiguro novel . It's about _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . I'll never know then when I would have figured out what was happening nor will I ever know both the joy and shock of my own discovery . ( I had the same experience with the movie THE CRYING GAME a few years ago when a gay reviewer gave the plot away so other gay people would not miss the movie . ) So do not read reviews that are plot summaries and do not let your friends tell you about what happens either .
The story is told by a first person thirty-one-year-old narrator whose name is Kathy H . We never know her last name or the last names of any of the other characters or even if they have last names . The narrator recounts her years as a child in Hailsham , a private school in England and her friendship with two other children , Ruth and Tommy , who also were at that school . You will remember these three tragic characters long after you've finished reading the novel .
Mr . Ishiguro's transparent prose and pretty much without adjectives or other modifiers , but then he does tell a straight-forward tale most visceral . He raises questions about the ethics of scientific experiments and comments about the brevity of life , how utterly futile it is for friends to bicker and hold grudges . He also asks how much adults should warn children about what life has to offer them , how much should we shelter them from the real world , the loneliness of being different , the uncrossable gulf between the sick and the well , missed opportunities , how the smallest whiff of hope sustains us , the beauty of friendship and lasting love - - and finally , a sweet thought - - that the dead never leave us as long as we remember them . In a poignant passage the narrator remembers Tommy : I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up , and I was now standing here in front of it , and if I waited long enough , a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field , and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy , and he's wave , maybe even call . The fantasy never got beyond that - - I didn't let it - - and though the tears rolled down my face , I wasn't sobbing or out of control . I just waited a bit , then turned back to the car , to drive off to wherever it was I was suuposed to be .
You will not read a novel like this one again . It certain will be nominated for a Booker Prize .
016 4 There are some novels so intense that you are unable to read anything else immediately . NEVER LET ME GO is such a book . Reading this extremely well-written but devastating novel is a deeply emotional and troubling experience that will break your heart if you let it . The plot is such that the less said about it , the better , as there are many surprises along the way for the uninformed reader . A friend of mine sent me an e-mail saying something to the effect that I'm reading the new Ishiguro novel . It's about _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . I'll never know then when I would have figured out what was happening nor will I ever know both the joy and shock of my own discovery . ( I had the same experience with the movie THE CRYING GAME a few years ago when a gay reviewer gave the plot away so other gay people would not miss the movie . ) So do not read reviews that are plot summaries and do not let your friends tell you about what happens either .
The story is told by a first person thirty-one-year-old narrator whose name is Kathy H . We never know her last name or the last names of any of the other characters or even if they have last names . The narrator recounts her years as a child in Hailsham , a private school in England and her friendship with two other children , Ruth and Tommy , who also were at that school . You will remember these three tragic characters long after you've finished reading the novel .
Mr . Ishiguro's transparent prose and pretty much without adjectives or other modifiers , but then he does tell a straight-forward tale most visceral . He raises questions about the ethics of scientific experiments and comments about the brevity of life , how utterly futile it is for friends to bicker and hold grudges . He also asks how much adults should warn children about what life has to offer them , how much should we shelter them from the real world , the loneliness of being different , the uncrossable gulf between the sick and the well , missed opportunities , how the smallest whiff of hope sustains us , the beauty of friendship and lasting love - - and finally , a sweet thought - - that the dead never leave us as long as we remember them . In a poignant passage the narrator remembers Tommy : I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up , and I was now standing here in front of it , and if I waited long enough , a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field , and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy , and he's wave , maybe even call . The fantasy never got beyond that - - I didn't let it - - and though the tears rolled down my face , I wasn't sobbing or out of control . I just waited a bit , then turned back to the car , to drive off to wherever it was I was suuposed to be .
You will not read a novel like this one again . It certain will be nominated for a Booker Prize .
017 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
Time Magazine put this in their Top 100 English Language Books .
I certainly agree .
There are many lengthy reviews here , and I'd suggest you read them . As a result I'll keep mine short .
Read this book .
Don't fear the sci-fi sound of it , Ishiguro really doesn't deal with any science at all , just consequences . There's nothing confusing in the science , and the book is by no means a science fiction work ( in fact , the poor reviews I've read for the book all come from science fiction websites disappointed by it . )
This is a book of life , of humanity , and of loss .
It's told extremely well , and you'll find yourself really caring for the narrator . She feels real , not like a cliche , not like a character , but real .
Read this book .
018 4 Time Magazine put this in their Top 100 English Language Books .
I certainly agree .
There are many lengthy reviews here , and I'd suggest you read them . As a result I'll keep mine short .
Read this book .
Don't fear the sci-fi sound of it , Ishiguro really doesn't deal with any science at all , just consequences . There's nothing confusing in the science , and the book is by no means a science fiction work ( in fact , the poor reviews I've read for the book all come from science fiction websites disappointed by it . )
This is a book of life , of humanity , and of loss .
It's told extremely well , and you'll find yourself really caring for the narrator . She feels real , not like a cliche , not like a character , but real .
Read this book .
019 4 ( a mild spoiler ahead , nothing too bad . . . i bet all of you know it anyway )
I had recently finished Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day , and having come away deeply impressed and moved by the book , was glancing through his other offerings on amazon , trying to decide which of his novels to tackle next . When I read about Never Let Me Go and saw the wildly polarized reviews , I knew I had to read the book ; something from an author I respect that inspired such emotion couldn't be bad , I thought . I was right .
A quick plot summary : Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy are students at an isolated boarding school called Hailsham . They have no parents or last names or any connection with the outside world , all they have is one another . Over the years , the three characters become more and more entwined through ties of friendship and , as they grow older , love . After they graduate , they begin to realize their special fate , why they were raised at this isolated school , and it is this heartbreaking realization that colors the rest of their short time together . The entire story is told by Kathy poignantly looking back on it all . Quintessential Ishiguro .
FIrst , I must say that I am baffled at all the negative reviews of this book . What did you expect when you picked it up ? Some sort of Blade Runner-esque thriller ? I think perhaps readers were drawn in by the science fiction premise , and expected something totally different than what Ishiguro provides . This book is not about cloning or its ethical ramifications , although I guess some of this is inevitably present . I believe Ishiguro only frames the story with these quietly horrific issues in order to put a magnifying glass to the lesser ways we are all guilty of the same thing that Kathy , Tommy , and Ruth are : passivity .
The book is a beautiful meditation on the idea that in some way or the other most of us don't go after what's really important in the time that's given us - true love , that American Dream , our dream profession , whatever we value most - and how our own self-delusion makes breaking free and pursuing our own happiness so damn hard . It's not beautiful in a conventional way - you won't find any stunning turns of phrase or verbal pyrotechnics - but that's not Ishiguro's style . Rather , on a larger scale , every scene is perfectly fitted with the next , every tidbit revealed about the character's lives absolutely essential , every memory blurred with exactly the right amount of doubt , so that the entire novel shimmers with the gleam of complete truth .
While Never Let Me Go is not a page turner in the traditional sense , I , for one , could not put it down and I finished it in a day and a half . If any of the subject matter I discussed above interests you in the least , you won't be able to put it down either and I will bet that in the days following , your thoughts will also be haunted about how much your life might be like those of the students at Hailsham , about the paths you haven't taken in your own life . Highly , highly recommended .
020 4 Some reviewers are infuriated by the lack of action from the characters to escape their predicament . This is surely one of the main themes of the novel and one that is consistent with all of Ishiguro's work . His characters have an inability to change or escape their own conceptions of the world . You are forced to look at your life and ask what have you done - why haven't you run to something better ? Then perhaps an understanding of the main characters lack of action will be deeper and more acceptable . They have internally created walls and in their prison they are free to go anywhere , like us , but ultimately have a place in life where they head , open eyed , like moths to the flame .
021 4 Caveat : there are small spoilers ahead , though fewer than in the Publsher's Weekly review that Amazon provides .
I really wanted to like this book a lot , and it certainly is not without its virtues . The way Ishiguro sustains the voice of the narrator over the course of the story is impressive ; Kathy's voice is every bit as distinctive as Stevens ' in The Remains of the Day and yet quite unlike it . The book also deals with worthy themes , not least the way we might come to take for granted something utterly shocking and repulsive . One reviewer asked why none of the characters tried to run away . My response is that the reader wishes they might , but the point of the novel is that the characters have been lulled into a sense that their lot in life is inevitable ; they have their place and the most they could hope for ( a hope that plays out in the final pages ) is that there might be a brief respite from what must come .
More below on the psychological plausibility of that premise . My disappointment had to do with what sits in the background . The novel , after all , is set in contemporary England - - or , at least , a version of contemporary England that's supposed to be within a reasonable imaginative distance of the world as it actually is . Perhaps the scheme on which the novel is built could actually emerge from the real attitudes of contemporary Western Europe . The way we are to assume most people view Kathy and her fellow students is not unlike the kind of racism that's still far too common in supposedly civilized Europe . But even that sort of reflexive racism seldom goes so far as to call into question whether the other has a soul and , the most vicious aside , most Western racists would still be horrified by the use to which the students are put . It's true ; we are within living memory of the Holocaust . But it's also true that because of those very memories , the Western world , at least , is a different place . Moreover , even though most of us have deep reservations about cloning , it's not because we think that cloned humans would be any less than human . On the contrary , our reservations are partly because it's so clear that these beings _ would _ be humans - - just like us .
Or so one might think . In order to make the case that this isn't so , and that the England he imagines is within imaginative reach , Ishiguro would have had to tell us a lot more than he does about how his dystopia came about . What we get , instead , is a hasty and almost perfunctory account in the final pages that feels unconvincing and blunts the emotional force of the novel's ending .
That said , there's a coda that honesty compels me to add . When I finished the book , I felt much less moved than I thought I was meant to . But in spite of the clumsiness of the backstory , I woke up the next morning with a real sense of unease . It was not that I was ready to grant the plausibility of the backstory . It was that I could imagine all too easily that the characters might really have been manipulated into accepting the utterly unacceptable lot that they have been handed , however implausible that lot may be . These characters may not be intrinsically less soulless than the rest of us , but we can imagine them being robbed of a piece of their souls - - not by the circumstances of their births but by how they've been schooled to see themselves .
022 4 Ishiguro's latest is a masterpiece of understatement , a view of science run rampant through the eyes of children . Ruth , Kathy and Tommy are a tight triangle in the privileged world of Hailsham , an elite boarding school in the heart of the English countryside . Ishiguro's rendering of the enclosed , often cruel world of a private school is eerily familiar , unerringly told from the point of view of three adolescent characters - - certain students are inexplicably on the outs , friendships change on a whim , dominant students hold sway over others in irrational ways , secret pacts are made and die . But permeating all is the fact that these students have a role to fulfill once grown . The details are revealed with almost maddening slowness , but isn't that how certain truths often dawn on us ? And the characters ' acceptance of their roles is terrifying in a way - - will human beings accept anything as long as properly indoctrinated ? Perhaps not , as Kathy , Tommy and Ruth reach adulthood and become gripped by the notion that their donations may be deferred . Ishiguro's astute rendering of the details of everyday life , the slow unraveling of the truth , the trueness of the narrator's voice , all add up to a masterpiece .
023 4 I have to confess , I read this book because of its cover . It was my first Ishiguro - - it won't be my last . Kudos to Lieutenant Colonel O'Gorman's stunning cover photo , ` Christina . ' The image of the young lady with the Rapunzel locks colored my reading all the way through the book . She was so human - - I immediately associated her with Kathy H . And she had mystery - - what in the hell was she staring at ? Her pose connotes aloneness , an effect enhanced by O'Gorman's use of what I'm guessing was a very long telephoto .
Ishiguro's tale lived up to its cover . He is a master of subtext and indirection , takes his time dribbling out plot details - - he's like Margaret Atwood that way - - you're on page one hundred or so before you're really sure what fate is awaiting the characters . His most evasive technique of camouflaging the plot is the jargon used by the students at Halisham - - ` carers , ' ` the fourth turning . ' The students use these words like everyone should know them while the poor reader is left to decipher their meaning through context .
Once their fate became clear to me , I went through a phase where I thought surely they would be rescued . Escape would have been so easy - - they weren't under lock and key . And then I began to realize that none of them ever intended to escape - - the notion was foreign to them . They were all resigned to the fourth turning . And that made me angry . They had by then so impressed me with their humanity , I saw their destiny as premeditated murder . I kept thinking of Dylan Thomas ' famous closer : Do not go gentle into that good night . Rage , rage against the dying of the light . I found it incongruous that the students should be able to go gentle into that good night , albeit one body part at a time . Why didn't they rage , rage as I would have done ? Weren't they just like you and me ? And I believe that was Ishiguro's point all along .
- - Ejner Fulsang , author of A Destiny of Fools , Aarhus Publishing
024 4 Part science fiction , part cultural criticism , Never Let Me Go is a novel of love and friendship between three young adults raised in modern-day England . Victims of a society whose scientific advances have moved faster than its ability to address the resulting changes in an ethical and conscientious manner , the three share a lifetime bond that must end much too soon .
This book reminded me of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale in its eerie realism , but without the growing tension . While many of the characters are superbly crafted , and the environment in which the children are raised is incredibly detailed , I was still left wanting more . . . more resolution , more outrage , more tension , more passion , more SOMETHING .
Still , Ishiguro is a master and this book is worth reading , if only for the questions he raises about our ability to deal humanely with the scientific advances we're on the brink of adopting into mainstream culture .
025 4 What an amazing book ! I found myself thinking and thinking about the issues it raised . It came to me at a time in my life when I was thinking a lot about wasted chances and especially wasted education - - - is it ever a waste to learn if there is a sure knowledge you will never use that knowledge for earning or to teach others ? The characters have to constantly re-evaluate their lives based on ever increasing knowledge of their lot in life .
The writing is wonderful in that it mirrors the lives of the characters . Like Kath , we know many of the secrets of the book a bit from the start - - - it's not the sort of book with sudden horrifying revelations - - - but the bits and pieces we are told here and there add up to a horror beyond what they would if they were all told in at the end .
The plot is fairly simple - - - a woman in her 30s starts recalling her youth at a boarding school after meeting up again with a old friend of hers and her friend's ex-boyfriend , who she had a crush on . Through her work , she cares for both of them and learns more about why they were born , and what is in store for them . To tell any more would be to tell too much , but suffice to say this story is both up to the moment and timeless .
I am going to seek out the other writings of this author . I hope this novel gets a wide reading .
026 4 Excellent reading and very typical of Mr . Ishiguro writing : slow , painfully analytical of seemingly mundane events and conversations yet intriguing because we constantly expect ( and receive ) a reward from all these detailed dissections . On the other hand , the book doesn't emphasize at all on the technical details of what really goes on behind the scenes when a donation is given ( what body part did they take away now from this poor child now ? ) or what the actual scientific purpose is . At first , I got irritated with this but later realized it wasn't the point to have all this explained in detail . After all , the book would become meaningless if the characters would realize their freedom and decide to say up yours and flee the whole scene . . I found a strong feeling of gloom and sadness as I lived through the emotions of the characters and constantly hoped for their escape , which of course never came . This sadness surprisingly stayed with me for quite a while . A fast-forward slice of life of individuals that had a tremendous amount of impact on both the other characters in the book as well as the reader . . Not a book for everyone , but that's Ishiguro for you .
027 4 I have to admit that while I was reading Never Let You Go I wasn't sure that I liked it or not . I had to ruminate on the intricacies of the plotline and the characters for a few days before deciding , definitively , that I enjoyed the book a lot . Perhaps that is why so many people complain about the apparent lack of action in the novel ; it requires a degree of thought and settling in to the concept in order to see that it actually makes perfect sense . That's not necessarily the reader's fault - - by now we have all become inundated by stories of the downtrodden rising up to challenges they face and attempting to throw off the shackles of tyranny that bind them ( it is , after all , a defining part of the American character , and we have come to expect people to want to be liberated when oppressed ) . Ishiguro , displaying an adept understanding of the psychology of the enslaved , takes the opposite road . The characters in Never Let Me Go have all of the hopes and dreams of normal human beings , but are too afraid to go after them and make them a reality . They willingly give themselves up to the lives that have been set for them because it is all that they know and all that they have been prepared for their whole lives . To step outside of that box never really crosses their minds because they are too terrified to consider the consequences of doing so . But I don't want to give anything away - - part of the joy of Ishiguro's writing is the way he teases out the details of the world they live in without making it feel like he's intentionally withholding information to build suspense . The narrative is extremely well crafted , perfectly capturing the slightly rambling way people tell stories in the first-person narration of Kathy H . , a former student at a prestigious and mysterious boarding school named Hailsham . On the cusp of a life change , Kathy is recollecting her life story and her relationship with two other students at Hailsham named Ruth and Tommy . The ups and downs of their interactions propel the story along to a heartfelt and heartbreaking conclusion that is remarkably resonant for such a staid narrative ( perhaps its impact is felt all the more because of the restrained emotions that preceded it ) . I would highly recommend this book , and look forward to exploring Ishiguro's other novels as well .
028 4 I have only read one of Ishiguro's previous novels , ' When We Were Orphans ' , and that was years ago . I vaguely remember it being good but not outstanding .
' Never Let Me Go ' on the other hand had a tremendous effect on me and is one of the most exciting and rewarding novels I've ever read . It starts out harmlessly , like a child's tale ; a seemingly simple story with initially only three characters narrated in a tightly restrained yet elegant prose . But as you read on , the mood gets darker and darker and ( sorry ) it never lets you go ! Ishiguro achieves the greatest effects not by describing what goes on but by dropping small hints .
The book has a chilling and gutquenching undertone . I was completely drained when I finished reading and the story still haunts me .
I was very surprised to read an interview with Ishiguro where he claimed that this is his most cheerful book to date !
If you loved this , I recommend ' Spies ' by Michael Frayn . It also starts off lightly and develops a huge emotional punch . Another great read is ' Cloud Atlas ' by David Mitchell , a tremendously ambitous book which also offers a dystopian view into the future ( in the same interview , Ishiguro quoted Mitchell as one of the other big-hitting ' serious ' others writing about cloning ) .
029 4 . . . nevertheless , Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go was an intriguing read , reeling me in ever so gradually , nearly losing me , never fully snagging me , but throwing me bait of disconcerting revelation just frequently enough to keep me turning pages . By end , I had to admit I had enjoyed reading the book more than , well , than I had realized while reading it .
Which is the kind of odd quality , odd hold , this novel has over the reader . Ishiguro writes in unassuming language . His story seems quite ordinary , initially nothing much more than a coming of age tale , and it runs over 80 pages before I got my first real jolt . Even that , more of a tug than a jolt . The reader begins to notice something strange going on , little weirdnesses tucked between the everyday routines . Once the reader realizes the scene unfolding is not quite as ordinary as first thought , interest grows .
This is a dark tale of human beings being treated as less than human beings , of human clones grown and nurtured for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs , and their less than humane treatment , even though in appearances humane , based on various societal biases or perhaps only less than clear thinking , or faulty value systems . Indeed , this is Ishiguro's mastery . He has given something very dark , some might say evil , a face so bland it goes almost unnoticed . And , isn't this how evil pervades society every day ? Monsters are rarely big and green and warty . Strangers are often your favorite uncle , or the boy next door . The taking down of civilization is not done with a big bang , but with nibbles and bites , a gradual desensitization . Ishiguro's evil is seemingly meek and submissive , as if done for the wellbeing of the masses , and that may arguably be the tactic used most successfully . In novels as well as in life .
030 4 This is probably the most disturbing book I have read in a long long time . I could not read it in one go . I had to stop a couple of times for a few days but I was mesmerized by it and had to continue reading eventhough I guessed but still dreaded what was coming . Now that I have just finished it , I cannot help thinking what if ? Could this be in our future ? After all it is not farfetched . The science is already here and this is what makes it so disturbing . As a cancer survivor , I asked myself if salvation came from a donor , and it was the accepted norm , would I refuse ? . I still hope I would shrink from the horror of it but who knows ? As I said : it is a most disturbing book .
031 4 This is NOT a sci-fi cloning Nightmare in Hailsham by the creators of the late Dolly the clone sheep . It is , however , a story about the human spirit coming through in the most unexpected circumstances .
As far as I can tell , Ishiguro has no plans to write a sequel to appease the few vocal readers who miss the boat here : there will be no Episode II : The Revenge of the Kath where Kathy H . takes the clone nation in her hands , leads the carers and donors to topple the regime through cunning , deceit , sarcasm , civil disobedience . . . . .
The strange and macabre premise may be hard to fathom , but this ain't Michael Crichton , people . Don't look for water-tight scientific premises and action and counterreaction . One must look for deeper meanings conjured by such a premise , and not just be bogged down at wondering about the premise , in order to fully appreciate this book . I have read the book a week ago and the thought provocations continue daily . It is a haunting and chilling story .
This is a book that requires the reader to confront the similarities of his / her current life with those of the subjects in the story : if Kathy , Tommy , and Ruth and their friends are so accepting and not challenging the doomed premise that awaits them , it is because that world is the only world they know , as flawed and cruel as it obviously seems when the reader examines it from the outside .
In that sense , what about us ? We may not be completing to the same cruel degree as the subjects in the book , but the modern life has certainly weighed down heavily on all of us : stress , depression , anxiety , family / marital breakdown are abundant reminders . Aren't we just accepting all of this as all part of our modern-day lives just as readily as the subjects in the story are accepting their fate ? And how amazing that from the strange and improbable premise created by Ishiguro can come such revealing lesson about our own world ?
Glory , I am sorry to single you out , but you stood at the wrong vantage point from which to review this book , and your calling this a dumb book after your faulty assessment is rather unfortunately revealing of your missing the point : this is least of all a sci-fi horror story . It has something to do with cloning , yes , but PETA has nothing to do with this book , and if you bring that into your discussion , it really makes one doubt that you understood the book at all .
It's not how strange and ultimately unrealistic the premise that should be your focus : Ishiguro has said this in countless interviews about this book . It is a story about how these children grow up in their second-class world and how they struggle to let their humanity come through even though it might not matter at all in the end . It is a story about how we should examine our world to see whether we are letting any of our unique values come through before we ourselves march through the accepted algorithm of school-more school-job-retire-death , toward our completion .
An endlessly intriguing book , that leaves just the right things unanswered and just enough holes unplugged , to let the enlightened reader exercise his / her mind during the read and for a good while after .
032 4 This book was so well written , the subject matter so unusual , and the story itself so riveting that I read it almost straight thru . However , it was ulitimately very painful and disturbing . . . . . . much like George Orwell's 1984 . A book I would highly recommend reading - but only once .
033 4 You know you've read a good book when a ) you can't put it down for long , and b ) you can't stop thinking about it once you've finished . Never Let Me Go certainly has both of these qualities , and is excellenty written as well . Ishiguro does a brilliant job of presenting the reader with the idyllic world of Hailsham , while slowly adding bits of information that hint at the book's darker nature .
This is not a book for anyone looking for a lighthearted read . Despite being told in a very objective manner by our narrator , Kathy H . , the story evokes strong emotions . One cannot help but feel the helplessness , resignation and despair of the three main characters . It is haunting and disturbing , but more than worth the read .
034 4 I just finished this book in one sitting , having picked it up to consider for an English project ( I'm a senior in high school ) . I had never read anything of his before , and while I was impressed with the Booker Prize and the praises on the cover , I wasn't sure what to expect . Suffice it to say , Ishiguro is a master of slowly , slowly immersing his reader into the reality of the book , feeding you bits and pieces at a time . Even at the beginning when I really had no idea what the book was about , I was pulled in . And by the time I finished it , my heart was pounding faster than normal - - still is !
Yes , he explores a contemporary issue with skill , but contemporary issues aside , he is a wonderful storyteller . My one complaint is that the storytelling was a bit too littered with phrases like looking back and as i remember it etc . ; not that there is anything wrong with the perspective given , but the frequency of these particular sentiments sometimes broke the flow for me . otherwise , a 100% worthy read .
035 4 Ishiguro is a learned man's entertainer and an acquired taste . When I first read his first novel Artist of the Floating World several years ago , I couldn't see the virtue in his rambling style of writing , but some inexplicable pull brought me back to read Remains of the Day and it finally dawned on me that what makes his writing so special is his ability to harness the power of the unspoken word .
In this book as in Ishiguro's others , the story is between the lines . Ishiguro builds detailed characters and engages in leisurely narratives but along the way he leaves behind questions in your mind that he won't simply answer for you . Why don't the donors ever try to fight their fate ? Why do they aspire for a postponement , why not a cancellation of donations altogether ? Why is learning to drive such a big deal ? How come there is no mention of the students ' families ? Why do they complete , not die ? If you followed the deceptively rambling details all along , the jigsaw may just finally fit . No quick thrills here but the sunset at the top of the hill is gorgeous .
Ishiguro's mastery lies in crafting a great plot and infusing it with sensitivity - never underestimating the intelligence of the reader , never casting moral issues in black and white , never drawing conclusions for the reader . There are more metaphors and allusions here than the average reader ( me included ) can see . This book is a worthy contender for the Booker 2005 and I hope it wins .
036 4 Never Let Me go is a difficult book , I'd actually say , impossible book to review without discussing what isn't revealed fully until almost a 100 pages in . That's not really such as problem as some pretty heavy-handed references to the surprise come in the first few pages , many readers will figure it out in the first few dozen , and Ishiguro himself says he has no problem with reviewers revealing the premise as he wasn't writing a mystery . But for those who prefer not to know , I'll keep the next paragraph spoiler-free then skip a line and give a spoiler alert before continuing .
Never Let Me Go is narrated by 31 - year-old Kathy H , a soon-to-retire carer who looks back at her time at Hailsham , a strange and isolated English private school where she lived her entire youth . Moving back and forth in time , she revisits the school's strange rules and traditions , the oddly reticent live-in teachers or Guardians , and especially the relationship she had with Tommy and Ruth - - her two best friends . The book's strengths are its clear , clean prose ; its muted voice , its shifting back and forth in time , its steadily accreting sense of poignancy . Its weaknesses are several scenes that would read much more tritely were they not bolstered by the weight conveyed due to the as-yet-to-be-revealed-in-this-review premise , a sometimes annoying repetition of qualifiers and reminders that memory is not 100 percent , and a sense that the world created hasn't really been fully thought out or fully stocked . The book can be moving , but lags in some places and annoys in others . And that's the vague review you get when the premise can't be discussed : a mildly pleasing book that disappoints somewhat in the end . Anyone who doesn't want the premise revealed should stop here .
Spoilers below :
It doesn't take long for the reader to figure there's something weird about Hailsham and it isn't that far into the book that the main premise is revealed , that Kathy , Tommy , Ruth and the other students are clones created to become organ donors . Kathy has been a carer ( for the clones who donate ) for over a decade and is soon to become a donor herself . She has reunited recently with Ruth and Tommy , both of whom became donors much earlier and both of whom are moving steadily towards their completion ( death ) which usually happens after the fourth donation .
The premise is what gives the book the added weight some of its scenes desperately need . On the surface level , the book is a not-so-original my life at boarding school story . Kathy recounts the usual angst of adolescence : the fear of being isolated , cliques , the exploration of sexuality , the cattiness of friends , the way friendships shift between rivalry and loyalty ( especially when there is a triangle involved ) , the dominant girl and the more passive girl , etc . All of these scenes are handled deftly and smoothly , but not particularly originally . There isn't much spark to them , nothing we haven't seen a thousand times before .
What rescues the book from cliche or from triteness of course is the chilling ever-presence of the premise . These are not normal pre-teens and teens . The fact that they are clones , that they are basically farm animals bred to be slaughtered , that they will almost all complete at a relatively young age ( Kathy at 31 is pretty old in comparison to most it seems ) - - all of this adds weight to each would-otherwise-be-trivial scene . When Kathy talks about how the kids collected small , basically worthless items to mark their individuality , it's nothing more than all pre-teens do , except of course that in this situation it is , and one can't help but feel the echo of similar behaviors in the concentration camps . The same is true for the mysterious focus at Hailsham on producing art , on being creative . One of the earliest signs of something amiss is that the best kid at football is not honored for his athleticism but mocked for his lack of artistic talent .
The guardians have full knowledge of the truth and it is slowly revealed to the students , but timed Kathy later suspects so that they were never really old enough to fully internalize what they were being told about their fate . Some adults show revulsion toward them , some pity , some regret , some anger .
Among the three kids , Ruth is the dominant one , Kathy the more passive , and Tommy is caught in between , becoming Ruth's boyfriend but also clearly pining for Kathy , who as a young woman would like to return that affection but doesn't . Why she doesn't , what happens when the three reunite as adults , what they further learn about Hailsham are all points better left undiscussed , as they drive much of the plot in the last quarter of the book and they , at least , are meant to be somewhat suspenseful or mysterious .
As mentioned above , the strengths of the book are its prose and its premise . As one expects from Ishiguro , the writing is sharp and efficient , smoothly tailored to its intended effect . The premise permeates the book and is disturbing not simply for its horror but also for the triviality of its presentation . This is no horrific dystopic vision like 1984 or the Handmaid's Tale . What chills here is the banality of the presentation , of the setting and the seemingly trivial activities of the children / teens .
This is both strength , however , and weakness , for it's a very fine line Ishiguro is trying to walk , and if the banality of the conflicts and dialogues and crises serve to make the premise more chilling , they are also banal and for me at least they never completely escaped that banality . I see the chilling effect , I understand it , but a part of me kept reacting to the triviality of yet another teen angst book with two teen girls liking the same boy , with boys ganging up on another boy , with girls being mean to each other , etc .
Kathy's voice was also somewhat problematic for me for it was a bit too muted , too matter-of-fact , at least until the very end . And there was the annoying frequency with which she would qualify her memories by saying something along the lines of of course , memory isn't failsafe , or Ruth ( or Tommy ) didn't remember it this way , or I thought this was how it happened but now I find I'm unsure . . and so on . I didn't mind the idea so much as how often it was thrown at me .
Plot-wise , the ending seemed a bit forced - - the search for a particular truth and the way a lot of information is revealed at the end in monologue form by an old woman in a room , much of the mystery summed up in a few pages of pure speech .
But by far the largest problem I had was how the whole world premise felt only half-baked . While the self-contained world of Hailsham was well-presented , there were a lot of nagging questions with regard to what was happening elsewhere . The clones move freely in and out of society once they graduate from Hailsham , but there is little reaction to or from them with regard to normals . Where are the inevitable extremists from either side - - those who would protect them from their fate and those who would want to destroy them ? Who are the organs for ? Why does no one rebel , take a car and just drive away ? How does nobody try to get word to the kids at Hailsham about what they really are and what their future is ? Ishiguro has one Guardian break down and hint / reveal but it's handled more sentimentally than with any anger or sense of rebellion . One has to imagine there would be others who would take more active roles . Not that they had to be on-stage but rumors of such things , brief references to them would make the world seem more real . Even Tommy , who is noted for his frighteningly extreme temper , never rebels . The analysis that his temper was a subconscious reaction to the sensed truth of his life - - maybe on a level you knew before any of us - - might explain 8 - yr-old Tommy throwing a tantrum but not why 13 - yr-old Tommy doesn't do worse . Or why 20 - yr-old Tommy doesn't just take off once he's free of Hailsham's restrictions .
In the end , the half-nature of the created world , the muted narrative voice , and the surface triviality of the kids ' relationships combined to bleed the book of some of its power . Not all of it . As I've said , there is a sense of chill throughout , and the end is quite moving , as is the book as a whole . But if the book is greater than its parts , it isn't so by much . Recommended , but not with a lot of excitement .
037 4 Although this review will not contain a spoiler for NEVER LET ME GO's big secret ( except to say that it somehow involves bio-ethics ) , let me assure any reader that knowing the plot twist should in no way stop you from reading the book . I did know the secret beforehand and , to be honest , am glad I did . If I had not known , then I would have been so busy trying to solve the riddles that I would have been distracted from the meaning imbued within the clues that are dropped .
On to the book . There is usually a significant time lapse between scientific advances and a society's social and cultural ability to absorb such changes . In the area of biological advances in science , issues directly touching on our ability to prolong life have called into question such issues as how valuable human life is and to what extent should we go to save human life .
The dearth of artistic expressions of such issues has created a vacuum that unfortunately has been filled with the likes of Peter Singer , a bio-ethicist who believes that because what makes humans human is difficult to properly articulate , it must therefore be morally irrelevant . Taking this starting point , Singer proceeds to diminish humanity with a logic so steely cold that it would make an executioner turn green with envy .
NEVER LET ME GO is a large step towards balancing this disparity . That is not to say that Ishiguro is particularly interested in bio-ethical issues . For all I know , he has no such interest whatsoever and simply wanted to write a good book . Yet any good novelist transcends the specific story he writes and touches upon the zeitgeist of his times . This Ishiguro does and that he set the book in the near past indicates that this was his intent .
The story involves Kathy telling of her past at a prestigious school called Hailsham . Although the surface of the story discusses the same mundane childhood events that may be familiar to all of us , there are little hints thrown in that something is a bit different . Exactly what that difference is and how it affects Kathy and her classmates is told subtly , so that by the time we learn the truth , we are sufficietly attached to the characters to view them more personally , more humanly , than we might have had the story been told from a different perspective . Ishiguro shifts the perspective sufficiently so as to make us examine certain issues anew .
Had NEVER LET ME GO been more bombastic , it would not have worked as well . Happily , Ishiguro has the talent to present us with a very good read packed with moral complexity . I recommend it highly .
038 4 This is an incredibly sad novel that keeps you hooked . Ishiguro places his novel in a time period that is interestingly enough , not the future . While this is an incredible book , that there are a lot of science fiction writers who have been handling this material for years who also should have received recognition but unfortunately never will due to today's snooty literary establishment . See the short story Macs by Terry Bisson , for a really spooky take on this subject . This is nothing against Ishiguro though , who like Atwood ( despite her use of the word speculative has brought more respect to the genre ) .
Ishiguro , who spent the first five years of his life in Japan is more familiar with a system that is designed to invite as little revolt as possible . The whole system with the students at Hailsham , their rankings of student , carer , etc , all feel spookily like the Japanese senpai / kohai system where kids are allowed to participate in their own oppression , the most effective way to quell revolt . In Japan , children are first and foremost told that they must be tsunao ( compliant ) and where the horrors of life after the four year university vacation are , as at Hailsham , revealed to them gradually until they are virtually unquestionable .
Most importantly , Ishiguro is not wagging a finger about the moral dangers of cloning . He is using the sci-fi element as a metaphor for how societies , especially during times of progress , are willing to sacrifice people's lives to keep the machine going . This is why the medical advance of organ harvesting is discovered in the 1950s , a time when so many other monsters and abuses continued in the rush to the future : nuclear proliferation ; the radiation experiments on so-called handicapped kids who were locked away in U.S . institutions ; Japan's own destruction of its environment during the post-war reconstruction . It is about about how large scale progress asks us , not only to give up our physical parts , but gradually , pieces of our own souls . When Kathy H becomes a carer , and her life is thrown into a humdrum , yet back breaking routine that essentially robs her and her peers of their ability to think about the reality of their situation , it is like the young company recruit , fresh out of college who is deliberately thrown into the life-sucking monotony before he or she has a chance to figure things out . Their world is kept small at Hailsham , and constrained even further when they reach the outside . Tommy's distancing of himself before his final donation is not unlike the haggard salaryman , who loses all emotional contact with his wife in that final fatigued relinquishment to the corporation .
Some reviewers have complained that none of the students rebel . They need only work in a Japanese school , or nowadays , a test-crazy American school in the age of No Child Left Behind , to understand this dangerously easily instillation of passivity .
039 4 Never Let Me Go is a very worthwhile book . But you must not read reviews of it before you read the book itself : AVOID SPOILERS ! ! ! Let the plot unfold on you so that you don't know where it is going . Only then will you fully appreciate the subtlety and beauty of the plot development and the underlying message . It's a good read - - not Shakespeare or Flaubert , but almost Dickens or Hardy . Close to Balzac in quality . As you read it keep repeating to yourself : This is an English author , writing an English work of literature . Some people don't get that Ishiguro , for all his Japanese name , is as Brit as they come , and he writes fully in the tradition of Hardy , Lawrence , Forster , and all those other English writers .
Good read ! Highly recommended .
040 4 It is not immediately apparent if this bizarre , fascinating novel is primarily a sociological look at a frighteningly dystopian society or a psychological study of three friends growing up which happens to take place in such a strange and cruel world . This inability to easily categorize the book is due to Ishiguro's refusal to make things simple for the reader . In so doing , he reminds us how rare this is , and how most books spoon-feed us , telling us exactly what to think and feel . The greatest dystopian novels , such as 1984 and Brave New World are quite unapologetic in their roles as cautionary tales . The relationships that occur in these novels are clearly secondary to the descriptions of the repressive societies . Not so with Never Let Me Go , which is at least as character-driven as plot-driven .
The novel starts off rather innocently , as Kathy H . , the narrator , recalls her girlhood days at an exclusive boarding school . There are some clues that things are not quite normal . For one thing , all of the characters ' last names are merely initials ( I know this device is used in at least one other well known story , but I don't recall which one ) . Another strange thing is that none of the characters seem to have families or any references outside of this school . Finally , the roles by which they are identified are rather unconventional . Kathy is a carer who cares for donors . Early on I assumed these were simply unfamiliar ( to me ) terms used by the English for ordinary occupations , such as home health care aides . It soon becomes apparent , however , that these roles are far more sinister . The sinister , and actually quite horrifying truth , is hidden from the reader for quite some time . At first , we are introduced to Kathy and her complex but not all that unusual relationships with her friends and classmates , especially Ruth and Tommy . These three end up in a kind of romantic triangle . Ruth is revealed as a manipulative person who uses underhanded tactics to come between Tommy and Kathy . These personal dynamics are interesting enough that we barely notice , or only gradually notice , the truly bizarre events that are taking place around these children / young adults . It turns out that this school is part of a larger plan , in which human clones , treated little better than farm animals , are harvested for their vital organs . These donors are literally bred for this purpose alone , and end up dying painful deaths after a certain number of operations . Ishiguro does not set this tale in some distant ( or even near ) future , or in some imaginary world but in England at the present time . This is a creepy what if scenario that could still take place given the direction modern science is taking .
It's difficult to guess the author's motive for writing a book , especially a writer as subtle and multifaceted as Ishiguro . He forces the reader to do all the work , rather than shoving a conclusion down our throats . What I came away thinking was that the real theme of this book is something not directly mentioned , something quite conspicuous by its absence - - the tendency for most people to conform to the status quo of their society . While people in this novel have disagreements about particulars , such as whether these donors should be told as children of their future roles or shielded from this terrible reality until a later age , no one ever questions the morality or sanity of the practice itself . I found myself wanting to scream in frustration at these characters to stop quibbling over petty details and overthrow the system , or at least find some way to evade it ( at one point they try to find a way to get deferments , but only playing strictly by the rules ) . This , however , is possibly what Ishiguro is aiming at - - to show us how difficult it can be to question what is universally taken for granted . While the novel is certainly about other things as well - - e.g . the dynamic between friends , the possible dangers of a soulless , materialistic scientific / medical establishment out of control , I think it is ultimately about conformity . More specifically , Ishiguro reveals how the events of everyday life can make people blind to the big picture . The brilliant thing about this novel is that the characters are interesting and complex enough to fit into almost any scenario . The fact that they live in this nightmarish world almost seems incidental . The book tempts us to follow the characters and simply take this world at face value . If we refuse to do so , as I assume we are meant to , it might make us not take our own , only slightly less dystopian world for granted as well .
041 4 After a bit of trouble becoming interested in the story , I was suddenly hooked and had a very tough time putting this down . The sci-fi story that is more adolescent reminiscence than science fiction kept me turning page after page - - the fastest I've read a book in years . Although I could have easily deleted about five pages near the end , it's been several days since I finished it and I still miss it . Planning to read another one of his books next !
042 4 I was typing a review and lost it , which sometimes happens when I touch the computer's drag pad in some electromagnetically inauspicious way . If the fragment got posted , here is the rest of it : I read this last year in the run up to the announcement of the Booker Prize , and it is the book I was rooting for . Never Let Me Go was the first Ishiguro book I had read , and now that I have read everything else of his I can get my hands on , it is still my favorite . To me it is about seeing in a beautiful , open way , despite dastardly restrictions in a cold world . The writing is extraordinary , a magic carpet ride , not too far off the ground . Maybe it is about the possibility of soul , or innocence , or caring truly - - about acceptance , despite the real temptation of resignation . Like Captain Carpenter in the poem of John Crowe Ransom , the book has such courage in it . For me reading this book was breathtaking , and the feeling is still with me a year later - - a feeling of awe , really .
043 4 Never Let Me Go is the story of a young woman , Kathy H , coming to terms with her life and the special nature of her existence as a student from Hailsham , a boarding school for children set in the idyllic English countryside . It is a meditation on the complex nature of friendships , woven into the framework of a darker tale about the potential consequences of manipulating science , in this case , human cloning . From both of these aspects , the story contains profound insights that left this reader breathless .
In the opening pages , Kathy H , establishes with an air of modesty that she is in someway privileged because she attended Hailsham . As she delves into her memory of her days at Hailsham , she recalls a series of key turning points in her friendships with the worldly Ruth and the vulnerable Tommy . The author uncovers the cruelties they inflict on each other and shows us how people use seemingly innocuous conversations on trivial subjects as setups for crushing the spirit of people , even our best friends .
As the story unfolds , the true nature of Kath's privileged background is gradually revealed , and finally laid bare . The revelations probe us to think deeply about many things - about how protection is the essence of childhood ; how art , even that which is not considered especially good , is valuable as an expression of our true nature ; and for me the most powerful of all - - whether sympathy is really a noble human instinct after all , or whether it is an instinct based in true loathing .
The book is told in the beautifully eloquent style of Ishiguro and achieves the perfectly balanced construction which , in my opinion , the author also realized in his novels An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day .
044 4 First came upon this author by way of his REMAINS OF THE DAY which I loved ( movie AND book ) and decided to try his other works , starting with this one . The story begins with a first person narrator 31 year-old Kathy H a carer of 11 years who shares with us her childhood at Hailsham a private coeducational school for infants through 18 . On the surface Hailsham appears , if not idyllic , at least nurturing . Set deep within the English countryside , approached by a long drive through numerous secondary buildings , pavilions and playing fields a place spoiled only Kathy tells us by the forest that frightened us as juniors .
As Kathy describes , in episodic detail , her life and that of her friends - the imaginative Ruth and the rebellious Tommy - we begin to sense that Halisham is not all it appears . In the novel's first scene Tommy is singled out for rejection during football practice because of his volatile temper . What comes to mind is a system of experimental education popular in the 50s in which the students govern the school . However , this is not what Hailsham is about . While the school emphasizes commitment between its students , its real purpose is to prepare them for some future responsibility . The exact nature of which remains a mystery ; or , as Miss Lucy , a guardian says , they are not telling you enough and they should . While this is a mystery don't be turned off by thinking that its one of those cheesy ones - - overly dramatic and poorly done - - it's not - - it's very good
045 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
With the exception of having our vital organs used to extend the lives of some anonymous population of others - - while we ourselves are still alive - - we seem not so different from the clones that anchor Ishiguro's meditation on the human condition . If you work at an unrewarding job ; if you fight in a war that is not your own ; if you have multiple or interest-only mortgages then your life , to one degree or another , can easily be interpreted to be a life of service to the interests of others . After all , most of us inhabit a predetermined and carefully constructed world , heavily reliant on context , that gently and persistently indoctrinates us to the ideas of the current culture in such disarming ways that some things which should clearly be seen as atrocities are readily accepted as common place . Disarming enough to let us think that many of our ideas are our own . Protective enough to make us feel that such indoctrinated sacrifice is the natural course of human existence .
The curious absence of outright rebellion in Ishiguro's book seems to support this interpretation . Because while it may seem far fetched , most other interpretations that touch on the slow-motion reveals of Never Let Me Go have already been covered by various authors in various genres . In the most obvious connections , the work of Philip K . Dick covers much of the same ground , going so far as to postulate that what makes the highly advanced robots of some of his stories seem so human is the implantation of memories - - something the guardians of Hailsham ( an interesting name ) try their best to provide to the clones under their care . As for the scientific ethics involved , my guess is that Ishiguro chose clones over , say , stem cells for the simple reason that the main thrust of the book is inward , to personal responsibility , not solely outward to the morality of science .
Ishiguro takes his time in letting the true nature of an outer society show itself : throughout the opening two sections of the book very few clues to the truth of the world we witness are ever brought to light : the reader is being manipulated in a way that is analogous to the manipulation of the principal characters . This manipulation is so thorough that , even after learning the truth of her situation and after losing friends and loved ones to a lingering half-life of literal dismemberment , which awaits her as well , the main character closes the book by telling us that I waited just a bit , then turned back to the car , to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be .
Far from being a slow-motion mystery or brain-teasing puzzle , Ishiguro has written a fairly cold-blooded book about the failings of human nature , the insignificance of the individual and the alarming ease with which we surrender our own interests to those who have no genuine interest in us .
046 4 With the exception of having our vital organs used to extend the lives of some anonymous population of others - - while we ourselves are still alive - - we seem not so different from the clones that anchor Ishiguro's meditation on the human condition . If you work at an unrewarding job ; if you fight in a war that is not your own ; if you have multiple or interest-only mortgages then your life , to one degree or another , can easily be interpreted to be a life of service to the interests of others . After all , most of us inhabit a predetermined and carefully constructed world , heavily reliant on context , that gently and persistently indoctrinates us to the ideas of the current culture in such disarming ways that some things which should clearly be seen as atrocities are readily accepted as common place . Disarming enough to let us think that many of our ideas are our own . Protective enough to make us feel that such indoctrinated sacrifice is the natural course of human existence .
The curious absence of outright rebellion in Ishiguro's book seems to support this interpretation . Because while it may seem far fetched , most other interpretations that touch on the slow-motion reveals of Never Let Me Go have already been covered by various authors in various genres . In the most obvious connections , the work of Philip K . Dick covers much of the same ground , going so far as to postulate that what makes the highly advanced robots of some of his stories seem so human is the implantation of memories - - something the guardians of Hailsham ( an interesting name ) try their best to provide to the clones under their care . As for the scientific ethics involved , my guess is that Ishiguro chose clones over , say , stem cells for the simple reason that the main thrust of the book is inward , to personal responsibility , not solely outward to the morality of science .
Ishiguro takes his time in letting the true nature of an outer society show itself : throughout the opening two sections of the book very few clues to the truth of the world we witness are ever brought to light : the reader is being manipulated in a way that is analogous to the manipulation of the principal characters . This manipulation is so thorough that , even after learning the truth of her situation and after losing friends and loved ones to a lingering half-life of literal dismemberment , which awaits her as well , the main character closes the book by telling us that I waited just a bit , then turned back to the car , to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be .
Far from being a slow-motion mystery or brain-teasing puzzle , Ishiguro has written a fairly cold-blooded book about the failings of human nature , the insignificance of the individual and the alarming ease with which we surrender our own interests to those who have no genuine interest in us .
047 4 Past couple reviews have COMPLETELY missed the point on character . Where was the gnashing of teeth ? The crying ? The emotion ? That's exactly his point ! These children have been brainwashed from the beginning to believe they were less than human . Yet , they still fall in love , wonder about their parentage , still care for one another . It isn't the author who is reluctant to show any emotion in the characters , it is the narrator who is loathe to admit she even has any .
It isn't the ethics of whether cloning is right or wrong or whether science has surpassed our ethos , it's something deeper that Ishiguro is getting at : What does it mean to be human ? Even though they are systematically being reduced in societal terms to a collection of organs to be farmed , even the harshest critics here recognize the characters as human .
048 4 I found this book to be stunning and poignant . . . the best I've read in quite a while .
Many reviewers here have bemoaned the fact that the book is utterly unrealistic by not potraying any of the clones , or normals for that matter , as rebelling against the horror of the donation program . I would agree , if the author's intent were to simply tell an engrossing tale . However , if Ishiguro had taken this route , it's easy to imagine the book degenerating into a cliche story of a dystopian future akin to Blade Runner or Logan's Run , and we've all had quite enough of that at this point , haven't we ?
Instead , what we have is a brilliant look inside the human condition . The plot is simply a vehicle to get us to ask ourselves the fundamental questions of what it means to be human , and what humans will accept if they are properly indocrinated . It's brilliantly done , while still being an engrossing read - almost like poetry masquerading as fiction .
I'll be thinking about this book for a long time to come , probably it's highest praise .
- GC
049 4 This is a horror story without knife-wielding psychopaths or supernatural creatures . The horror does not consist in the action of the book , which is positively restrained ; rather , it slowly creeps up on the reader in the society that underpins the conditions described .
The action of the book takes place some fifty years after a major medical breakthrough : the cure for virtually all disease through therapeutic cloning . Medical science became able to cure cancer , heart disease , etc . , through growing new organs to replace the diseased ones . But these valuable organs , the promise of life to the previously hopeless , need an incubator in which to grow to the necessary maturity ; an embryonic heart is of no use to an adult patient . Therefore , children are cloned and raised to adulthood , at which point their organs are systematically harvested in a series of operations , culminating in the completion of their purpose in life .
Other reviewers have found the lack of rebellion on the part of these doomed individuals to be a flaw in the book ; to me , it makes the story more heartbreaking . Even in their wildest dreams , the clones don't dream of escape and a normal life . Their most cherished fantasies are quotidien : to work in an office ; to have , if they fall in love , not a lifetime together , but a mere three-year deferral of their first donations . They ask so little of life , and even that is denied .
Never Let Me Go deserves a place with Brave New World as one of the great cautionary dystopias . Our society differs from that depicted in the book , not necessarily due to any moral superiority on our part , but only due to a more attenuated pace of scientific discovery . Will there be Hailshams in our future ?
As one of the characters asks , How can you ask a world that has come to regard cancer as curable , how can you ask such a world to put away that cure , to go back to the dark days ? When it is * my * life that hangs in the balance , or that of my parent or child , what is the life of a manufactured person , a person who wouldn't even exist if not to give his life for mine , a person who is sequestered safely away from my everyday life so that I can never even meet one in the normal course of things ? What is the life of that person to me ?
We can't , as that character says , go back and unmake scientific advances , which is why it is all the more important that we make informed choices today and not walk blindly into the new world we are creating for ourselves .
050 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
This novel is wonderfully written on so many levels . Whereas many authors fail to get the voice and tone right when they make the main protagonist someone of the opposite sex , Ishiguro succeeds . He's dropped the register of the language perfectly , too , so that Kathy H . comes across as bright but not too literary .
I agree with other reviewers that the novel falls short on realism . No society that has decent people in it would tolerate the situation of Kathy H . , Tommy , and Ruth . There would be an underground railroad ; there would be safehouses in remote parts of the United Kingdom . People would be smuggled to countries where religious views would never tolerate harvesting organs from sentient fellow creatures . For this reason , I think Never Let Me Go ' s lack of realism causes it to fall a bit short of Margaret Atwood's excellent recent dystopia , Oryx and Crake . As for why these particular protagonists don't flee , I think Ishiguro answers this : a lifetime of breeding to accept one's situation has lulled them into submission . None of them is a crusader ; if they were , they would have tried to find Miss Lucy . And Ishiguro never says that no one else has tried to escape .
But if the novel is unrealistic on one level , it's closer to reality than one might think on others .
First , coercive organ harvesting is reported to exist . Consider this press release from the University of California , Berkeley , dated April 30 , 2004 , which begins : A . . . Berkeley medical anthropologist is helping authorities in Brazil , Israel and South Africa investigate what she calls a shocking new ' slave triangle ' in which the poor are being taken to distant cities by criminal syndicates and coerced into selling their organs for illegal transplants . Or the excellent and compelling report in The New York Times of May 23 , 2004 , that begins : RECIFE , Brazil - - When Alberty José da Silva heard he could make money , lots of money , by selling his kidney , it seemed to him the opportunity of a lifetime . For a desperately ill 48 - year-old woman in Brooklyn whose doctors had told her to get a kidney any way she could , it was . [ ¶ ] At 38 , Mr . da Silva , one of 23 children of a prostitute , lives in a slum near the airport here , in a flimsy two-room shack he shares with a sister and nine other people . [ ¶ ] [ ¶ ] He recalled his mother as a woman who ' sold her flesh ' to survive . Last year he decided that he would , too . Now , a long scar across his side marks the place where a kidney and a rib were removed in exchange for $6,000 , paid by middlemen in an international organ trafficking ring . Of course , a libertarian response might be that the latter is an economic transaction among voluntary actors and hence morally neutral . But under Mr . Silva's circumstances , that sounds a bit like negotiating the price of a ladder to a man stranded in a pit full of poisonous snakes . It's not so far removed from Never Let Me Go .
And instances of looking away more generally from the circumstances of others are not hard to find either . We in the United States are happy to consume cheap produce even though we know it may have been harvested by undocumented workers living and working in horrible conditions . Small construction projects in this state are carried out much more cheaply when done by people who speak limited English and have no union card . We don't spend much time thinking about the fate of the union workers whose jobs have been displaced . And many people view those who live in other countries as not quite real , nor fully human . I see this in the indifference to the recent news report that we may have killed a number of civilians in a bombing raid in Pakistan . It's not just the paucity of expressions of concern ( that would be insufficient evidence ) , but the affirmations of the need to sacrifice innocent bystanders that I heard on local talk radio yesterday . Both guests and hosts were implying ( and clearly thinking , though maybe subconsciously ) that as long as the victims are faceless residents of a land far removed from ours , it's regrettable but acceptable .
051 4 This novel is wonderfully written on so many levels . Whereas many authors fail to get the voice and tone right when they make the main protagonist someone of the opposite sex , Ishiguro succeeds . He's dropped the register of the language perfectly , too , so that Kathy H . comes across as bright but not too literary .
I agree with other reviewers that the novel falls short on realism . No society that has decent people in it would tolerate the situation of Kathy H . , Tommy , and Ruth . There would be an underground railroad ; there would be safehouses in remote parts of the United Kingdom . People would be smuggled to countries where religious views would never tolerate harvesting organs from sentient fellow creatures . For this reason , I think Never Let Me Go ' s lack of realism causes it to fall a bit short of Margaret Atwood's excellent recent dystopia , Oryx and Crake . As for why these particular protagonists don't flee , I think Ishiguro answers this : a lifetime of breeding to accept one's situation has lulled them into submission . None of them is a crusader ; if they were , they would have tried to find Miss Lucy . And Ishiguro never says that no one else has tried to escape .
But if the novel is unrealistic on one level , it's closer to reality than one might think on others .
First , coercive organ harvesting is reported to exist . Consider this press release from the University of California , Berkeley , dated April 30 , 2004 , which begins : A . . . Berkeley medical anthropologist is helping authorities in Brazil , Israel and South Africa investigate what she calls a shocking new ' slave triangle ' in which the poor are being taken to distant cities by criminal syndicates and coerced into selling their organs for illegal transplants . Or the excellent and compelling report in The New York Times of May 23 , 2004 , that begins : RECIFE , Brazil - - When Alberty José da Silva heard he could make money , lots of money , by selling his kidney , it seemed to him the opportunity of a lifetime . For a desperately ill 48 - year-old woman in Brooklyn whose doctors had told her to get a kidney any way she could , it was . [ ¶ ] At 38 , Mr . da Silva , one of 23 children of a prostitute , lives in a slum near the airport here , in a flimsy two-room shack he shares with a sister and nine other people . [ ¶ ] [ ¶ ] He recalled his mother as a woman who ' sold her flesh ' to survive . Last year he decided that he would , too . Now , a long scar across his side marks the place where a kidney and a rib were removed in exchange for $6,000 , paid by middlemen in an international organ trafficking ring . Of course , a libertarian response might be that the latter is an economic transaction among voluntary actors and hence morally neutral . But under Mr . Silva's circumstances , that sounds a bit like negotiating the price of a ladder to a man stranded in a pit full of poisonous snakes . It's not so far removed from Never Let Me Go .
And instances of looking away more generally from the circumstances of others are not hard to find either . We in the United States are happy to consume cheap produce even though we know it may have been harvested by undocumented workers living and working in horrible conditions . Small construction projects in this state are carried out much more cheaply when done by people who speak limited English and have no union card . We don't spend much time thinking about the fate of the union workers whose jobs have been displaced . And many people view those who live in other countries as not quite real , nor fully human . I see this in the indifference to the recent news report that we may have killed a number of civilians in a bombing raid in Pakistan . It's not just the paucity of expressions of concern ( that would be insufficient evidence ) , but the affirmations of the need to sacrifice innocent bystanders that I heard on local talk radio yesterday . Both guests and hosts were implying ( and clearly thinking , though maybe subconsciously ) that as long as the victims are faceless residents of a land far removed from ours , it's regrettable but acceptable .
052 4 Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is a powerfully resonant yet quietly understated modern work of fiction about the human condition . Hailsham , a diferent kind of school located in the English countryside for donors and carers , far away from the madding crowd , is a special community comprising people guarding a secret and others who , we are soon to discover with growing horror , are the secret . Yet these mysterious donors and carers - who are they anyway is a question that constantly nags at you - don't behave like humanoids , robots , freaks or characters from The Stepford Wives . To most readers ' puzzlement perhaps , they seem to exhibit all the traits you'd expect of normal human beings .
Kathy , Tommy and Ruth , the trio at the heart of the novel , are all products of Hailsham , who become fast friends from the time they discover one another and eventually find their relationship stretched , tested and strained by feelings of possessiveness , jealousy , one-up-manship , etc . But there's also genuine tenderness as between Kathy and Tommy , and finally deep compassion and love amongst all three that we can all identify with . Surprisingly too , while bred for a specific purpose and in a hothouse environment , there's no escaping the fact that these donors and carers are naturally drawn to activities that allow them to express their own innate sense of creativeness . If there's a message in Ishiguro's crushingly sad tale of people relentlessly seeking hope in a world where none exists , it's to remind us of the indomitable human spirit , the unextinguishable flame that lives even in the hearts of these manufactured human specimens . What more of real human beings ?
Ishiguro is one of that rare breed of fast disappearing modern writers who eschews bombast and linguistic pyrotechnics in favour of simplicity because he truly understands the power of good writing and the efficacy of utilising a directness in his plaintively incandescent prose to make that instant connection with the reader . Trust me , you will be hard pressed to find even the occasional big word that requires consultation with the dictionary . Ishiguro has rediscovered the lost art of creative writing , a craft that assures him a place among the greats in contemporary fiction .
Never Le Me Go is arguably the best among last year's Booker candidates . It's superior to John Banville's The Sea and should in my opinion have gone on to win the prize . One of the best novels to have been published in 2005 . Highly recommended .
053 4 Sometimes you can judge a book by how long it takes you to read it . I denied myself some sleep for two nights to get through this . I read bits and pieces on the rail , but I completed from start to finish in about four days . That's pretty fast for me , given that I have a wife and two year old daughter to mind .
The book is told from the point of view of it's main character , Kathy . The style used by her was terse and straightforward . Ishiguro himself disappears into the background , and any criticisms of the writing I feel aren't warranted . Kathy may not be the best writer out there , but I certainly felt like I was reading her work , and not that of Ishiguro . In that he was a success .
He used a device throughout the book which started off as fascinating , but became tedious near the end . In order to keep your attention , the narrative would lead to an abrupt cliffhanger sentence . The lead-in would be immediately explained in the next chapter , but I found it lead to some choppy structure . It's as if I were to write about my entire day , then say . . . but nothing prepared me for what happened on the subway . The chapter ends , then the next one details what happened on the subway . Once or twice it was interesting . A dozen times becomes boring .
The characters themselves are fascinating . It does take a little patience to figure out what's going on . Once I did , it allowed me to think about the deeper issues the book was presenting . Why didn't the characters just remove themselves from their situation ? Why don't they go public or challenge the courts about their fates ? Why don't they care more than they do ?
People tend to believe what they are told and progress along their lives without challenging the status quo . This book raises those issues to the forefront , the characters accept what is told to them without violent opposition . Their lives are mapped out for them , and they accept it .
In this book , there are no heroes , nor happy endings . In many ways it's a wake up call for the reader and a reflection of our own modern lives .
You think the characters are different from you ? Well , if you are like me - full-time job , mortgage , car loan , kids . . . my life is mapped out for me and is it really , entirely of my own choosing ? I'm not so sure . It's what people here in America do . We choose our lives by * not * choosing a different path .
An interesting read for me in this period of my life , when I am growing increasingly dissatisfied with my future outlook and the American way of life .
054 4 On the surface , Never Let Me Go tells the story of three people and their relationship with each other as they grow to adulthood . The narrator is Kathy H . , one of the three friends . This story is told very well , and if it were just this story , it would be a good book . Being female and judgemental , I'm highly critical of men who try to write in the female voice . Ishiguro does a wonderful job of this and I never picked up the typical overtones of a male writer trying to discuss female thoughts .
What makes this a great book to me is the subtle way in which Mr . Ishiguro brings in the twisted substory of the human race's inhumanity in the name of being humane . The people in the story tried to question their existence and their purpose in life , but society , and even the people closest to them , made that difficult or impossible .
I liked the way the relationships unfold in this book . The way Kathy H . presents the little bits of their lives to create the boundaries gives the reader a good story and a sense that everything is right with this picture . Along the way , Kathy also drops enough information to let the reader see the bigger picture of their treatment and some of society's current and potential meanness .
This book is not a tense page turner . I couldn't put it down though , because the writing and storytelling were both engrossing .
055 4 What do Kazuo Ishiguro's new science fiction novel Never Let Me Go , his Booker Prize first novel Remains of the Day and Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance have in common ? Well , they all deal with stultifying British class structure . And they could all share Pirate's subtitle A Slave of Duty .
But to an American mind at least , stories of self-sacrifice due to unwritten orders given by dubious authority seem like a sham . In fact , in his new book , the truly privileged students live in a cloistered private school named Hailsham . Now of course Hailsham is a very British name , and the proper division is Hails-ham or Hails hamlet . But I prefer the wordplay hail sham or health deception , because Hailsham is not what it seems .
Unlike most reviewers I will not give the plot away ( Luke , I am your father ) . Do not listen to the National Public Radio interview where Mr . Ishiguro cheerfully ruins the story by telling the central secret .
The simplicity of his writing , without any jargon or forced super-futurism , makes the story even eerier . It is like a sinister version of a cheery P . G . Wodehouse school story - - with pranks , sports , eccentric masters distracting the reader from the central horror . The character's minutely detailed emotional reactions to minor events would seem neurotic . But in this cautionary morality play they are needed . They help prevent a freedom-loving , individualistic reader from kicking over the author's traces and shouting Run away you fools , save yourselves ! at the quaint , spidery , Bembo typeface .
056 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
It begins at a school . A private one from the sound of it , and yet odd somehow , as if these students were part of some strange educational experiment . These children have no possessions to speak of , or rather , they have possessions which appear to be recycled items , or ones made by other students . The story is told from the point of view of a former student , and as it unfolds , you recognize with her how odd it all was , that it gave other people's used junk , and children's art a huge importance in the lives of these students . You also begin to wonder how this could be . Where are their parents ? Why , when they must spend holidays at home , are they forced to leave the inevitable gifts behind ? Why must they even buy their clothes at school sales with fake money given them by the people who run the school , the guardians ?
But there are no parents , no homes , no holidays . These children live in their school . They've been there since they were very small , and when they reach adulthood , they leave . When they leave , there's a future waiting for them . An early future is to become a Carer , or caregiver . But not to the sick , the elderly or infirm , but to Donors . And while we don't know what these donors are exactly , we do know that this is the other waiting future for these students .
It's not hard to figure out what Donors do . They donate parts of themselves to people who need transplants . Though it's never actually spelled out , things which are donated are probably kidneys , lungs , parts of the liver , eyes , skin , bone marrow . . . whatever's needed . These are children who have been cloned as body part farms . And horrible as that concept is , what seems even worse is that their life at their school has actually given them a taste of something outside the narrow framework of what they have been designed to do . They're not just unconscious bodies in vats , they're living , breathing people who get angry and feel sorrow , who fall in love and who create . They're people , and yet they go to their fates with the conviction that this is what they must do . They listen eagerly to rumors and stories of how there are deferrments given , but none of them ever seems to consider that there is any choice but to comply with the order to show up at the hospital and give up parts of their own bodies to total strangers . Carers are the caregivers to Donors after a donation , and Donors do not die , they complete . They aren't even given the dignity of death . Indeed , there are other , less hopeful rumors that after a certain number of donations , including ones which will inevitably kill a living person , what's left is kept operational until all the parts are used up by what would be equivalent to knackers but for human leftovers .
It's a brutal book written so beautifully that you simply can't grasp the horror of their lives , their compliance , and the kind of people who would ask such a thing . As one character - - a former guardian - - says to two of the students who have sought her out to try to discover the truth of the deferrments : People would hate the idea on the face of it , but at the same time their primary concern is that their children survive , their parents , their husbands and wives . Who wouldn't choose a loved one over what you've been taught to think of as a spare part farm , a thing devoid of a soul , of feelings , even of real consciousness ? But this isn't about the lies , it's about the people who get chewed up by them , and their short , restricted lives which nevertheless manage to offer scope for beauty and affection and creation . This is the real heart the tragedy .
This is one I wouldn't recommend to the faint of heart . It's by Kazuo Ishiguro , who wrote The Remains of the Day another perfectly brutal book . He seems a master of the deep , quiet sadness . I'm not sure how much more of his work I can bear .
057 4 It begins at a school . A private one from the sound of it , and yet odd somehow , as if these students were part of some strange educational experiment . These children have no possessions to speak of , or rather , they have possessions which appear to be recycled items , or ones made by other students . The story is told from the point of view of a former student , and as it unfolds , you recognize with her how odd it all was , that it gave other people's used junk , and children's art a huge importance in the lives of these students . You also begin to wonder how this could be . Where are their parents ? Why , when they must spend holidays at home , are they forced to leave the inevitable gifts behind ? Why must they even buy their clothes at school sales with fake money given them by the people who run the school , the guardians ?
But there are no parents , no homes , no holidays . These children live in their school . They've been there since they were very small , and when they reach adulthood , they leave . When they leave , there's a future waiting for them . An early future is to become a Carer , or caregiver . But not to the sick , the elderly or infirm , but to Donors . And while we don't know what these donors are exactly , we do know that this is the other waiting future for these students .
It's not hard to figure out what Donors do . They donate parts of themselves to people who need transplants . Though it's never actually spelled out , things which are donated are probably kidneys , lungs , parts of the liver , eyes , skin , bone marrow . . . whatever's needed . These are children who have been cloned as body part farms . And horrible as that concept is , what seems even worse is that their life at their school has actually given them a taste of something outside the narrow framework of what they have been designed to do . They're not just unconscious bodies in vats , they're living , breathing people who get angry and feel sorrow , who fall in love and who create . They're people , and yet they go to their fates with the conviction that this is what they must do . They listen eagerly to rumors and stories of how there are deferrments given , but none of them ever seems to consider that there is any choice but to comply with the order to show up at the hospital and give up parts of their own bodies to total strangers . Carers are the caregivers to Donors after a donation , and Donors do not die , they complete . They aren't even given the dignity of death . Indeed , there are other , less hopeful rumors that after a certain number of donations , including ones which will inevitably kill a living person , what's left is kept operational until all the parts are used up by what would be equivalent to knackers but for human leftovers .
It's a brutal book written so beautifully that you simply can't grasp the horror of their lives , their compliance , and the kind of people who would ask such a thing . As one character - - a former guardian - - says to two of the students who have sought her out to try to discover the truth of the deferrments : People would hate the idea on the face of it , but at the same time their primary concern is that their children survive , their parents , their husbands and wives . Who wouldn't choose a loved one over what you've been taught to think of as a spare part farm , a thing devoid of a soul , of feelings , even of real consciousness ? But this isn't about the lies , it's about the people who get chewed up by them , and their short , restricted lives which nevertheless manage to offer scope for beauty and affection and creation . This is the real heart the tragedy .
This is one I wouldn't recommend to the faint of heart . It's by Kazuo Ishiguro , who wrote The Remains of the Day another perfectly brutal book . He seems a master of the deep , quiet sadness . I'm not sure how much more of his work I can bear .
058 4 Kathy H . , a 31 - year-old professional carer of eleven years ' standing , has recently seen off two patients in her care , who also happened to be her best friends from school : Ruth and Tommy . Now , she looks back over their years together at Halisham - a privileged country estate for what turn out to be very special children indeed - and the years since as they struggled to form relationships in the face of a grim and astonishing fate . . .
Ishiguro's latest novel takes its place in a wonderful sub-genre : literary science fiction , which sets aside monsters and aliens and instead deals intelligently with the probable nightmare consequences of near-future science . In this case , it's cloning - specifically , the cloning of humans for body parts . As such , it's an important work . I just wish it had been a little more engaging . Readers with any imagination at all will have long since figured out precisely what's going on at Halisham by the time it's revealed . Our narrator , rather than being outraged at her plight , focuses obsessively on the minutiae of her personal interactions with others , endlessly recounting the social fractures and slight misunderstandings that plague any adolescent's life . It feels like an extremely detailed articulation of the teenage memories of a neurotic woman with too much time on her hands . That may well be what it is , and precisely what Ishiguro intends , but it doesn't exactly make for good reading .
Nor are the clones themselves particularly convincing . They are so accepting of their monstrous fate that , rather than wanting to overthrow the entire system , their most fervent wish is to gain only a deferral - a temporary stay of execution , on the grounds of having found romantic love . Again , such political apathy is probably part of Ishiguro's point . Governmental , religious , and academic officialdom can and do transform basically decent human beings into unconscious automatons bereft of free will . They do this successfully because a majority of humans are terrified to assume personal responsibility . I can understand the recipients of the donated organs thoughtlessly accepting such diabolical progress . But is it credible that the clones would , too ? Their will to live , their sense of justice and human dignity all seem to have been sapped completely , despite being nothing more ( or less ) than unaltered genetic copies of regular people - basically , an identical twin - and having been granted a strong traditional education . They know other people have regular lives outside the walls of the program . So where is their outrage ? Why don't they resist ? This is not the famous banality of evil . It's something new - the banality of victimhood - and it's insufficiently justified . Fortunately , Ishiguro cranks things up considerably in the third section and brings the novel to a satisfying and moving climax . The final image , in particular , is powerfully affecting .
The title comes from a fictitious song played during a pivotal scene that becomes subject , in memory , to two very different interpretations as revealed late in the novel . What Ishiguro is calling us never to let go , never to relinquish , is the kind of world that is threatened when science is not subject to decency : a world less efficient , but more humane ; less healthy , but more sustaining . In that sense , this novel is an important one . But it's a hard slog , without much in the way of convincing story or literary fireworks to compensate . If you're interested in exploring another , arguably better , tilt at the same theme , try Caryl Churchill's play , A Number .
059 4 As a child , Kathy H . attended Hailsham , an elite boarding school where children were raised to be both healthy and artistic and taught to believe that both their health and creativity were essential to themselves and to the world they would one day enter . Now an adult , Kathy reflects back on her life . She charts the very slow progression of her growth , her friendships with fellow students Tommy and Ruth , and her knowledge , as she herself gradually began to learn about her role in the outside world - - and what this role dictates about her identity . A combination of heavy introspection and soft-scifi , Never Let Me Go has a thought-provoking premise and is brilliantly written , but fails to reach its potential , spending all its time in excruciatingly slow buildup and none of it in impact , theory , or debate . Enjoyable , but somewhat empty , and so moderately recommended .
This book's greatest strength is its writing style , but it is also one of the most irritating aspects . Kathy , the narrator , is intensely thoughtful and analytical , breaking down her personal history into eras , important moments , and developing themes . She walks the reader through the story of her life much in the way she lived it , slowly , very slowly , bringing to light her final realizations . In other words , there is a lot hidden in this book , and it takes the book's entire length - - literally until the last fifteen pages - - to reveal it all . In between are circuitous examples , where Kathy starts to talk about one event , goes back a bit to explain why the event was relevant , explains the event itself , and then goes on without having drawn a major conclusion - - instead , she's just mapped another point on her gradual arc or argument . The resulting pace is excruciating , both artful , brilliantly thought-out and executed , and simply painful as the reader is lead along , disappointed , and lead along again . The book's pace bring the characters to life ( although both Ruth and Tommy lack some dimension ) and , with it , the life that they lived , through Hailsham and beyond . As such , it is the highlight of the book , worked like an artform , but it is also intensely irritating and makes the book ( which actually reads quite quickly ) seem longer than it is .
There are a near-infinite number of issues , from the ethical to philosophical , that could be brought to question and debate in this book . The very premise almost begs them - - both the science of the base culture and the purpose of Hailsham itself . Unfortunately , however , none of these topics are brought to issue in the text . Instead , the book is consumed by the very slow progression of the story , the creep towards the twist revelations of who the children are and what purpose they serve . When finally revealed , these revelations are not all that big - - not because they lack the potential to be , but because they pale in comparison to the immense buildup that leads to them . The characters just barely exceed the gradual revelation of the book's premise and are largely just passive carriers of the story , and so the other various issues , the possible debates , never enter into the text . So when other reviewers talk about the questions this book raises , what they're really talking about is the potential for questions - - and that is not the same thing . The burden of meaning for this book , everything that the reader could take away and continue to think about , rests entirely on the reader , who must pull out the themes and ask the questions himself , carry on the debates himself . The author shirks his responsibility , and the book suffers for it , failing to live up to its potential .
My final complaint with this book is that the underlying concept seems , blandly , unrealistic . * * SPOILERS * * follow , so be warned : The fact that in the book's contemporary culture the clones are considered non-human despite looking , acting , and living like humans seems entirely impossible . Consider : Humans never viewed the first cloned animals as different than their original counterparts ; indeed , we were amazed and drew attention to the fact that they were identical , that they were clones . So why would cloned humans be any different ( especially that these clones pass in human society as normal and indistinguishable ) ? Outside of the huge wastefulness of cloning entire humans just to harvest their organs , the fact that the cloned humans were not considered humans seems unreal to me , no matter who the gene donors were , no matter what brief attempts Ishiguro ( though Ms . Emily ) makes to justify it . * * END SPOILERS * * This is the underlying basis of the book's conflict and plot , and so problems with this concept create problems throughout the book . They weaken the foundations , making it difficult to accept the book and , as a result , even more difficult to take on the work of finding and analyzing themes , which the author fails too do . In the end , Never Let Me Go has a thoughtful premise with heavy potential for thought , theory , and debate , and it is skillfully , even artfully written , but the book fails to live up to its potential : the author does not tackle his own themes , and no matter how interesting the premise , it is an unreasonable one . I wanted to enjoy this book , and I did , but I felt cheated at the end : the final product was surprisingly empty , with the burden of meaning placed entirely and unfairly upon the reader alone .
060 4 Never Let Me Go is a novel about secrets and their slow discovery . A dystopic tale of fate , Never Let Me Go focuses on the friendship of Ruth , Kathy , and Tommy at a unique boarding school called Hailsham during the 1950s and 1970s , where students are encouraged to artistically express themselves . From adolscense to young adulthood , they sense their difference but can't quite explain it .
Nothing more can be said about the plot without ruining it for potential readers . So if you like good albeit not great writing about coming of age in a dystopic environment where science and ethics collide , then take a hold of Never Let Me Go .
I have a major criticism of the psychological plausibility of Ishuguro's story , so stop reading if you don't want the climax to be spoiled .
Hailsham's mission is to demonstrate that clones have souls , that future carers and donors , can think and feel like the rest of us . And while it appears that Hailsham succeeds - the children produce art , write stories , play football , fall in love , etc . - the students themselves lack a defining feature of adolescence , namely rebelliousness and the ability to ask the basic simple question why .
Students are railroaded into fate without a struggle , and if they're so easily railroaded , then either the Hailsham project failed to elicit the humanity of its students , or Ishiguro failed to equip them with the rudiments of adolescent psychology .
K
061 4 As I read Never Let Me Go , I was reminded of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath . This is essentially a political novel . The characters ' failure to rebel is but one of the many provocative questions the novel puts to the reader . How does our culture and our assumptions about our role in life shape how we respond to it ? What rationale do we use to justify that which is morally reprehensible , such as war , human trafficking , the underground organ donor trade that exists today , or unfair trade practices ? Who benefits ? Who suffers ? What makes the novel so powerful is that it is not really a parallel world . It is our world . We fail to see the suffering of those whom we exploit . The reader realizes that she cannot identify with the victim , but must instad identify with the perpetrator . Hence the unsettling nature of the novel . It is beautifully written , and completely heartbreaking . It is a call to action .
062 4 I kept expecting Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro to take a twist , or for there to be some secret underlying the story , basically , for it to get more complicated . But , as the dust jacket says , it's a tale of deceptive simplicity . That's not a bad thing , but when I finished reading it last night , I was left wanting more . Looking back this morning though , I can see what a powerful commentary it is on us , the human race . Deceptive simplicity . I think I'll be rolling this one around in my head for a while .
063 4 Kazuo Ishiguro has written his sixth novel , titled Never Let Me Go . Ishiguro is perhaps most famous for his novel The Remains of the Day which was made into pretty much the only movie that has ever made me cry . ( And if you don't cry at the scene where Anthony Hopkins stands on the boardwalk watching a distraught Emma Thompson leaving on a bus , probably never to see her again , then you are officially a soulless robot . )
For the first few pages of Never Let Me Go , I had a strange feeling that someone had put a Margaret Atwood novel inside a cover purporting to be a Kazuo Ishiguro book . The story takes place during a nonspecific , present day-ish time frame , in a world that looks much like our own . The prose is unadorned , and you might get the feeling you are reading a parable or a fable . But you would be wrong .
When I was a kid taking piano lessons , my teacher gave me a book of Bach etudes . They looked so simple there in black in white . Not like Chopin , where the page would be nearly black with millions and millions of notes . The Bach looked clean , deceptively simple .
And then when I tried to learn them I realized that the simplicity was a mirage , and that those few notes taken as a whole were much greater than the sum of each of them .
That's how this novel is . If you're expecting The Remains of the Day , 2.0 , you'll be surprised .
When you start reading Never Let Me Go , you have the feeling that you're looking at a world that glosses over something evil . Indeed it does , as you learn bit by tiny bit , until by the end of the book you realize that the evil was much , much greater than you had imagined .
The copy I have is classified as science fiction , and maybe that is so , but to me it was more of an epic narrative poem , with each line revealing just the tiniest speck that will eventually make up the whole picture , like one tiny dot making up Seurat's Sunday at Port-En-Bressin . Like someone creating a charcoal sketch by drawing all the shadows first , rather than outlines . When the shapes finally form , they are surprising and frightening .
The ending of this book , which centers on a constantly evolving love triangle among three people who were cloned and brought into the world solely as organ donors is perhaps the saddest ending to any novel I have ever read . And I have read a LOT of novels .
I can't say very much about what goes on in the novel without spoiling things , but it made me want to go up to every person I meet : my mechanic , the checkout clerk at Food Lion , my neighbors , complete strangers , and throw my arms around them and thank them for being their own , unique selves .
But the weird thing is , I can't cry over the ending , as affecting as it was . What Ishiguro has done is to integrate the reader so closely and so effectively into the world he has created that the reader simply accepts each and every action ; every revelation seems perfectly plausible , not quite predictable , but inevitable .
But deep inside me a voice was howling out all the pain that the main character , Kathi , was never allowed to experience . And the miracle is , it has led me to believe that carrying around a heart that has been broken is infinitely preferable to carrying around one that was never given the opportunity to be vulnerable to heartbreak in the first place .
I think that Ishiguro will probably win a whole pile of awards for this book , as he should . I just hope that they don't try to make a movie out of it . It seems like the type of story that is made of cotton candy . . . that it cannot be handled too much without destroying it . And that would be a shame .
064 4 Everyone wants to write dissertation-length reviews of this book that spoil the suspense and mood Ishiguro tries to build . Here's a quick one instead : This book is marvelously and beautifully written . The prose reads quickly and feels right , creating the narrator as a very real presence . And the story deals with an alternate history , in which human cloning is possible and society has developed a system for taking advantage of this possibility .
After finishing , I wasn't sure how I felt about the story - - whether it worked , whether the ending was necessary , and various other issues that other reviewers have pondered . But at heart the book is about people who have had vital information about their world withheld from them and how , with the exception of the narrator and two of her friends , they accepted their lot in life without question - - even though that lot was to be nothing more than contributors to the health and happiness of others without remuneration , financial or otherwise . The story thus touches on issues surrounding not only obvious topics like stem cell research and cloning , but also wage slavery and the perils of unbridled greed and willingness to turn a blind eye to the plight of others .
Have all your friends read this . You'll have plenty you want to discuss .
065 4 I am a sucker for dystopian novels . I will re-read The Handmaid's Tale on any given day , and will readily pick up any book noted as speculative fiction . I didn't know Never Let Me Go was speculative fiction at first , in fact , I didn't know much about it at all except that it is highly regarded and has been staring at me from the bookshelf for months . So I was pleased when I started reading it and realized that it has subtle elements of science fiction . That aspect of the book serves more as a plot device than as the driving force behind the novel . The real story here is about human emotion and relationships among friends and lovers .
The story is tragic and heartbreakingly realistic , even if the plot requires a small stretch of the imagination ( or what could be a terrifying look into our future ) . In ways , it is loosely similar to The Island ( the 2006 movie ) , but thankfully it has much better writing and more developed characters . And the real focus , for me at least , was the story of the relationship between three friends . The dystopian element was just an added bonus .
The novel takes place over three decades of the three friends ' lives . The first is while they are sheltered students at a mysterious boarding school , where the children are regarded as special , but never told why . The second phase of the book is when the students , now young adults , are transferred to a residential compound where they begin developing romantic relationships . The third phase is during their adulthood , when they begin to serve their purpose in life . The relationship between the three friends is heart wrenching and poignant as they face the reality of their futures together .
Ishiguro has an interesting way of writing prose . It is sort of flat and detached , almost as though he is holding back , but still resonates . I think the detachment serves to reinforce the strange lives these children and young adults have led . All in all , it is a deeply disturbing look at the human condition , love , and loyalty in the face of despair .
066 4 Like the rest of Ishiguro's books , this novel can be read and interpreted at so many angles . There is an incredible number of alternative views the reader can take as to its purpose , meaning , symbols , structure , etc . which makes it unbelievably rich . It is a deceivingly short work of an unsuspected density .
As one would expect from this writer , the book seems to have been worked on over and over again so that the seemingly casual style can only be the result of careful planning , rather than fluid and thoughtless writing .
Contrary to some other masterpieces of his ( mainly An Artist of the Floating World ) , Ishiguro doesn't blur here the line of time and events , probably so as not to have the reader worrying too much about the practical ( sciencefictional ) details of the plot .
Contrary to what has been said by many reviewers , I think it is a very wise and deliberate move to keep the practical questions out of the story . Because this way the book sticks out much more obviously as a metaphor for a number of human conditions . One is naturally drawn to the obvious parallelisms between the dilemmas that afflict the characters in the book and many of the unsolvable plights of humanity : death , fate , meaning of life , freedom of choice , love , sense of duty as an answer to the futility of existence , you name it .
The extraordinary circumstances of the characters on this book are in the end an extremely useful literary device to distill these problems to their essence , to bare them for the reader .
That's the way it worked for me , anyway . What I was able to grasp was :
A very subtle and nuanced allusion to religion as a force to determine collective decision making and group identity .
A statement about collective identity as the substance of personal identity ( note the part when the main character walks behind a clown who carries a batch of balloons )
A mature reflection on the sense of duty as the essence of human nature and of collective action .
Some stirring questions about the purpose of love , art and life itself .
An ethical interrogation about the appropriate reaction to totalitarian regimes and , more specifically : do attempts to reform from the inside amount to colaboration ? What when resistance is not feasible ?
If I were hard pressed to point any weakness in the book , I would mention Ishiguro's seeming difficulties with economics : Many of the economic data of the book just don't add up.Maybe he was aware even of this , since he appears to have thrown an economic joke in , not very explicitly : That's when he describes the fuss made by the school guardians about a proposal for a change in the pricing system of a barter market between the students : The only plausible reason for the stir seems to be that the system wouldn't balance . . . But its never said . And , on the other hand , the economic sloppiness could also be intentional , like the lack of detail in other practical aspects
067 4 For a fabulous review read the one by Steve Koss above , but just to add my 2 cents , this is not a science fiction novel in my mind ( although technically it is ) . The author chose something that hasn't happened ( yet ) as a substitute for those things happening in the world now that , had he chosen them , people's minds would already be closed to or would choose to look away from , as the characters in this book were looked away from . I thought it was fascinating that although the people who were advocates of this group of unfortunates had compassion , they still saw them as other and treated them as less than human .
The book was paced slowly and written in a low key way to represent the depressive acceptance of the inevitable , the lack of hope , in a society in which individuals choose their own needs over what is right or moral . If you don't have to see it , and it gives you what you want , then the ends always justify the means - - that is not science fiction , that is life as we know it .
Ishiguro used the same mood in Remains of the Day to show the character of the butler's surrender to what he feels is his duty and inevitably his fate .
A very powerful , quietly written book that should be widely read .
068 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
Having just finished reading the book Never Let Me Go , I cannot stop thinking about the characters or the book's theme . Kazuo Ishiguro is a brilliant writer ! I highly recommend this engrossing book !
069 4 Having just finished reading the book Never Let Me Go , I cannot stop thinking about the characters or the book's theme . Kazuo Ishiguro is a brilliant writer ! I highly recommend this engrossing book !
070 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Paperback )
This novel is about so many things - - the relationship of humanity to its clones , certainly , but also the lies we tell ourselves just to survive , the trivialities with which we mislead ourselves in our interactions with others and ourselves , the desperation with which we cling to our fantasies of love , family , humanity , and belonging , and the utter inability we face far too often to interpret our pasts in any way that helps us with our futures .
It's a devastating look at what we lose when we act too late , when , because of the complexities of the moment , we fail to see our own limitations - - in short , when we live our lives at the expense of what could have been .
In the quiet , striving voice of Kathy H . , Ishiguro has shown us our own humanity and the children which live our entire lives within us .
071 4 This novel is about so many things - - the relationship of humanity to its clones , certainly , but also the lies we tell ourselves just to survive , the trivialities with which we mislead ourselves in our interactions with others and ourselves , the desperation with which we cling to our fantasies of love , family , humanity , and belonging , and the utter inability we face far too often to interpret our pasts in any way that helps us with our futures .
It's a devastating look at what we lose when we act too late , when , because of the complexities of the moment , we fail to see our own limitations - - in short , when we live our lives at the expense of what could have been .
In the quiet , striving voice of Kathy H . , Ishiguro has shown us our own humanity and the children which live our entire lives within us .
072 4 This is the first book I have written a review for which I guess shows its powerful impact on me . I like books with English settings and characters , but wasn't too sure if this would be my type of story . However , this tale which follows the lives of three characters who have been cloned for eventual use as ' donors ' or ' carers gradually pulls you in and is ultimately wonderful , haunting and unforgettable . Even though you can guess the ending will be depressing , the characterization is so great you still want to know their every thought . ( One thing did go through my mind - - which is ever optimistic for a happy ending - - why didn't the characters consider refusal to be a donor , or escape into another identity ? ) A very worthwhile , thought provoking read .
073 4 But it was written in such a matter-of-fact and non-threatening way . I rank it the #1 most disturbing book on my list .
074 4 Upon first glance , Ishiguro's bleak novel Never Let Me Go leaves a plethora of perplexing questions : How can the characters-clones whose sole purpose is to donate their organs-remain so complacent in their unfulfilling lives ? Why can't these people ( or perhaps people ) realize the immorality of how they are being used ? Upon closer observation , it seems that these questions are exactly the sort Ishiguro must have wanted us to ask , as well as the very questions that make this book worthwhile .
The narration begins in the voice of Kathy , a woman who details her experiences growing up in a special school named Hailsham . From the very beginning it is apparent that the narrator and the children in the school are anything but normal ; they react with indifference to events that should traumatize them . What follows is the odd tale of Kathy and her friends , all of whom are sheltered from the outside world and sequestered from normal kids . The plot creeps forth , supported by awkward incidents ( throughout Kathy's life at the school and later on in life ) that reinforce our sense of these children as abnormal .
Although Ishiguro never hides the truth of what these children actually are , he does use Kathy's casual narration to subtly reveal the truth about them . It is the nonchalant manner in which Ishiguro broaches the subject that makes this story truly eerie . Kathy's narration emphasizes the carefree mentality of the Hailsham students and adds to the novel's creepy atmosphere . Even after these children know that they will die donating organs , they accept it . For them , this is life . Ishiguro strives for a simplistic writing style , which emphasizes the idea that the novel is narrated by someone quite naïve .
Though Ishiguro does not mask the truth about the children , neither does he spell out anything for the reader . The plot rolls on and you are left to search for a moral and draw your own conclusions . It is the questions the book raises that make it worth the read : how far will mankind go to improve itself ? Do these clones have souls ? The capacity to love ? Ishiguro explores a frightening new world and leaves it to us to discover his book's inherent meaning .
075 4 When I talk with people about Never Let Me Go , we quickly drift into speculation about biological and technological dystopia ; but when I think about the novel , I find I was most moved by the school narrative . Ishiguro reminds us that education is based on trust in the future . The petty betrayals and avowals of adolescence become heartbreaking once we realize that they can never come true . The angry teacher who struggles to rend the curtain , only to give up in frustration and sorrow , seems futilely heroic long before we know the full situation . The enforced ignorance that is part of the school's mission seems a disservice to the earnest young people who believe blindly in a future that doesn't exist . It's inevitable that we ask whether we're doing the same thing in our current system of education . Kathy knows the whole story , but she narrates the gradual dawning that leads to her current understanding . Although we don't see the end of her story , we dread the bleak future illuminated only by the memory of brighter days . As the reader slides into conversation about the limits of science and technology , a sense of gloom overcomes him . The sadness overwhelms my desire to talk much about the novel . As always , Ishiguro writes a spare , beautiful prose , but Never Let Me Go doesn't provide the disturbing rush of great science fiction . At the heart of the book are a love triangle and a misunderstood song . They're rendered with grace and beauty in this lovely , lonely book .
076 4 Never a huge fan of science fiction , I was uncertain if I would enjoy Kazuo Ishiguro's latest work . However , Never Let Me Go is unique in that it walks the line between a science fiction and an insightful romance novel . Its setting in the recent past rather than the future emphasizes its social and psychological realism . Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is a tale of three friends isolated and protected from the outside world at Hailsham , a place like a man's fist where all the balloon strings converge , and who are connected through life and death because of their shared and predetermined fate . Hailsham is an elite beacon school where they are taught that they are special . It is revealed fairly early on that the characters are clones , raised to be organ donors for the rest of the normal population . However , the sci-fi premise serves primarily as a backdrop to explore the minds , emotions and thoughts of Ruth , Tommy and Kathy .
The novel's language is deceptively simple , and phrases like students and guardians are disturbing euphemisms that juxtapose the fairly normal life of the students with the immoral traffic of organs supported by the state and society . It's easy to read the novel on its surface , and to ignore the deep layers of emotional and social commentary that Ishiguro imbeds between the lines . Since Ishiguro , unlike typical mystery or science fiction writers , spills clues to the mysteries of carers and completions early on and throughout the novel I was able to re-read Never Let Me Go and concentrate on the nuances of the characters . As the narrator Kathy travels back in her memory to her life at Hailsham and the Cottages , she and the reader gain special insight into a world of uncertain moral grounds . The kids are forced to produce artwork to prove [ they ] have souls to those on the outside and to those at Hailsham . It's a poignant indictment of society's dehumanization of those who are different , and in the process , the dehumanization of society . Although unfair , people from the outside are never thought of as more than vague models by those at Hailsham , and the clones are ` pushed back into the shadows by the rest of the population . Though the kids of Hailsham are special , their desire to peek into their future lives by spotting their possible , the person from whom they were cloned , is as both heartbreaking and real as any child looking at their parents and hoping to see a glimmer of their future selves .
The sadness in Never Let Me Go is tinged with hopefulness , even for those whose lives are pre-planned . Ishiguro's true skill is his understanding of the intimacy of the most mundane moments and events in his characters ' lives . In a touching and resonant scene , Kathy attempts to calm Tommy during one of his widely infamous rages , understanding how crushed he will be when he sees the mud he has splattered over his favorite blue polo . What's truly spectacular about Ishiguro's writing is that the emotional weight of his characters ' and their lives doesn't hit the reader until much later . It's in the quiet scenes between the main action that his views on loss , humanity and friendship are made heartbreakingly clear .
077 4 This is my first Ishiguro book , and I was very impressed . The novel is spellbinding , eerie , complex and thoroughly enjoyable . I recommend it highly .
As so many reviewers have already recounted here , the story appears to be about three boarding school kids , Kathy H . , Tommy D . , and Ruth , and their coming of age at a British boarding school called Hailsham . But Ishiguro turns this familiar setting into the backdrop for a pseudo-science-fiction novel as it turns out that Hailsham is a school for human clones who will later have their organs harvested as adults . This fact is disclosed slowly by the narrator Kathy H . as she recounts how she and the other children came to learn of their fates .
For me , this perversion of the British boarding school novel conjured up another favorite book of mine , John Knowles ' A Separate Peace . Just as Knowles used the idyllic boarding-school setting to explore the dark side of friendship , when it can be perverted by jealousy , here Ishiguro uses his setting to explore the darker side of science as well as the darkest side of humanity , i.e . , its consistent failure to question institutionalized evil . The kids at Hailsham are effectively dehumanized slaves who exist to provide organs to others , but they never seriously question the right or wrong of the society that does this to them . Nor , for that matter , do the people around them .
What is particularly eerie about the story is that the Hailsham kids are all well cared for and well treated on their way to their unconscionable ends , and in the face of their physical needs being met , they lose sight of the bigger picture of where their lives are headed . Indeed , the narrator focuses so singly on the minutia in her life that her blindness to her fate appears willful . The implication that we all live our lives blind to great injustices and absorbed by daily minutia is clear .
Ishiguro's novel is never heavy-handed in the themes it explores . It's just a wonderful book that gives you lots to think about , even as you read at a break-neck speed because the story itself is so compelling .
078 4 I'll confess , the first time I picked up Never Let Me Go , I did let it go . After reading 30 pages or so , I put it aside , thinking it was an attempt by a respected literary author to cross genres to allegorical sci-fi . Although I absolutely loved Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day and appreciated his An Artist of the Floating World , I wasn't in the mood for the dubious science that goes along with most sci-fi thrillers .
What was I thinking ? How could I have been so wrong ? Did I need to be hit on the head ?
I'm SO glad my husband persuaded me to give it another go !
Once again , Kazuo Ishiguro blew me away with his subtle mastery of language and his understanding of human nature and psychology . This is a story that can be read and interpreted on many levels , with many truths to discover and discuss .
I was taken by the similarities between these sci-fi characters and those of us in the ordinary world . I was struck by the revelation that Cathy , Tommy and Ruth are people like us ; people who live , work , and all - too-soon die in a structured world not of our making . A world run by a complex set of perceived rules , many of them unwritten and unspoken .
Why don't they rebel against their condition ? Why are they so accepting ? So passive ? I wanted to shake them by their shoulders and tell them , Get out of the house ! Run for your lives ! Fight for your freedom ! DO SOMETHING !
Yet these acquiescent characters taught me something about living , giving and loving , as well . Because some things you can't change . We all have to die , and we all have our sacrifices ( donations ) to make . So maybe they had the right idea after all . . .
This profound , elegantly-crafted work made me examine myself and the world I live in from an entirely new perspective . As any good book , it raised more questions than it answered . My husband and I will likely be discussing it for some time .
Star-Crossed
079 4 This book is not a thriller , but it certainly is thought provoking . If you measure plot by change , then the story basically has no plot as not much changes throughout the story , if on the other hand , you measure plot by the delicacy of the emotions , feelings , and thoughts of the characters and the reader ( you ) , actually quite a bit happens . This book is a little tough to read because in order for the reader to get it , you have to read the book with empathy and that involves more than pleasure reading . Its important to understand deep down the characters know they will die soon , that they won't have careers or children , that they are living solely to give their vital organs so that others who despise them might live and that they are living mainly for each other . I think if you read the book empathizing with their plight , how they must learn to accept death then there is a lot you can take from this book . The book also subtlety needs with ideas of social justice in ways other reviews have noted more specifically and better than I can do and that are certainly worth thinking about .
080 4 The wonder and power of this book is that it simultaneously takes the reader on two different , almost opposite , paths . From one point of view , the book begins in what almost , but not quite , appears to be a realistic setting , and only slowly , in small , carefully , measured doeses , reveals itself to be an uncanny , frightening , science fiction fantasy . Yet , at the same time , this same book begins with a set of characters who seem too wound up in their own lives and obsessions to speak to us , but who eventually reveal themselves to embody the deepest and most poignant dilemmas of what it means to be human . Some reviewers have described Never Let Me Go as a cautionary tale about the excesses of science and the fearsome possibilities of biological manipulation and exploitation . It is that . But it is , more truly and powerfully , a profound metaphor for the human condition . We are all , really , just like Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy , striving to make sense of who we are , and , at our best , insisting on our intrinsic worth as human beings . That , I think , is the real message of the book , and it is more scary and humbling than any mere warning about medical science could ever be .
081 4 At the outset , the novel is unimpressive , even confusing . But in this case persistance more than compensates the patient reader . Like most novels dealing with ethics , most of the plot sets the stage for the final showdown between all of the alternatives that seem right . And in this novel's climax , the shadowy curtain that has softened the hard edges of the characters ' reality are revealed in crystal clarity for the reader . That is probably what shocked me the most while reading the novel - though I , like the students , had a vague sense that they were clones throughout the entire story , actually hearing Madame say it was almost traumatic .
Never Let Me Go is a book about ethics . But it isn't a cut-and-dry ethical study . The issues are complex and very relevant to today's society . And the writing is amazing - sensitive and meaningful while still sounding convincingly like a real person . It struck me after I finished the last page that Never Let Me Go is not just a novel ; it's literature .
082 4 The main concept of this novel is not , in and of itself , unique ; there have been two films ( 1979 ' s Parts : The Clonus Horror and 2005 ' s The Island ) that have a very similar conceit . What matters here is how the tale is told , and on that merit , the book is a success . Eschewing out and out science fiction for a ( parallel ? dystopian ? ) world that seems much like ours but we never learn about , Ishiguro's novel delves into the lives and minds of a group of youngsters who have a special purpose in life .
At first the book seems rather simple , but as it goes on , one notices little details such as the fact that nobody seems to have any parents or has a life outside the school . As the book goes on , we learn more about these students and their predestined futures and it's heartbreaking .
Ishiguro's quiet , calm narrative is never so over-the-top that it seems unbelievable ; I was reminded of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale with its not so improbable vision of America as Gilead , the theocracy . Ishiguro also sets his novel in the late 1990 ' s which can also give the reader the unsettling impression , even against all conventional wisdom , that perhaps things like this could already be happening ? This book is great for all kinds of debate , as well as being the perfect candidate for inclusion in school curriculums .
083 4 Kazuo Ishiguro's book Never Let Me Go is a haunting book . It is simple and straightforward in its prose , but the characters ' emotions are complicated and utterly human . Without wanting to give away more than you can read from the book's description , this book shows that a story with elements of science fiction don't require explosions and car crashes to grip you as summer movie blockbusters fail to understand .
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a book that is both a page turner and a literary achievement . It makes for great discussions with friends and in the end it makes you look at the mirror a little bit differently .
084 4 It means to be human .
I think Ishiguro deserve major props not just for his beautiful writing and his willingness to let the story unfurl slowly . The best part is that he doesn't tell you what this book is about , and he doesn't tell you what to think , but rather lets you explore your own theories and meanings .
This book may be about cloning , but for me it's also about what makes us human , the implications of free choice ( as well as the implications of not having it ) , and about classism as well ( lets you really think about the ramifications of someone else being brought up to do society's dirty work and undesirable jobs ) .
085 4 The scuttlebutt in the press after this year's Man Booker Prize was announced was that this book was in a close race with the eventual winner , John Banville's The Sea . Having now read both books , I can see why it would be easy for there to be such passionate disagreement . Banville's book is rather slight but it contains gorgeous , enthralling prose . Ishiguro's book is deep , passionate and current but has some weakness which rather surprised me from a writer of Ishiguro's experience and excellence .
Never Let Me Go is a novel of cloning . One immediately imagines some science fiction horror story but that is not what this novel is about . The technical aspects of cloning are never discussed and are barely hinted at . This novel , told from the point of view of one of the clones , a young woman named Kathy , is about human beings . Initially , it is the story of how these clones experience life but , ultimately , it is about ethics and the nature of the soul . Deep stuff and worth spending some time chewing over as this beautiful novel unfolds .
There are just two things that are slightly off in this novel . First , Ishiguro has it set in England in the late 1990 ' s . Why the recent past ? As far as I know , nothing like has been going on in England or anywhere else and I found it distracting to always have in the back of my mind the knowledge that this story was is no way real . Why not set the novel even a few years into a possible near future ? This would have necessitated no real changes in the novel and served for a much more ominous atmosphere and given the novel its own reality .
That , however , is a small problem . My second issue is larger . A lot of questions that need answering are raised throughout the novel . Unfortunately , they are answered in the last few pages in what is essentially a monologue ( disguised as a dialogue - - only the other characters barely speak ) . To me , it seems a rather cheap device to bring closure to these well-drawn , beautiful characters .
But don't be fooled . It's easy to nit-pick an author who you hold in as high esteem as I do Mr . Ishiguro . I have long been a fan of his and this book does not change my opinion in the slightest . There are brilliant high themes and wonderful writing here . This is an excellent novel .
086 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
NEVER LET ME GO follows Kath , Ruth and Tommy through their childhood of institutional care , their brief period of post-graduation freedom , and their doomed adulthoods , when each finds a role in life . In this three-stage narrative , Ishiguro is exploring the manipulative dominance of Ruth , the dependence of Kath on Ruth , and their subtle competition for the clueless Tommy .
While NEVER LET ME GO is set in a world of bizarre medical ethics , its focus is the toxic Ruth , who is determined to dominate Kath and to keep her and Tommy from becoming a couple . Even after her own death , she sets an event in motion that corrupts the Kath / Tommy bond and focuses Tommy on his death . Only in the book's final sentences can the pathetic Kath admit the pain that Ruth has inflicted .
NEVER LET ME GO is an ironic title . As it appears in the narrative , NEVER LET ME GO illuminates the yearnings of Kath to transcend her gruesome fate . ( From the start , Ishiguro tells his readers that his three main characters are clones and manufactured for their organs . ) But at book's end , we see that NEVER LET ME GO really applies to the diabolical Ruth and her hold over the weak Kath . At the novel's conclusion , poor Kath is overworked , weary , and without love . Further , her sad estrangement from Tommy is pulling her toward the slow death of organ donations . All this abides because Ruth couldn't let go .
NEVER LET ME GO is a brilliant , bleak , and understated narrative and highly recommended .
087 4 NEVER LET ME GO follows Kath , Ruth and Tommy through their childhood of institutional care , their brief period of post-graduation freedom , and their doomed adulthoods , when each finds a role in life . In this three-stage narrative , Ishiguro is exploring the manipulative dominance of Ruth , the dependence of Kath on Ruth , and their subtle competition for the clueless Tommy .
While NEVER LET ME GO is set in a world of bizarre medical ethics , its focus is the toxic Ruth , who is determined to dominate Kath and to keep her and Tommy from becoming a couple . Even after her own death , she sets an event in motion that corrupts the Kath / Tommy bond and focuses Tommy on his death . Only in the book's final sentences can the pathetic Kath admit the pain that Ruth has inflicted .
NEVER LET ME GO is an ironic title . As it appears in the narrative , NEVER LET ME GO illuminates the yearnings of Kath to transcend her gruesome fate . ( From the start , Ishiguro tells his readers that his three main characters are clones and manufactured for their organs . ) But at book's end , we see that NEVER LET ME GO really applies to the diabolical Ruth and her hold over the weak Kath . At the novel's conclusion , poor Kath is overworked , weary , and without love . Further , her sad estrangement from Tommy is pulling her toward the slow death of organ donations . All this abides because Ruth couldn't let go .
NEVER LET ME GO is a brilliant , bleak , and understated narrative and highly recommended .
088 4 It is not the circumstances of the lives of the narrator , Kathy H . , and her friends that make this the measured study in horror and sorrow that it is . Rather it is the normalcy of their lives and their pursuits , and ultimately the complacency with which their larger fate is met that lingers in the reader's mind .
While it would be easy to find an allegory for American complacency in the current political climate , and I could cheerfully add my own voice to that easy cacophony , Ishiguro's theme is more broadly applicable . All over the world , people tow the line , obey the herd , and accept the unacceptable without question ; a truth observable throughout history .
I use a quotation from Albert Einstein as the signature of my email , and it speaks to what I believe to be the central theme of this , Ishiguro's sixth book :
Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment . Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions .
And there's the rub . Even when faced with a system so overwhelmingly and obviously wrong , the protagonists only pursue the small question , the larger being too alien to the norm even for consideration .
Ishiguro's writing style is deceptively simple . No intricate turns of phrase , no grand moralizing ; just straightforward , commonplace , and , ultimately , horrifying normalcy .
089 4 To spoil or not to spoil ? It's difficult to discuss the effect of this book without disclosing key elements of the plot ; on the other hand part of Ishiguro's art is the gradual revelation of horrifying detail .
Though I was careful not to read any reviews that would further spoil the book for me ( as I will try not to for you ) I knew the basic premise before I began the book and was actually rather glad I did . It helped me identify with the narrator , Kathy , who , at 31 , already possesses all the knowledge she will slowly reveal to the reader , as it was slowly revealed to her .
As the novel opens Kathy is in her last year of a career that has lasted 11 years , much longer than the average . She is a carer , a nurse who looks after donors , people who are surgically relieved of body parts . Kathy is proud of the job she does : My donors have always tended to do much better than expected . Their recovery times have been impressive , and hardly any of them have been classified as ` agitated , ' even before fourth donation .
As Kathy prepares herself for the next stage of her life , she looks back on her childhood at idyllic Hailsham , her home and school . Her voice is matter-of-fact plaintive ; her story imbued with a quiet acceptance that heightens the emotional impact .
Ishiguro sets the novel in 1990s England , a world we see only from Kathy's outsider view . She and the other Hailsham children live wholly at the facility . They don't mix with other people . They are not permitted outside its comfortable and spacious confines , though it never occurs to them to want to go anywhere else . Stories of unknown origin circulate among the children of horrible things that happen to children who venture out .
Classes at Hailsham seem fairly typical except for the weekly medical exams , which Kathy mentions in passing as she recalls the importance of art and creativity among the Hailsham students . Creativity was strongly encouraged and periodic Exchanges were set up when students could buy art from other students in their year , building up their personal collections . But her friend Tommy , who excelled at sports , was no good at art and never contributed to the Exchanges . As a consequence he was ostracized , teased and bullied .
Though many other things have come clear in the intervening years , Kathy has always been mystified as to why art was so important at Hailsham . Their best pieces were taken away and presented to an outsider , known only as Madame , who never spoke to the students . The kids think of her as snooty , until Kathy's friend Ruth declares that she's afraid of them and their group of girls decides to test this theory . It's a lighthearted dare until they actually go through with it , almost bumping into Madame on her arrival . In an instant , their mood changes .
Ruth had been right : Madame was afraid of us . But she was afraid of us in the same way someone might be afraid of spiders . We hadn't been ready for that . It had never occurred to us to wonder how we would feel , being seen like that , being the spiders .
So if the very sight of them makes her shudder , what does Madame want with their best art ?
Kathy takes us through the normal formation of cliques and crushes , small details of their specialness revealed as they pass from childhood into adolescence . Tommy thought it possible the guardians had , throughout all our years at Hailsham , timed very carefully and deliberately everything they told us , so that we were always just too young to understand properly the latest piece of information . But of course we'd take it in at some level , so that before long all this stuff was there in our heads without us ever having examined it all properly .
Ishiguro builds this world detail by detail - love affairs , squabbles , aspirations and expectations - combining the mundane with the monstrous to create an atmosphere in which it all seems quite horribly plausible , given the feats the human mind has been capable of through history . He examines the psychology of authority , acceptance , denial , otherness and manipulation and reaches deep into the human heart to leave the reader with a dark , visceral , lingering horror .
- Portsmouth Herald
090 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Paperback )
A disturbing book , which I had not expected to like as much as I did . I don't want to reveal plot details here , but I knew enough about the plot before reading the book to have some misgivings . But I was drawn in to care about what happened to the characters . Despite the potential for bleakness , this book actually had the opposite effect on me , and I found it quite uplifting ( though very sad ) by the time I finished it .
Ishiguro's writing is beautiful , as always .
091 4 A disturbing book , which I had not expected to like as much as I did . I don't want to reveal plot details here , but I knew enough about the plot before reading the book to have some misgivings . But I was drawn in to care about what happened to the characters . Despite the potential for bleakness , this book actually had the opposite effect on me , and I found it quite uplifting ( though very sad ) by the time I finished it .
Ishiguro's writing is beautiful , as always .
092 4 I noticed that some people did not enjoy this book and I can see why . . . but I did . It's power is in its subtlety ; in its unique storyline . I was very engaged from start to finish and enjoyed the writing very much . Very impressed .
093 4 My name is Kathy H . I'm thirty-one years-old , and I've been a carer now for over eleven years ( 3 ) .
Every avid reader knows that first sentences are everything . The first sentence of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go certainly does its job in setting up a feel for the rest of the novel . The author's informal yet often elegant language helps you to get closer to characters and truly believe that they are real .
Set in the English countryside , Never Let Me Go uses Ishiguro's beautiful language to narrate a story , of friendship and emotions , that questions moral values .
The story is told in flashback with Kathy remembering scenes from her childhood at Hailsham and from her time as carer . She reflects on time spent with the donors she has cared for and her good friends from school , Tommy and Ruth .
At the isolated Hailsham school students are encouraged to create art and express themselves creatively . While most of the students go along with this , Tommy does not really wish to create anything while he is at Hailsham . He stands out from the crowd and is know to throw temper tantrums when provoked by classmates . Tommy and Kathy find in each other people they can confide in and discuss the mysteries surrounding the school where they are growing up . Ruth is Kathy's best friend while at school and later becomes one of Kathy's donors .
One mystery that puzzles the students involves a character named Madame who takes away the students ' best work for The Gallery . [ Madame ] was afraid of [ them ] in the same way
someone might be afraid of spiders ( 35 ) . This starts the reader to question early on the purpose of Hailsham .
I really enjoyed this book and think other people should read it too . However it should not be read at too young an age as there are some mature themes . This book is excellent because it hold you in suspense for almost the entire novel . Even though a plot twist could have made the ending more enjoyable I thought that the ending was fine , not cliche , and confirmed my belief that reading the book was worthwhile .
My absolute favorite quote from the book is , And I saw a little girl , her eyes tightly closed , holding to her breast the old kind world , one that she knew in her heart could not remain , and she was holding it and pleading , never to let her go ( 272 ) . This quote really sums up the book for me and shows Ishiguro's beautiful language style .
094 4 I was moved almost to tears by this lovely little book as I read it . I had dreams about it . Ishiguro tells this pitiful tale of a group of doomed English schoolchildren with the voice of a female , whom I found utterly convincing . This story , written by someone else , could have been heavy-handed and preachy - - something very different . But Ishiguro makes his focus very small , focusing on the delicate intricacies of friendship and love in impossible circumstances . He never even describes them physically , but these characters felt very real to me . The scene where Kathy is poring over porn magazines , looking for images of herself , is absolutely heart-rending . As I said , any other writer . . . ! Like Remains of the Day , I think this could be made into a beautiful film , if done in the right way . I want a soundtrack with lots of 70 ' s English folk , like Nick Drake , Vashti Bunyan , and Gary Higgins ( specifically Unable to Fly ) - - music that has the same aching elegance of this novel .
095 4 I never wanted this book to let me go . Ishiguro weaves an amazing , utterly convincing and ultimately heartwrenching tale of a conceivable scenario encompassing genetics , clones , and organ transplant . If you liked Atwood's Oryx and Crake , you will be enraptured by Never Let Me Go .
096 4 I think it was Isaac Asimov who once pointed out that if you want to be a good science fiction writer , first you need to be a good writer . The converse , however , is not true : just because you're a good writer does not automatically mean you'll be a good science fiction writer . Which brings me to Kazuo Ishiguro , who is obviously a good writer , noted primarily for The Remains of the Day and recognized with various awards ; but is he a good science fiction writer ? With Never Let Me Go , the answer is a qualified yes .
Never Let Me Go takes place in an alternate England where cloning is not only legal but has been going on for quite a while . Kathy , the narrator , is such a clone , raised to make donations and eventually reach completion . The book relates her life in three parts : her childhood at an academy for the clones , her years of young adulthood with semi-independence , and her years as a carer , who tends to the donors . Kathy is also part of a semi-romantic triangle with Ruth and Tommy , both of whom have their own issues .
Superficially , the book resembles the recent movie , The Island ( a movie I liked ) , but with character and description taking the place of action and special effects . ( Kind of imagine The Island as a Masterpiece Theatre , and you get an idea of the differences . ) This novel , in fact , does not have that much of a plot ; it is more of a fictional autobiography , filled with episodes that show a gradual development of characters . As the characters get older , they ( and we ) learn about the world they are a part of , a world where clones are treated as second-class or worse .
While one of the goals of science fiction is to create a what-if scenario and see how it plays out , it has to do so in a world that is plausible within the rules that have been set up . In certain ways , Ishiguro succeeds with creating a reality that is believable given the initial idea of cloning . But in other ways , this world doesn't seem fully credible : the way clones are raised and treated often doesn't seem very economical , and there should be political implications that are hardly even discussed , much yet seen ( and what about children ? The only donors are adults ; does that mean children cannot be recipients , or they must get adult organs ) . In addition , Kathy and her friends are far too passive about their fate ; no one ever really questions if they could live any other way .
Which is why Never Let Me Go is okay but clearly flawed as science fiction , which is what it should be considered given its subject matter and speculative nature . On the other hand , I get the feeling Ishiguro is only minimally interested in science fiction except as a means to create a novel ( maybe , like many literary authors , he considers science fiction writing to be slumming , but that's only a guess ) .
As fiction , however , this is a good , well-written book , and I would recommend it if your interests go beyond science fiction . If you're essentially only a fan of the genre , you may be disappointed .
097 4 After the mess that was When We Were Orphans , it was a sheer delight to see that Ishiguro has returned to the level we first encountered in The Remains of The Day . The writing is deceptively simple and straightforward , but the tension is maintained throughout until the expected ending . Ishiguro uses the issue of clones and cloning to deal with his favourite subjects : the unreliability of memory , the past , regret .
098 4 When my book group picked this book , I was very very leery . I had previously read , and been wholly unimpressed with When We Were Orphans and had no desire to give Ishigiro another go . Fortunately I overcame my skepticism , and about a week before our meeting I finally opened the book . From almost the first page I was enthralled and completely under the spell of the prose . I'm not generally a fan of highly mannered writing , I tend to prefer a little razzle-dazzle , a little style , but the precise and pitch-perfect narration sucked me under like a riptide . It is the best novel about nostalgia and memory I have ever read , and at the same time , it is a brilliant science fiction tale . Like all science fiction , the story has its own mysterious vocabulary , but it is told without the genre trappings that ghettoize science fiction . Ishigiro sets his story in a recognizable mid - 1990s Britain but with a significant and sinister difference . And like the best science fiction writers , he does not attempt to explain why this difference exists , or how it came into being , or how the technicalities of it work , he simply presents it as a given and lets his characters loose . Those who demand explanations and internal historical rationales for it are going to be disappointed , and are , moreover , missing the point of the book .
From the very begriming , 31 - year-old narrator Kathy sets a subtly ominous tone by telling the reader she has been a carer for over a decade and that the authorities are pleased with her . It's a short step from this to donors and recovery times and other intriguing tidbits that announce we are in a slightly different world . The three central characters are Kathy , her best friend Ruth , and Ruth's boyfriend Tommy , all students at Hailsham , some kind of elite boarding school in the English country . Told in the manner of recounting one's innermost musings , Kathy reflects on her happy childhood at Hailsham , attempting to dissect every encounter and event for meaning and hints of her present situation . The school appears idyllic , with staff who care greatly for them , and yet one gets the sense it's like a zoo or orphanage , for the children know next to nothing about the broader world and have almost no contact with popular culture . Ishigiro does a wonderful job of capturing the inside world of such a place , with all its traditions , mysteries , fragile friendships , and petty jealousies .
After graduation , the trio are sent to a remote cluster of cottages where they spent two years in a safe post-graduate environment . They are nominally meant to do a lot of reading and write a big thesis paper , but mostly it's meant to slowly acclimate them somewhat to the outside world . From here , it's difficult to discuss the book further without spoiling it , so I'll just say that as Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy grow into adults , they slowly come to realize more about their relationship and more about the reality of their existence . It should be noted that many readers ( especially those used to science fiction's recoding of words ) will have realized what's going on pretty early in the story . However , Ishigiro is not looking to shock the reader with a big reveal , nor to ignite some kind of ethical debate ( although it could easily serve such a purpose ) , but rather to explore the nature of relationships and memory . This is done through beautiful , controlled , subtle prose which perfectly captures both the joy and pain of remembering a better time and place . This is a brilliant work which has forced me to reconsider Ishigiro .
099 4 Never Let Me go opens with the young narrator Kathy H . telling us that she has been a carer now for eleven years , and that the authorities - whomever they are - have been generally pleased with her work . Then she talks about her doners and their impressive recovery time , even before the fourth donation . Kathy tells us that she's a graduate of Hailsham ; a type of exclusive boarding school , a privileged estate set in the tranquil English countryside , presided over by a mismatched group called the guardians .
Hailsham is no ordinary school . Like most boarding schools , Hailsham exists in its own enclosed world , with its own philosophy , and its own faintly odd traditions . But there's never any mention of parents or a home life , and daily existence is permeated with strange customs , names , and an esoteric terminology . Former students are known as veterans and a mysterious Madame drops by occasionally to collect artwork for something called the Gallery .
Obviously something strange is going on and it all looks obliquely sinister , but this hardly matters to Kathy and her best friends Tommy and Ruth , as they think they are living some sort of idyllic existence , having the best time of their lives . In Hailsham they had their own lost corner .
We knew a few things about ourselves - about who we were , how we were different from our guardians , from the normal people outside . We perhaps new down the line there were donations waiting for us , but hadn't yet understood what any of it meant . In reality , the students are clones and have been bred specifically for harvesting their organs . After they do this , and their series of donations are finished , they'll be complete and presumably die .
Of course , this is all kept mysteriously quiet , although the kids have a hint of their purpose . In one instance , a frantic Miss Lucy - one of their kinder guardians - blurts out that even before they're middle-aged they'll have to start to donate vital organs - their first donations , and if your to have decent lives , you have to know who you are and what lies ahead of you .
Ishiguro , in very careful increments , lets the children know , and through them us what Hailsham is really for - an exclusive institution where the children are reared for one soul purpose . For them death is not only inevitable , it's almost desirable . Kathy , Ruth and Tommy often discuss big plans for the future , but because of their preconceived role they stay fearful of the world around them - unable to quite let each other go .
Ishiguro takes a rather icy , restrained , and dispassionate look at this issue , but he does it from the point of view of the donor , rooting the reader firmly in the mind of Cathy . We get to see her thoughts and views of the world , and throughout , a picture emerges of a passionate , intelligent , perceptive , and also a remarkably sensitive woman , who is unfortunately regarded by the society around her as not quite human .
Never Let Me Go portrays a new world rapidly becoming more scientific ; there are more cures for the old sicknesses , and there are now vast human banks rich in deposits of hearts and lungs and livers . But it's become also a harsh and cruel world full of scientific objectivity , where the donors are housed in government run institutions and where societies are exhibiting a resoundingly deep moral blindness towards the issue . It's a scenario that is chilling , compelling , otherworldly , and also deeply disturbing .
Beautifully written , with exquisite warmth and tenderness , Never Let Me Go is often disquieting and worrying , but it will also fill you with the bright light of understanding and leave you absolutely enriched for the experience . This gifted author has created something astonishing , not so much a novel , but a passage into the heart of the human soul . Mike Leonard May 05 .
100 4 Ishiguro writes in a prose so controlled it seems to be under the restraint of something more profound than secret-keeping ; from start to finish , each sentence of this novel bears the weight of an almost pathological reservation . Stylistically , it reminded me a little of Chang-rae Lee's A Gesture Life , except that Lee's narrator ( occasionally ) seems aware that he is unforthcoming with the depths of character that animate him , while Kathy does not . There is an atmosphere of pathos throughout Kathy's tale , but nothing keen enough to pierce the reader to the heart . It feels rather suffocating than moving .
The plot seems like a sci-fi conceit , but this is not science fiction any more than When We Were Orphans is a detective novel . It's closer to a sadistically ironic coming-of-age tale , which requires us to follow the mundane and frequently dull events of Kathy's childhood and young adulthood as we , and she , gradually come to understand that there is no adulthood drawing us forward , no age to come at which one will feel like a real person , and all the petty growing pains of childhood will become meaningful in retrospect . Kathy and her peers lead ephemeral lives that are just as ordinary as real lives . These individuals are not tragic poems that blaze brightly before disappearing too soon ; they are simply conscious human beings whose horizon sits uncomfortably close . The novel might be mistaken for a dystopic fantasy of the future but for the fact that , though published in 2005 , it locates the story in England , late 1990s - - this is in fact a look back to a moment receding into the past . Perhaps what is so disturbing about Ishiguro's vision is that it turns our attention as if to something we missed along the way , but without delivering any epiphanies , undermining any illusions we might have been harboring , consciously or not , that beneath the surface of the everyday are great , shining truths or profoundly devastating tragedies . Instead , there is a persistant sense of longing , loss , and failure of understanding - - the very things we sought to escape through insight . By novel's end , Ishiguro delivers us sadder , perhaps , but otherwise unchanged .
101 4 An extraordinary book . Although on the surface it appears to be a sci-fi novel , I think sci-fi fanatics would be disappointed - there's lots of fiction , but actually no science . The sci-fi aspects of the plot are so flimsy and so vaguely alluded to that it scarcely matters , apart from one cheesy bit at the end which didn't need to be there because the reader will by then have developed their own ideas of what exactly is going on . He lays the ground so carefully throughout the book that you spend days after reading the book developing the ideas and speculating wildly . What does matter , and what he has achieved so well in this book , is the way he portrays the meaninglessness of beliefs , the balm ( and disappointment ) that blind faith provides and the ultimate futileness of being alive . But he also portrays the joy that can be gained from the simple pleasures in life , and our ability to cope and adapt to even the most appalling circumstances . Several reviews have described this book as a comment on the importance of ' ethics ' in science , but I don't think that's the case . He's just using his plot to miniaturize what happens to all of us - we grow up and then we die , and on the way we usually see terrible things happen to our loved ones , and there's nothing we can do about it , apart from enjoying the good bits that happen on the way , and avoiding the truth by clinging to beliefs that comfort us . Painful stuff .
102 4 Critics have been saying that this book is not like any other Ishiguro book . With one exception , the setup is the same ; no other Ishiguro book is told with an all-knowing narrator from the start . Alright , maybe The Unconsoled did , but after 30 pages I put it down in disgust and have not picked it up since . The rest of the setup is identical ; it is the theme that varies .
What goes hand-in-hand with the all-knowing narrator from the start is that the book all takes place at once . It is still a first-person flashback , but there is no mystery to solve within the life by the person , nothing to do to find anything extraordinary . There are no missing parents like in When We Were Orphans , no letter from an old friend like in Remains of the Day . Ishiguro just has Kathy H . , the narrator , tell her story , and reveal the secrets she already knows as she goes along .
More so than in When We Were Orphans ( the book I believed is a worthy comparison to Never Let Me Go ) , the narrator is strong and a solid character to build the story around . Ishiguro does an amazing job supplying the story around Kathy H . while still keeping the full emotional effect . Even though we know this story is impossible , the reader finds it easier to relate to Kathy H . than he did to Christopher Banks , unless the reader actually was an orphan .
The situations are much more commonplace in Never Let Me Go . Ishiguro takes us through the life of Kathy H . , from her days at Hailsham growing up , living her childhood to the best possible . Despite the impossibilities of the character , the situations are all realistic . These are normal human childhoods and Ishiguro shows that . It makes it all the more sad .
As I already said , the book crosses the line from plausible like his previous works to impossible , at least with the technology available today . But this is only a technicality . The fact that it is impossible , science fiction as some people inaccurately label it , has no bearing on the book's quality . The fact that it is impossible fails to enter my mind at all throughout it and I adopt the characters as though they were real , just like I did in his previous works . The impossibility of it is only there on paper . The sad truth is that one day it may be possible .
As strong as Kathy H . is , she and her friends are all equally pathetic characters . They live and die a set life , caring from when they are about eighteen and then becoming donors . Of course they could escape , drive away , but they never even think of it . The only deviance from the norm is the thought of a deferral if you were in love , but nobody knew where to go for that . But these people were created to go a set course in life and though fully capable of deviating from this set course , they all accept it . I have never read of more pathetic characters in my life . Wait , I messed up . I adopted them as I read . Thus I have never seen more pathetic people in my life .
And of note , the only other pathetic narrator Ishiguro has had in my opinion was Masuji Ono in An Artist of the Floating World . That is the only major similarity I could find between the two works that just missed Booker Prize nominations .
When analyzing the book , it is clearly a representation of the meaningless of life . You live your childhood in ignorance of the world . The seclusion of Hailsham almost over emphasizes this , but the fact that it is an over-shielded impression of childhood does not inhibit Ishiguro from his goal . You know of the world , as shown through the pictures the young students see of England , but you just know that they exist . You believe what you are told . You are told artwork is important and you do it . You are then told that there is no need to be worried if you are not creative and you then calm down . The children live their childhood at Hailsham perfectly and thus it is the beginning of part one . But there is no purpose to it except to learn and prepare for future life .
After you grow up , you reach your teenage years . You are still secluded from the world but you are aware that it exists , no longer just told . You understand what you have not seen . You understand that Norfolk is not just a lost corner in England . You do not have to see it or be told it to believe it . Sex becomes important and Ishiguro's flaw is how he over-emphasizes it . Having just gone through those years , I'm not saying it is not important or anything to that sort , but Ishiguro's reference to the sex the teenagers had at Hailsham makes them seem over-mature . This could just be the narrator's mature recollection , but I believe it is more Ishiguro making the 15 - year-olds maturer than they really were .
Part Two brought in the cottages , the intermediate phase between Hailsham and work . There is an air of freedom , but the young adults chose to read and remain trapped in boundaries with limited freedom , more commonly referred to as college . They can escape at any time , but they chose to stay . Some leave earlier to begin training for being carers , some don't . Even before this there are veterans who lead them and make fun of them in shifts , or veterans . We may know them as upperclassmen maybe ? But there is no point to it in the real scheme of things . Little that occurs there will really matter when you start your life . You make and break friendships . It does not matter .
Part III skips over a lot of time , showing the blur working creates . There is little to no purpose for any of it , as eventually we will all settle out and die . Some people work later into life than others and watch their friends complete their lives . Kathy H . is one of these people . But everything she does just continues the circle , continues the inescapable destiny , the continuity of pointlessness that really is life . Some people are better than others at doing their jobs and Kathy H . is just one of these people . But in the end , in about eight month's time , she too will retire and then fizzle out until everything is complete .
But life will still go on the circle will continue . Forever and ever and ever . It is sad . It is pathetic . It is true .
Ishiguro , in his best book since Remains of the Day , shows just how pathetic life really is . He crosses the line from plausible to impossible , but this only makes his characters more relatable . It only makes them more pathetic .
103 4 I can't help think what this book would be like if it was written by Michael Crighton , Robert Ludlum , etc . I shudder at the thought of it .
In the hands of Ishiguro , this novel is utterly haunting . I found myself caring deeply about these characters and was disburbed and horrified by the world in which they lived . I've tried to understand why I was so moved by this novel , and it wasn't simply the plot . I believe it was the way he drew the characters and their reactions as they slowly became aware of their predicament . The lack of morality and society's ability to rationalize made me really think .
Ishiguro's work falls into the literature category and I think this is his best so far .
104 4 The review directly below this one is spoiler-free , but you might save the other reviews until after you've finished this beautiful book . The novel isn't a simple story about students at a boarding school as the back cover would have you believe . As you read you'll start to figure out what's going on for yourself , forming and discarding different theories , as Ishiguro slowly doles out information . I looked at the reviews when I was about halfway through and wish I hadn't .
Despite not-quite-mundane setting and plot , it's really the characters and insights into human nature that make Never Let Me Go special . If you pick it up expecting sci-fi you'll be disappointed . If you take it for what it is , you won't be let down .
105 4 In many ways , Kazuo Ishiguro's stunning novel , Never Let Me Go , resembles his earlier novel , The Remains of the Day . The lead characters in both novels ( a butler in Remains , a 31 year old carer in Never Let Me Go ) narrate both novels by relating surface events without realizing the ramifications of them . This requires the reader to glean the plot implications by him or herself . The difference between the two characters is that the main character in Remains of the Day ultimately understands the futility of his life , while the main character here simply accepts her fate .
This book , which I suppose is nominally science fiction , but is more likely just a different form of a dystopian novel like Brave New World , is distinguished from other dystopian stories by the absence of a non-conformist character who challenges his or her fate . Several reviewers have mentioned Hannah Arent's theory of the banality of evil in discussing this novel . The crucial difference here is that not only the evil people ( identified or otherwise ) banal , but so are the protagonists . It is left to the readers to contemplate the horror of the protagonists ' lives , as the readers see the main characters grow up ( they are school children for much of the book ) and essentially embrace their fates .
The final novel I will invoke here is Frankenstein , a book that describes a scientist's attempt to create a human being by himself . Yet even Frankenstein's monster makes an attempt to assert his humanity . The protagonists in this novel have been so conditioned to accept their fates that they live and die without ever raising an objection to the cruelty of their fates or the way that society regards them as subhuman . This is one of the scariest books I have read in a long time , a novel made more special by Ishiguro's subtlety and his expectation that his readers will understand his work without it being spoonfed to them .
106 4 Like the characters in Kazuo Ishiguro's chillling novel Never Let Me Go , we are told and not told about their horrible and tragic fate . The first clues come from the narrator , a 31 year old woman named Kathy H . She tells us she has been a carer over a little over a decade . She does not tell us what she cares for though .
Kathy H . quickly begins to tell us about her school days in the English Countryside at a remote co-ed boarding school called Halisham . At first it seems like any other boarding school with typical rules , regulations , and lessons . This illusion quickly but not totally fades away . Teachers are given the enigmatic title of guardians . Are these students orphans ? Sex is taught in an unusally frank manner . We find out that all of the students at Halisham are sterile and incapable of ever having children . The mystery builds from there . Kathy H leaves Halisham but instead of going into the real world she and her classmates go to an equally secluded place called The Cottages . Other words and clues add to the mystery and horror . Donor , Potential , Completion .
Kazuo Ishiguro's novel is a telling tale for our age . It is about what happens when scientific advacement happens too quickly . Our knowledge and abilities increase but our morals and ethics fall fast behind them . We get so caught up in what we can do that we forget to think about what we should do .
107 4 I am a fan of Ishiguro's work , and found _ Never Let Me Go _ well written but unsatisfying for two basic reasons :
1 . Other readers have addressed the moral importance of this book . I agree that raising people for organ donations is wrong . That's why this book probably fails to raise important moral issues : we were already in agreement before reading this book .
2 . I found the book unconvincing scientifically , socially , and presonally . The Hailsham students ( and others ) eventually participate in a series of organ donations instead of one major organ harvest . This is poor science . It would be extremely difficult to keep donors alive and well for any period after losing major organs , and their overall health , and therefore the health of their remaiing organs , would become less useful if not outright unusuable . I also find it difficult to believe England would allow systemized murder to occur in this form , though this is the smallest objection to a work of fiction . Kathy and Ruth's friendship was difficult to believe , because Ruth was such a dominant and dishonest personality , and Kathy cared about knowing how things actually are . Finally , it seemed there was something missing in the way the characters reacted to their lot as adults : neither Kathy nor anyone she knew ever tried to escape , or to think seriously about it .
What was good about _ Never Let Me Go _ ? Ishiguro's language is consistently beautiful without being overblown , and his narrators tend to be thoughtful , gentle people . His details about growing up are precise and illuminating . He knows the importance of every day .
The book is pleasant to read , but fails to provide food for thought .
108 4 What a book . The fact that you can easily blow through it in just a few sittings in no way diminishes its impact .
Before reading this book I had read a few of the reviews on Amazon and I knew that it was a book about a somewhat science-fictiony theme . ( I won't spoil it here - - I think that even a general idea of what it's about spoils some of the darker elements of the story . ) A lot of the reviewers would criticize the plot : Would the characters really behave that way ? Is that how it would really happen ? But to look at it like this , I think , misses the point .
It's significant that Ishiguro informs us on the first page that this story takes place in England , late 1990s . This is not a cautionary tale , warning us not to let science take us down a certain road . In Ishiguro's fictional world , the road has * already been taken * . The decisions have been made , the outcomes have already transpired . All that remains is to ponder the meaning of the events he relates . As such , Never Let Me Go is not really even a science fiction book in the ordinary sense . What Ishiguro has done is create a powerful and haunting metaphor for the human condition .
We follow the Hailsham students from when they are children through adulthood . Along the way we experience all the major events of their lives . And yet , for these characters , some of the significant transformations of our own lives - - the discovery of sex , for instance - - are treated as no big deal ; they happen and everyone moves on as if nothing has changed . There is another understanding they must come to , however - - a darker truth about the Hailsham students that is completely alien to our own existence . It is this brilliant stroke that allows Ishiguro to paint us a symbolic portrait of our own lives - - with all their mysteries and joys , the sadness of aging and loss and death , and the search for meaning - - in such a way that we can view it with entirely new eyes .
Is destiny assured ? Are our fates inevitable , or can we do something to change them ? And if we could , would we have the courage to do it ? What is the nature of human relationships ? Is every human being born equal , or are some more worthy than others ? For that matter , what does it mean to be human ? Are we the products of a loving creator , or are we ultimately all alone ?
This is a moving , masterful book , told with deceptively simple language . But be warned : It is by no means a feel-good story . Come to it prepared to think about uncomfortable truths , to be teased into drifting back through your own half-forgotten memories , and to ponder the inevitable .
P.S . I often hear this book compared to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale , but I don't think that's quite accurate . While some of the themes are similar , Atwood's novel really * is * a speculative , cautionary science fiction book about a possible future ; in this case , an America transformed by exaggeratedly fundamentalist religious ideas . Ironically , if I had to compare Never Let Me Go to any other book of recent memory , the one I might compare it to is Atwood's other science fiction novel , Oryx and Crake . The stories aren't much alike at all , but somehow the mood seems similar .
109 4 I bought this book after reading a few positive reviews - and I was extremely curious about the subject matter , because the reviewers deliberately left it fuzzy , thankfully . I will not spoil anything for anyone with my comments , but I do want to voice a strong recommendation for this book .
Ishiguro has rendered three complex characters in this novel . The story is told from the first-person of Kathy , and it is her story . One primary theme throughout the novel is that of self-discovery , and in this , it is a universal tale . Kathy mines her memories for key events that lead to an interpretion of her life and the life of those who she is close to . Another interesting theme is that of the unreliable narrator . Kathy usually blends two versions of her past - the way she viewed things at the time ( usually she is recalling childhood memories ) and the way she has grown to view things as an adult .
That the novel is really an alternate present-day is almost forgotten as Ishiguro immerses the reader into the everyday events of Kathy's life . The narrator's obvious question seems to be , Why is this memory important ? - but the questions and answers run far deeper and are much more ambiguous than they seem at first glance .
This novel is quite ambitious , and Ishiguro is an astonishingly talented writer to have pulled this together so successfully .
110 4 Warning : spoiler
While this book is completely compelling while reading it , and keeps the plot gradually unfurling up to the end , it is ultimately disappointing . It makes absolutely no logical sense in the end , if you think about it for 5 minutes .
The whole concept of 4 staged donations and carers on which the plot is based would have no place in a society that raised clones simply to use their organs . Why would they bother to take one organ at a time and pay the expenses of recovery , carers , food , clothing , shelter , etc . for years on end ? They would simply have harvested all the important organs at once and been done with it .
I know , this isn't the real world , and the book is all about suspense , characterization , imbuing the ordinary with nuance and mystery , and is not intended to be logical in any sense , but in my opinion , if you are going to try to write something thought-provoking , it needs to stand up to some thought without completely crumbling into an impossible illogicality .
The characters were shown to have every human attribute except fertility and their complete passivity and resignation to their fate just seemed completely contradictory to the rest of their character .
There were many things that seemed off emotionally . The people who were helping the clones expressed extreme fear and repugnance for them , and this also didn't ring true to me - if they saw the clones as human and having a soul , what was the source of their fear and repulsion ? None of it rang true or seemed emotionally realistic in the end , particularly after the explanations given by the two guardians in the climactic scene .
I was reminded of the recent movie The Island about clones with a similar purpose who find out what they are and immediately start planning an escape from their fate . This book couldn't be further from that mindset - and while that movie wasn't realistic by any means , it at least seemed more emotionally authentic .
We are supposed to be moved by the fate of the three characters , or what is the point of the book ? But because none of the facts of their life make any sense in the end , I just felt manipulated and strung along .
111 4 Just the most amazing work : much deeper than the story which is mostly a rough fable regarding real life . Simply : like poetry . The message is so bone deep and complex . This author is a genius . If you want raw pain and raw truth , elegantly told . No future and what would you do with this if you were young and naturally inclined to believe ? This spins off to being about any age , race or gender and being shut down . This is a universal human statement , when the powers that be cut you up before you can live . Geez . . . read it I can't describe how perfect it is .
112 4 I will sometimes finish a book that will have a greater effect on me a couple of days after reading it than when I first finish it . This book is one of those . To try to explain without spoiling anything is difficult , but here goes :
The narrator and her friends are graduates of a boarding school in England , where they have some notion they are somehow different , and even among those who are different , are set apart for having attended the school ( see how hard this is ? ) . The narration is a bit disjointed , but I liked that , as it really felt like this young woman was sitting with me and telling me her story off the top of her head . I also got the impression that she was remarkably sensitive , and could read people's emotions well ( or at least fancied she could ) . As she tells her story , you feel confused - - like the information is incomplete - - which is brilliant , because this is how the students feel as they're growing up .
This is a story about humanity , what it is to be human , what it means to be compassionate . As the truth is revealed , you may be shocked and think that there is no way that humanity could cross such a line , but think of the many ways people are dehumanized today .
I have to say , almost everyone in my public library's book club did not like this book , so I was in the minority . But I think if you are open to a different way of hearing a story , and are open to letting the story make you think a bit , you will find this book a worthwhile read .
113 4 In the novel Never Let Me Go , while employing an engaging premise , Kazuo Ishiguro explores the black chasm between the unfortunates and those who would presume to aid the unfortunates . Although this is a dark hole indeed , the author succeeds in shining enough light in there for us to want to learn even more about the shadowy forms we've glimpsed scurrying into its fissures ( now that I've killed that metaphor . . . ) .
Told from the point of view of Kathy H . ( one of these unfortunates ) Never Let Me Go , a sort of recent past dystopian chronicle , reveals her abstrusely horrific plight as a carer ( those who help to guide donors to a peaceful end ) working within the boundaries of Ishiguro's imagined minority group . Kathy and her boarding school friends , Ruth and Tommy , attempt to unlock the truth behind some hidden doors of their early life , learning some hard lessons in the process .
On the surface , Never Let Me Go becomes an almost science fiction , a ` what could've been ' or ` what could still be if we're not careful ' kind of a moral caveat . But what saves this book is its underlying implications ; it asks questions for the real world like : Are we truly helping when we endeavor to comfort and protect groups ( racial , ethnic , political , religious , class , etc . . ) who are perceived as less fortunate than our own ? Should we instead educate these groups so that they may empower themselves in time ? OK . I'm being a bit leading here , but still these are important questions to ponder in this global society .
Overall , Ishiguro deftly blends science fiction ( bio-ethics ) and more general socio-political themes to concoct an enjoyable thought-provoking experience . I happily recommend it .
4 stars
114 4 The wonder and power of this book is that it simultaneously takes the reader on two different , almost opposite , paths . From one point of view , the book begins in what almost , but not quite , appears to be a realistic setting , and only slowly , in small , carefully , measured doeses , reveals itself to be an uncanny , frightening , science fiction fantasy . Yet , at the same time , this same book begins with a set of characters who seem too wound up in their own lives and obsessions to speak to us , but who eventually reveal themselves to embody the deepest and most poignant dilemmas of what it means to be human . Some reviewers have described Never Let Me Go as a cautionary tale about the excesses of science and the fearsome possibilities of biological manipulation and exploitation . It is that . But it is , more truly and powerfully , a profound metaphor for the human condition . We are all , really , just like Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy , striving to make sense of who we are , and , at our best , insisting on our intrinsic worth as human beings . That , I think , is the real message of the book , and it is more scary and humbling than any mere warning about medical science could ever be .
115 4 The audiobook of this novel is just wonderful ! I've heard Rosalyn Landor read before ; she is perfect for the main character . I had to stop the car and cry several times ; for that lonely girl singing Baby , never let me go , as she began to realize that she had a bleak future . I highly recommend the audio version .
116 4 Never Let Me Go's haunting look into the phenomenon of cloning was both captivating and suspenseful . Ishiguro successfully brought to life a cast of characters each with a soul and the capacity to feel react and change . While Ishiguro's often over simplistic language may distract a reader from the actual complicated nature of the topic , I found that the dialect in fact complemented the intricacy of the subject , giving the reader more room to reflect and ponder at the questions left unanswered .
As I went deeper into the novel it became more apparent Ishiguro's intention to link these clones with the normal people of the outside world . These students , carers and donators all share the same characteristics of any other person other than the fact that they are told they are special . They look , act , and feel identically to the ways any other person would , yet they choose to succumb to their reality and their supposed chosen path without any attempt to alter it . This notion of simply settling for a life presumed inevitable has distinct parallels to the ways in which we live our lives today . Like Kathy and Tommy who seek answers and then do nothing with the information they are given , much is the mentality of our own lives . While we too have the capacity to feel react and change , just how many people take full advantage of these precious gifts ? Like Ishiguro's text , which painstakingly obsesses on trivial details , we in our own lives do as well , making me wonder just how many of our lives are wasted ?
Never Let Me Go was a truly enjoyable novel capable of providing the reader with a series of emotions . Ishiguro takes the reader on a frequently uncomfortable journey into the oftentimes cruel and selfish nature of our society , while providing a contrasting and more optimistic view of the beauty intelligence and independence we can utilize if we so choose . He demands the reader to spend even more time with the book once the last page has been turned , and take into serious consideration the question of when we must be held accountable for our own lives and our own inactions . I fully recommend Never Let Me Go to all readers , it has something to offer everyone .
117 4 Reviewers are saying much that explains things that would otherwise be somewhat more mysterious on a first reading , but I can report that knowing ahead of time what completing means and so on seems to me likely to do little in the way of diminishing this novel's hold on readers . I thought that this book did more than play at moral seriousness .
118 4 I read this book for a class and did not enjoy it at all . My professor had actually met Ishiguro and interviewed him so when she asked the class for our responses to the book you could tell many students held back . According to the interview she did with him , he said it wasn't about cloning at all but rather a metaphor for life .
I haven't read anything else of his but being that some of his other books received great reviews I'll check them out .
We had a big discussion about the complacency and lack of fight in the characters - - mirroring marginalized populations in society who do not take action either . But , the apathy and unwillingness to fight or contemplate fighting by the clones really pissed me off . We can generalize and say marginalized populations do not act but that's not accurate . There was a lot of action that took place in the 60 ' s and 70 ' s within communities of color . Maybe the mirror was referring to the 90 ' s thru now but even so , there is unrest seething under a supposedly calm exterior in all communities .
I didn't like the book and don't see how or why it received critical acclaim , maybe because of his previous novels .
119 4 On the surface of it , this novel has several things in common with Ishiguro's masterpiece , The remains of the day : a small group of people living in an oppressive microcosmos , their lives guided by mysterious rules , always fussing over very small things , and eventually finding themselves part of something portentous that far surpasses their confined living sphere . In contrast to RotD , however , Never let me go is pretty depressing , and even though the characters in this book live in England , too , it turns out not be England as we know it , but a sinister version of it in some parallel universe . Think Brave new world meets Soilent Green .
We meet Ruth , Kathy and Tommy , students at what appears to be a boarding school called Hailsham . We follow them through the years to find that they are not ordinary students , and that Hailsham is not an ordinary school . There are no teachers , but guardians . A surprising amount of time is spent on making art , and great importance is attached to it . Occasionally , we get a hint of extreme worry over the students ' health . A teacher who thinks the students are not taught enough suddenly vanishes . And who is the mysterious ' Madame ' who comes in regularly to take away the art made by the children ?
Until more or less halfway through , there are enough tantalizing hints and exactly the right lack of answers to keep you turning the pages . Even so , you may well feel occasional exasperation at the amount of paragraphs lavished on single gestures , glances or words , on a drawing , or on a lost audio cassette . After the students leave Hailsham and enter the world outside , it doesn't take a very astute reader to quickly piece together the puzzle and guess what is going on ( well , after reading some of the reviews here , you'll know all about it before you even start ) . Which unfortunately means that the second half of the novel doesn't add much to what went before , and tends to drag . Too many questions remain unanswered : who is governing this world ? Why are the rules the way they are ? What happens if somebody breaks them ? Why do the protagonists , even after they found out what situation they are in , not show the least sign of resistance ? Clearly , Ishiguro wants us to think about moral implications , but he gives us too little to go on .
There is an attempt to make this , too , a story of love and friendship budding , blossoming , and falling apart . But the characters are weighed down by the main plot and the unrelieved humourlessness of the story , and despite all the detail of what they think , feel and do , they remain curiously flat and uninvolving , even somewhat irritating . One consequence of this is , again , that it doesn't really invite the reader to engage with their predicament on a moral level . A strangely cold book , in all , that might have made a good novella , but lacks the substance to warrant its 282 pages .
120 4 I just finished this book yesterday . I must say while I was reading it I didn't want to put it down and once I did I just kept thinking about it . I don't think that it is an earth-shattering novel about the politics of cloning . However , I do think it is an earth-shattering novel about people and relationships . It's characters are so profoundly written , that one feels as though they live and breathe with them . I enjoyed this aspect a great deal . It is slow about two fourths of the way through , but the characters keep you reading . I didn't think the end was shocking or awfully meaningful , but Ishiguro certainly does pull you under . Great summer read !
121 4 Horrifying and heartbreaking all in one . Also , a very timely written book , since the issue of cloning humans is in the news more often than not . We hear all the good things about cloning . . . easier organ transplants , cures for paralysis , heart disease , cancer , etc , but have enough people stopped to ask Where do all these things come from ?
Never Let me Go asks that question . The story is told from the perspective of the donors and we see their struggles , their questions , and how they try to find meaning in their lives , all the time knowing what their ultimate fate will be . It's heartbreaking to visualize small children who have no parents , yet try to attach themselves to the various guardians and gain favor with them . It's heartbreaking to visualize as they become young adults and know they'll never live a normal life with a job , family , etc . And , it's horrifying to visualize a society that questions the donors ' very humanity while they rely on this subset of the population to keep certain health conditions under control .
The ultimate question this book asks is What happens if we have science without ethics ? What does happen ? This could be one possibility .
122 4 span style = font-style : italic ; > Never Let Me Go / span > is , superb . ( I hot-tip it now for the Booker short-list - at least . )
The story is narrated by Kath who is a carer looking after those who are making donations before they finally complete . We learn only gradually that Kath and her kind are clones , bred for their spare parts to provide medical cures for normal folks . But chilling as this scenario is , Ishiguro's novel is less science-fiction nightmare than an exploration of what makes us human .
Kath and her friends Ruth and Tommy were students at Hailsham , an idyllic boarding school deep in the countryside . ( And the interestingly , the story appears to take place in the 1980 ' s , and in a very recognisable England . ) Much of the book charts the ups and downs of their relationships : the petty squabbles , the rivalries and generous doses of adolescent angst bringing home just how very human they are . But how far are the trio prepared to face the reality of their condition , as the evidence gradually falls into place ?
Ishiguro of course has always made a speciality of self-deceiving and emotionally constipated narrators , and Kath is no exception - but this serves to make the true pathos of the story hit home even harder . And yes , I confess I cried at the end , which was a bit embarrassing because I was at the hairdressers at the time !
There's plenty of food for thought here . Developments in medical science and technology make it imperative that we don't shy away from debate about where we're going and whether we really want to go there . Writers like Ishiguro and Margaret Atwood ( in The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake ) give us what-ifs to try on for size in a genre now come to be known as speculative fiction .
123 4 Anyone revealing sensitive plot material about this book is doing a great disservice to the reader and to the author's carefully constructive narrative ; so let me say from the start that this review is spoiler free .
Kazuo Ishiguro has written what possibly will be remembered as the most readable , most important novel of 2005 . Like P.D . James ' The Children of Men or Anthony Burgess ' The Wanting Seed , Never Let Me Go is a challenging work of speculative fiction that exposes the social absurdities and junk ethics of the hyper-industrial age . It is also a profound work that questions what it is , in memory and in sentiment , that makes us human . The novel's deceptively simple language and eminently accessible narrative voice neatly hide the workings of what is in fact a most complex , innovative novel . Take for instance Ishiguro's twist on the speculative fiction format . Instead of placing the story in the near future , he has placed it in the near past - - thus refusing the reader the small comfort of distancing himself from the story's implications by means of the near future buffer . Ishiguro seems to be warning that the seeds of wrong , in this eerie cautionary tale , are present already in our history and our society as they are ; only a few minor hurdles of technology and modern , degenerative philosophy remain to be surmounted .
For anyone who has finished this book and would like to see its themes developed further in a couple of non-fiction books , I can recommend C.S . Lewis ' The Abolition of Man and Wendell Berry's Life Is a Miracle : An Essay Against Modern Superstition .
124 4 * Spoiler Alert *
There's one moment in Never Let Me Go when two characters , Kathy and Tommy , criticize another , Ruth , for not trying to lead a more normal life by working in an office . They tell her , You should have at least tried . That conversation quickly turns in the opposite direction as Ruth tells the two that they should try to change their situation .
In an altnerative universe in the late 1990s , the main characters are clone organ donors . Their sole purpose in life is to grow , be healthy , and then willingly allow themselves be used as spare body parts . Their life expectancy is between 25 and 30 years .
Given this horrific environment one might expect a certain amount of anger and rebellion from _ someone _ in this alternative world . And yet , the donors never fight the system . Their doctors and nurses are mute . Their teachers settle for simply making their life more interesting . No one from the outside world tries to rescue these people . There is no political protest movement that defies the system . There isn't even a normal human lover who meets a clone and tries to rescue him or her .
One of the standards of sci-fi / fantasy is that an author must abide by certain rules . They can be created by the author , by myth , or simply be common sense . Vampires can't see their reflection , for example . In Ishiguro's world we are given all of humanity in a world in which no one is defiant . No one ! How is this possible ? By what reason would humans behave this way ? The author's only reason is that everyone has become selfish because clones allow loved ones to live . This just doesn't wash . Someone , somewhere , _ always _ rebels . The did it with slavery . They did it during the Holocaust . There were even people in the micro-world of Jim Jones who refused to drink the poisonous Kool-Aid .
Ishiguro is more of a literary author and I can only assume that that was his intention here . As so many have indicated , his book is haunting because of the banality and mindlessness of this evil world he has created . In terms of literary atomosphere , Never Let Me Go works . But in terms of being a work of art that is universal , it fails completely because it ignores two of the strongest instincts humans have - fighting for one's survival and the irrepressible urge to defy an unjust authority . ( A book that does present this reality is the excellent Waiting for the Barbarians by J . M . Coetzee . )
As a result , it is impossible for this novel to be a statement about the human condition because the author has completely created a situation that has never existed - because humans don't behave that way .
I so badly wanted to give this novel five stars . And yet , it angered me so much . When Ishiguro only managed to get one of his characters mildly upset about the idea of not working in an office - when their very life is at stake - I wanted to throw the book across the room . Presenting the banality of evil has its merits . Depicting humans in almost complete resignation to such evil , however , is irresponsible and historically , psychologically and sociologically inaccurate .
125 4 I thought about this book for weeks after I read it . It really touched me , it a weird , disturbing , interesting , thoughtful way .
I'd recommend it for everyone to read !
126 4 One of the few books in recent memory to be critically acclaimed ( it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize ) as well as genuinely interesting . All too often so-call literary ' works ' are dreary collections of an author's attempt to win him / herself a prize .
Never Let Me Go is breathtaking in its originality . And , even better , is the equisite style that the writer expresses the shocking future that has been dreamed up . If you enjoyed Margaret Atwoods ' Handmaids Tale ' or ' Oryx & Crake ' then this book is an absolute must have .
Read it , give it to your friends , then sit back and be prepared to while away many happy hours in discussion about the ethical dilemnas posed within .
127 4 It is such a beautiful , heart breaking , humane book . Using unbelievable imagination and extraordinary prose , author takes the reader deep into the minds and thoughts of cloned for purpose young people , exploring their spirits and souls . I will never let this book slip out of my memory .
128 4 Although I rarely , if ever , write an opinion on a novel , I felt compelled to comment on Kazuo Ishiguro's latest effort , Never Let Me Go . While verbose in its text , and laborious at times in its level of detail , it nevertheless unfolds in a direct manner making it accessible to the reader and allows one to ease into the more complicated ideas that will be explored as the story progresses .
Obviously , there are various issues concerning the ethics competing against science , and I believe they are swiftly revealed to the reader ( in case you already didn't get it ) in the ending portions of the novel . However , I think what Ishiguro was quietly prompting the readers to do is to both forget and consider at the same time the implications behind the role clones play . Of course science can deliver miracles and great benefits , but at what cost ? Should we care about beings essentially created out of a test tube as if they were human beings ?
What I think is interesting to note is that the entire story is told from the perspective of a clone , and the minutia of detail surrounding the love triangle between Ruth , Tommy , and our narrator Kathy . There is also a great deal of time spent on the minutia of everyday life while at Hailsham , the school where some of the clones are sent to be ' sheltered ' and educated . Ishiguro spends a great deal of time exploring the thoughts , feelings and ideas that consume the daily lives of Kathy and her companions . It all seems relatively normal .
But it isn't . In fact , though , while the reader may know and consider that this is all a disturbing sort of backdrop , in essence , the characters , the clone characters - - they never question the morality or ethics behind their lot in life . They have simply accepted it . It is , in fact , unquestioned as to the ultimate morality . Unlike some of the guardians at Hailsham and presumably other people in society who are not clones , the clones themselves simply accept the fact that donations and their purpose is predetermined . We the readers are left to consider the ethics - - but strangely it is not really explored by those whom it would seem to matter most . There is no revolt by the clones - - simply a focus on what matters in everyday life .
People are tired . People fall in love . People have sex . People have desires . People have dreams . All things the clones feel and experience . In essence , we are challenged to consider their humanity by listening to a story about something very real and human in its telling . The book is an exploration of our humanity - - through the lens of a being that may in fact not be truly human . And a question raised as to what gives meaning to the idea of being human .
It is those concepts , laid before us in a beautifully written and subtle text , which take this book out of the realm of a good , somewhat enojoyable novel , and to a level of exceptionally high quality .
129 4 I really looked forward to reading this book because I find the whole subject of cloning to be fascinating and a bit scary . However , I was disappointed by Ishiguro's avoidance of so many of the issues surrounding cloning .
What I did like : Kathy's voice is strong and easy to ' listen ' to . She's sympathetic without being self-martyring . The isolation of Hailsham permeates the entire book and each of the main characters . It is easy to see and feel the strangeness of their existence at the school . Likewise , the uneasiness of the centres is also well conveyed .
* * spoiler alert * *
What I found lacking : I found it unbelievable that none of the clones ever rebelled against becoming donors . Clearly , many of them wanted more in their lives . Ishiguro teases us with Ruth's dreams of working in an office , but then drops it , and Ruth's disinterest in the subject years later seems contrived . That all of the otherwise whole people would literally lie down and die did not ring true with me . I also found in unbelievable that after 16 - 18 years of isolation that these students could go out into the world and function normally . No amount of play-acting at Hailsham or any other school would prepare them for that . Given what is revealed at the end about how other clones were raised , I find their integration into the world as carers to be completely unbelievable .
I don't believe that only a small group of people would object to raising clones in inhumane environments . There was nothing in the book to suggest that the people in this other world were sufficiently different enough from this world that they did not have consciences . Ishiguro seems to try and explain this away in a single page with the statement that people who have seen cancer cured are not likely to turn away from it . This seems over-simplified and unjustified by the rest of the story .
The entire book seems covered with a light fog through which we squint at the story . Everything seems muffled ; emotions , actions , thoughts . I understand that is the atmosphere that Ishiguro was going for , but when dealing with the primal topic of survival , I didn't find it plausible .
130 4 The Story Line
Kathy ( Kath ) is a carer . What , you ask , may that be ? A carer is one who takes care of organ donors while they are recuperating . She is the narrator of this novel and shares with the reader her history at a school called Hailsham , located in England's countryside . At Hailsham , Kath is an observant young girl and very sensitive to the feelings of those around her . Her two closest friends are Tommy and Ruth , who eventually couple-up . Despite this coupling , Kath maintains a level of feelings for Tommy .
Kathy also recounts her time at The Cottages , where a portion of the students from Hailsham went to live upon their graduation from Hailsham . At The Cottages , these special students learn more from life experience than from the books they read at Hailsham . This is a time for them to form couples , learn to drive , and make some minor decisions about their future .
My Review
Confused ? Yeah , I was too until I was 1 / 2 - way into the book ! I've read wonderful reviews of this book where the story-line is carefully avoided and a proper review conducted . The best review I've located on this book is at Books on the Brain and I believe that she liked this book . SPOIL ALERT : I'm not going to dance around the story line in this review . So , if you'd like a review which keeps the storyline well protected for future readers , click on over to Books on the Brain and read Lisa's review . Don't return to mine .
What I am most disappointed about was the lack of what could have been great content to this story . Here's the premise . . . humans are being created in laboratories to serve as organ donors . As they are created in a lab , it is my impression that they are viewed as non-human and soul-less . After some time had passed , some felt that it was their duty to pull the more gifted donors from these labs / farms and raise them in a protected environment in which they could have some semblance of a childhood and young adulthood . All the while , they would be schooled to the fact of what their life purpose was to be . . . to be an organ donor for the real humans ( you know , us , the one with souls ! ) . Ugh .
Let's start with what I did like . The premise of the book is a good one . It's highly thought provoking . I mean , what is it exactly that makes us human ? When does God breathe a soul into us ? What are the characteristics of human nature that reflect that we have souls and aren't just these electrically charged mechanisms with the ability to have critical thinking ? Another thought . . . is the life of one worth less than the life of another ? And , then there's the question of what makes a life complete ? What needs to happen in your life for it to be complete , for your life to be exhausted ?
Stay with me . Here's why I didn't like the book . With such an AMAZING premise , much could have been done with this book . This book could have been written with such depth . But , for me , it was BORING . Perhaps if the reader didn't have to get 1 / 2 way into the book to understand what the book was about , it may have meant more while reading it . To me , this book was soul-less . The characters were too shallow for me and their motives confusing . The author tries to incorporate a test by which the guardians of these donor children of Hailsham would show they actually had souls . They did this by judging their art and poetry . What ? So , if I suck at art , I have no soul ? Whatever !
The author gets into details about the donors ' sexuality , but never explains why it is that they can't have children . I mean , if they can grow lungs and a spleen , why not an uterus ? Are they fixed at birth / creation ? If so , why ? The book never really divulges how these donors derived from their models , which I found disappointing .
I think that I could go on for days about what I didn't like about this book . For the positives about it . . . it did have a thought-intriguing story line ( once you understood it ) . The book was well-written . Oh . . . that's it for me !
On Sher's Out of Ten Scale :
As you can summarize from the review , this book was NOT my cup of tea . But , one person who reviewed it made a comment on Lisa's review . She stated that this seemed to be the type of book where you either loved it or hated it . I didn't actually hate it . But , I definitely did not love it . Let's just say that I would have rather cleaned out the hall closet than read this book . And , I despise my hall closet . Strictly from my PERSONAL viewpoint , I am awarding this book for the genre Fiction : ( God Knows What SubGenre ) , a 5 out of 10 .
131 4 I was describing the plot of this book to a coworker , and he said , It sounds like that movie , with Ewan McGregor , ( The Island )
I said , Yeah , except without all the explosions and car chases .
I could also have added without the hope of change , without the hope for a brighter future .
This book really is heartbreaking . I found the characters ' intensely analytical examinations of each other to be a symptom of their warped upbringing . The artificial environment of Hailsham , the lack of parental figures , and the strange emphasis on creativity produce these people who feel they need to study each other so carefully for cues to how to react . Their essential passivity , too , could be attributed to their very programmed upbringing .
I do find myself wondering how it can be economical to raise clones for the donation of 2 , 3 or at the most 4 organs , although it is implied that the donation process continues after completion or death - that what remains of the clone is preserved and more organs are harvested . A grim , very disturbing idea , and the calm acceptance of it makes the novel so tragic .
132 4 This is one of those wonderful books that you just want to press into someone's hands without saying too much about it . It's a book to figure out as you go along . Even the genre remains a mystery for awhile , something I don't think I've encountered before .
Beautifully written , heartbreaking in the good way , and it really stays with you . I feel like I really know the people in it . I can't recommend this highly enough .
If you're a Margaret Atwood fan , by the way , try this . And vice versa .
133 4 When I first read this book , I found it beautifully written , was taken off guard by the revelations , and tremendously moved by the ending ; it's a beautiful , emotional meditation on the nature of sacrifice , with an attention to detail that brings these characters and their world to life . I don't think it's any more a sci-fi novel than The Remains of the Day is a historical novel ; Ishiguro transcends the limits of genre , and those who like his writing will love this book . I think it's also worth saying , tho ' , that there are many ways to read and understand this book ; because he never comes out and whacks you on the head with a message , the meaning's left open to the reader's interpretation , asking you to engage personally with the characters and their journey . There are a lot of reviews here telling you the message - - for example , one below thinks this is about oppression and passivity - - personally , I thought it asked about the point of education , of art , and of making human connections , in the face of the fact that we all inevitably will die , and affirmed the importance of small , human gestures in the face of loss . I think other readers will find their own meanings here ; go into it open to the seduction of Ishiguro's world , not with the words of reviewers structuring your reading , and I think you will find a book that will stay with you long after you finish reading .
134 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Paperback )
This is the fourth Ishiguro novel that I've read - - Artist of a Floating World , Pale View of the Hills and Remains of the Day were the others . As with all those other novels , Ishiguro's style is evident in this novel as well . His writing is restrained and subtle and requires patience from the reader . With patience , one will be justly rewarded .
The book follows three characters , Ruth , Tommy and Kathy , from their time at Hailsham , nominally a boarding school in England to the time they reconnect later ( probably their mid - 20s ) as carers and donors . On the surface the book is about friendship , love and loss . However , the book also explores the deeper theme of the impact of modern science on society . Ishiguro does not provide any answers , but leaves the reader to ponder many questions - - how to think about the risks and impact of such progress , especially on those used to help society , the nature and type of existence of those used for this progress , the nature of the reformer .
This is not a page-turner but a highly provocative , deeply introspective work by a master of the English language . It will leave you asking many questions after your done and will only grow in importance over the next 50 years .
135 4 This is the fourth Ishiguro novel that I've read - - Artist of a Floating World , Pale View of the Hills and Remains of the Day were the others . As with all those other novels , Ishiguro's style is evident in this novel as well . His writing is restrained and subtle and requires patience from the reader . With patience , one will be justly rewarded .
The book follows three characters , Ruth , Tommy and Kathy , from their time at Hailsham , nominally a boarding school in England to the time they reconnect later ( probably their mid - 20s ) as carers and donors . On the surface the book is about friendship , love and loss . However , the book also explores the deeper theme of the impact of modern science on society . Ishiguro does not provide any answers , but leaves the reader to ponder many questions - - how to think about the risks and impact of such progress , especially on those used to help society , the nature and type of existence of those used for this progress , the nature of the reformer .
This is not a page-turner but a highly provocative , deeply introspective work by a master of the English language . It will leave you asking many questions after your done and will only grow in importance over the next 50 years .
136 4 Well , where can I start on this novel ?
Truly an amazing thing to read , words escape me on this one as it's that good .
The second novel we had to read for English Literature , and once again I'm pleased they gave us this to read . Truly the better of the two we had to read . Ishiguro's language style , his writing and the way he can evoke so many strong feelings simply from his writing is truly astounding .
The book truly is a masterpiece , and I would recommend this to ANYONE at all . It's not too long , and the language isn't too elaborate so most ages will be able to pick it up easily . The plot manages to reach every human emotion throughout the book . Even I cried near the end , and that's saying something coming from me .
5 Stars , all the way . I thought his other novel , The Remains Of The Day was very good , but this simply blows it out the water completely .
This is one of those books that will go down in history as one of the best . I'd put it up there with Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four , F . Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings .
Truly , this book is something special .
137 4 When I started this book I wasn't sure I was going to like it . I was just not real sure what it was about and I think that is what kept me reading it . Then about a third into it I forgot about not being sure and was pulled very deeply into . Not since ' Max Tivoli ' have I cared so much about the characters or been so drawn in without even realizing it . In the beginning you are not sure what's going on but you can easily guess this is about clones even though the word clone as I recall was only ever mentioned one time near the end . Even so you don't get the impact of exactly what being a clone means until near the end and then when it hits you it leaves you devistated . I admit I cried and it was a story that I didn't want to let go nor did I want it to end . I felt at the end I had grown up with these three characters . I had watched them as children , laughed with them , cried with them , loved with them , and lost with them . Years go by without that wierd gap that some books do where you beg to be taken back and not pushed forward . This one does it so subtly you don't mind and you are ready . It's a simple story . A story about people , friendships , love and loss . The reality of it is , it could happen . That is what scared me the most . This book goes to the top of my list of all time favorite reads .
138 4 The dystopian novel has a grand tradition in English literature ; Brave New World , 1984 , Fahrenheit 451 , there is a long list of classic and important novels that seek to forecast out current future and hold up a dark mirror . In Never Let Me Go , Kazuo Ishiguro takes a crack at the genre and delivers a truly moving novel in his own quiet and understated style .
As with most of his books , the unsaid is more important than the directly stated . His novels are short , although much longer if you consider how much reading between the lines is done . The mystery portion of Never Let Me Go isn't any sort of true mystery , as the reality of Hailsham and the nature and future of its students soon becomes clear . It is almost a disappointment when he finally comes and and says Hey look ! They are clones ! near the end of the book , as it was an unnecessary declaration .
In terms of style and emotional impact , this book ranks with Remains of the Day , and is one of the best Ishiguro novels that I have read . It is haunting and beautiful , and difficult to decide at the end if it is sad or not . The clones lives seem bleak , but as they are so reconciled to their fate , and with the book being told entirely from their viewpoint , it is difficult to form a decisive opinion . Which is exactly as it should be . Rather than preach , Never Let Me Go just tells a story . And does it extremely well .
139 4 One way I treat myself when I am traveling is by buying a novel to read on the airplane . Sometimes these best-selling books make me depressed as I consider the mentality of the American public . ( This made it in airport bookshelves and my book didn't ? I grumble , ever so humbly . ) Other times , though , I stumble across a book that makes me want to give up writing altogether because I couldn't possibly come close to evoking the angst and passion and glory and fear that have been set free in me by the masterpiece in my hands . One such book is NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro - - a compelling story that does its job of inciting me to action without ever telling me what I should do .
It's a book about social justice , ultimately , but first you get caught up in the life of a young girl who lives in a boarding school that has many secrets . As you unravel the mystery , you fall more in love with these complex characters - - and more shocked and distressed by their circumstances . It's not what you think . It's worse .
140 4 This is one of the most emotional , moving stories I have read in some time . A totally original , imaginative work on a subject matter that has been written about before , but never with so much realism and depth . I loved this the same way I loved Margaret Atwoods A Handmaid's Tale , and like Ms . Atwood , Mr . Ishiguro is one of the great writer's of our time . This is a heartbreaking tale .
141 4 Never Let Me Go is a short novel that runs on an odd premise : if you like weird science , read this . But what is so astounding about the novel , and surely , what makes it classifiable literature , is that it can appeal to both well-read nerds and readers of detail and character . What makes Never Let Me Go one of the greatest novels of 2005 is not its shocking secrets ( think along the lines of the film The Island ) , but Ishiguro's ability to create an atmosphere and develop characters so real and well-definied I felt that , during the two weeks I spent reading this book , they were living with me . And of course , Ishiguro's conclusory thesis may very well be the most emotionally impacting aspect of the book - - there are no revolutions , no outcries against Stalinist science like in movies and sensational novels . This book is instead a study of realism in that the characters simply accept , simply go along with , their terrible fate .
142 4 It is a Brave New World , post Dolly and post Dr.Barnard .
That human clones should be raised and brought to adulthood so that they would be the source for harvesting organs for transplant into the diseased , is weird but possible . The story of such donors being reared to be an educated , cultured and sensitive lot with a soul of their own , but still to be source of transplantable organs , is disturbing . It is like raising a grove of oranges with special care so that the fruit is easily marketable . Ishiguro , as a master story-teller leaves all this to be disturbingly felt by the reader , reading betwen the lines . One wonders , however , why the Donors , so reared don't question their lot with the powers that be . They have the intellectual strength to say that though clones , they are humans and should have the right to live their lives to the full . Were they all brain-washed into submitting to the harvesting ?
The Morningdale incident throws the interesting hint that though society would accept these clones as sources of organs , it would not accept them were they to be superior to the average run . That means Huxley's Brave children would not have been accepted in society . We love to be average !
Beautifully written and quite sadddening , Sampath
143 4 In this book , Kazuo Ishiguro follows a group of young people as they grow up and learn about the meaning of their own lives . As these children enter adulthood and leave the school where they were taught the basic necessities of life , they enter a world where they can never be part of society . Their role in life is made very clear to them and the course of their lives cannot be changed .
The characters in this story are quite interesting and their innocence is stricking . The author manages to write about emotional issues in a rather matter of fact way , making it clear to the reader just how the school's staff keeps an emotional distance from the children .
Although the pace of this book is quite slow , the beauty of its prose more than makes up for it , and the moral issues that are touched upon will make you think about where science could lead .
144 4 This book tackles an interesting subject - - medical science - - and you can read it as a cautionary tale , a novel describing a dystopia , much like Huxley's Brave New World , or Orwell's 1984 . It's certainly observant and instructive on that level , and oddly entertaining .
But what makes this a superb novel is the way Ishiguro uses his rather far-out plot to explore issues such as mortality , self-worth , capacity for intimacy , selflessness and so on . Issues that all human beings in the most ordinary of circumstances must face .
It is on this level that I found the novel most intriguing .
Finally , there are several key plot twists and surprises . I don't want to ruin that aspect of the novel for anybody . Allow me to say only that the narrative itself is mysterious and gripping .
145 4 Morality versus mortality . It's a timeless struggle and is deeply explored in Ishiguro's latest . Never Let Me Go is a dark , chilling story about a futuristic society in which humans are bred for their organs . True this concept has been done before . Doomsday fiction is all over the place it seems . What put this book above the rest for me , was the character . While she wasn't happy to be one of the donors-to-be , she was strangely frozen when it came to changing her outcome . She didn't fight her destiny . That to me is the brilliance of the book . Are we as humans doomed to destroy our morality in exchange for our selfish desires for immortality ?
146 4 Never Let Me Go is framed as a retrospective . Throughout the novel , the narrator is looking back at her life , recalling and retelling significant events , many of which didn't seem significant at the time , but later proved to be so . As she tells her story , the reader is drawn into her world so naturally that it seems almost normal . It isn't until we arrive at the end of her story that we realize fully the horror of her situation .
This is the whole point of Mr . Ishiguro's novel . One of his character's , Miss Emily , states as much when she says that it wasn't until after society had accepted these children as common and natural that people began to contemplate the consequences of where society had gone . By then , it was too late . The consequences were there and they could only deal with them . His warning to us is clear . We need to consider the consequences of decisions we make today . What are the long-range possibilities , and are we willing to live with them ? How will they change the world as we know it ?
This is a provocative book and does what the best literature has always done - - spin an engaging story that winsomely addresses cultural issues . There is some mature material that makes it unsuitable for children or young teens , but adults and college students will benefit from reading this book and discussing the issues it raises .
147 4 With a title like that how can I not give the book 5 stars ? I felt a distinct lack of emotion in this novel and that is what made me ever so slightly less interested than I should have been . I realize that the lack of emotion in this novel was exactly the point but I still felt mildly put off and disappointed at the end . JH ( another reviewer ) gave a wonderful review of the book that all should read and i agree with everything he said . One should not read this book looking for the other side so to speak . There isn't one . If you are astonished at the lack of humanity in this book ( and subsequent lack of interference from the rest of the world ) then you are reading it all wrong . With that said , I still felt bereft of real human emotion ( being human myself of course ) and saddened that no one triumphed at the end . Call me an unlightened reader or whatever but there it is . I still enjoyed it ( despite the lack of emotion ) immensely and still spend at least 5 minutes a day reflecting on it ( and I read it weeks ago ) . Great book , highly recommended .
148 4 I had a strange reaction to this book that , for me , revealed Ishiguro's talent . For the first one hundred pages , I kept waiting for something to happen . I kept wondering what the point of the story was . The device of holding back information while telling other details was annoying , as other reviewers have pointed out . But , even with all that , this book was deeply moving , and I don't think that emotion could have been created any other way . It is the triviality of the scenes that gives the book power . I did not feel the heartbreak of the book until days after I finished reading it . Only after I starting thing about it in relationship to my life did I see how deep this story was . Now , in a book store , just passing by this novel fills me with sadness , and I think that is a testament to Ishiguro's intentions .
149 4 My mom told me she thought this book was creepy . A lot of reviewers seem to find in this book to be a commentary on the advancement of cloning technology and the ethical concerns posed by such advancement . Though there was some creepiness to it and certainly some commentary on ammoral science and blind obedience , the most poignant aspect of the book to me was a looming question : what makes a life meaningful . I have been haunted , for the weeks since I read this book , with the nagging question about what makes my life different from a life certain to end young . That I may one day have children ? That I can choose , within the confines of the life I've been born into , the basic course for my life ? I agree with some of the reviewers that the characters seemed flat and that Ishiguro doesn't quite capture the female voice . Because I see this book as more of an allegory , these details didn't bother me as much as they might in a book with less going on thematically . In addition to interesting themes , the Ishiguro masterfully weaves a page-turning story . I would definitely buy this book again .
150 4 Others have expounded on the plot and the book itself , but here's what I thought of the physical book : This is a trade paperback , 8 x5 , with a matte paperback cover which you could probably spill something on , provided that you wipe it off right away . The actual pages are not the best quality , it is that better than newsprint paper that the publishers have been moving to in the last few years .
As for what's inside the book , well . . . people looking for your classic science-fiction novel will be disappointed in this book , and from the reviews , it seems that they are . But this is a classic Ishiguro work instead , emphasizing understatement , beauty , nobility , and that haunting feeling of impossibility .
While it has an intricate plot based on a mystery surrounding the exclusive boarding school of Hailsham , the plot unwinds slowly , piecemeal , and bit-by-bit through the character's thoughts . It takes nearly the entire book to figure out that you're in a a vision of an alternate dystopian world . So for someone who is looking for a DaVinci Code type of plot-driven , wham , bam , thank you , ma'am book , this is not it . Instead , you'll be treated to our main character , Kathy . She is quiet , reserved , and mostly passive to what is happening around her , although she is not indifferent ; the book is written in her voice . The best way to describe this voice of this book is controlled . You are really kept wondering through most of the book at what is going on , and what is going to happen to this trio of friends . Though it's no David Lynch movie , it's more like Atwood's Handmaid's Tale . If you're looking for a definite conclusion to an episode , you want to end up laughing , and have everything wrapped up nicely and tied with a bow , this is not your book . But if you want something thought-provoking , solid , moving , and somewhat suspenseful , it's good for that . Plus , it's a quick read at 288 pages , and one that will make you think afterward .
151 4 Kazuo Ishiguro incites complex and bittersweet emotions in his readers through his creation of a world different enough from our own to raise evocative ethical quandaries , but similar enough to make these issues pertinent to very real discussions in modern biotechnology .
The novel follows the stories of three students , Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy , from their youth at their boarding school , Hailsham , to Kathy's time spent caring for Ruth and Tommy at the end of their lives . Readers will come not only to empathize with the plights of the three protagonists as they navigate their way through an era with haunting medical practices , but will also be led to relate the discoveries made by Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy to current science , policy , and humanitarian debates .
Never Let Me Go could likely become a classic along the lines of George Orwell's 1984 , and Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 in its chilling look into a society not so distant from our own . Ishiguro creates moving and memorable characters and environments that will resonate with readers for a long time to come and hopefully lead them to reflect upon the bioethical inquiries raised in this work with the same intricacy and solemn mood that is put forth in this remarkable novel .
152 4 Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki in 1954 and came to Britain at the age of five . He was awarded the OBE in 1995 and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998 . Never Let Me Go is his sixth novel and was first published in 2005 . Like his previous books An Artist of the Floating World and When We Were Orphans , it was shortlisted for the Booker Prize - an award he won with The Remains of the Day in 1989 .
From the book's beginning , it's clear that things are operating under slightly different rules than those we're used to . The story is set in England and is told by Kathy ; although she spends much of the book looking back over her life , the ' current ' date is somewhere in the late 1990s . Kathy has been working as a carer for eleven years , though she will probably be stepping down within the next twelve months . As a carer , it's her job to look after organ donors . Given that her donors tend to have excellent recovery times , it's something she seems to be very good at . However , it's also clear that the donors she cares for donate repeatedly . In fact , from early in the book , there's the suspicion that her patients are only ' allowed ' to stop donating when they die - or ' complete ' , as Kathy puts it .
Kathy studied at Hailsham : more or less a boarding school , apparently quite prestigious , though also a little unusual . There's an air of familiarity between the pupils and the staff - who are referred to as guardians , rather than teachers . The pupils don't appear to follow the standard curriculum - there's no mention of GCSEs or A-Levels . ( For that matter , there's no mention of summer holidays or family either ) . In recent years , Kathy has been able to choose some of the patients she cares for . Two of the patients she has selected are Tommy and Ruth , friends from her days at Hailsham . Never Let Me Go sees Ruth looking back over her life with Tommy and Ruth , from their earliest days at Hailsham together right up until the present day . In doing so , it becomes clear what role she , Tommy and Ruth play in society and why Hailsham was so unusual .
This was the first book by Kazuo Ishiguro I read , but I'll certainly read more by him . Although very sad , this is easily the best book I've read this year and is one I can see myself re-reading several times . Sometimes , when a book has left its mark on me , I find myself wondering what has happened to a character after the final page : Kathy is a character I found myself wondering about .
153 4 . . . nevertheless , Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go was an intriguing read , reeling me in ever so gradually , nearly losing me , never fully snagging me , but throwing me bait of disconcerting revelation just frequently enough to keep me turning pages . By end , I had to admit I had enjoyed reading the book more than , well , than I had realized while reading it .
Which is the kind of odd quality , odd hold , this novel has over the reader . Ishiguro writes in unassuming language . His story seems quite ordinary , initially nothing much more than a coming of age tale , and it runs over 80 pages before I got my first real jolt . Even that , more of a tug than a jolt . The reader begins to notice something strange going on , little weirdnesses tucked between the everyday routines . Once the reader realizes the scene unfolding is not quite as ordinary as first thought , interest grows .
This is a dark tale of human beings being treated as less than human beings , of human clones grown and nurtured for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs , and their less than humane treatment , even though in appearances humane , based on various societal biases or perhaps only less than clear thinking , or faulty value systems . Indeed , this is Ishiguro's mastery . He has given something very dark , some might say evil , a face so bland it goes almost unnoticed . And , isn't this how evil pervades society every day ? Monsters are rarely big and green and warty . Strangers are often your favorite uncle , or the boy next door . The taking down of civilization is not done with a big bang , but with nibbles and bites , a gradual desensitization . Ishiguro's evil is seemingly meek and submissive , as if done for the wellbeing of the masses , and that may arguably be the tactic used most successfully . In novels as well as in life .
154 4 I heard an interview with Ishiguro on this book and he said something which kind of surprised me at the time but makes sense now . He said that the scientific / cloning angle was an afterthought , and that he was more interested in relationships and how we make our way in the world . Ishiguro handles this brilliantly by giving the manufactured characters a real sense of humanity and the natural characters a kind of cold heartlessness . Where the cloning angle comes into play is that it brings the characters a certain awareness of their destiny that normal people could never presume to know . The real question , then , is whether the Kathy , Tommy , and Ruth have the desire , the ability , or the drive to escape their fate . But unlike the protagonists in other u / dystopias ( Anthem , Brave New World , Handmaid's Tale , 1984 , etc . ) , these characters seem tragically resigned to their fate and pose no rebellion . This is perhaps the most frustrating and the most interesting aspect of this book . Ishiguro is a wonderful writer , however , with a simple prose style and his narrator's conversational manner and self-colored storytelling move this story along at a perfect and engaging pace .
155 4 I read this book months ago and it has stayed with me . In fact , I have had to resist borrowing it from the library several times because of the long list of other titles I want to get to . I will absolutely read this one again very soon in the future .
I was initially hesitant to read this novel because of the sci fi element but I had just finished Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake ( which I also highly recommend ) so I was more open to at least giving it a try . I was pleasantly surprised by how engaging , haunting , and beautifully told this story was . Although some reviewers have suggested that if you don't like sci fi to stay away from this novel , I felt that in many ways , the sci fi element , though prominent was not as primary as I expected . For me , the novel was much more so about adolescence , identity , relationships , and the struggle to develop a true sense of self . It was a very poignant and moving story .
Like some reviewers , I was definitely left with questions about incongruous elements and plot conflicts but they did not get in the way of my ability to immerse myself in the story and ultimately walk away having truly enjoyed it .
156 4 I don't want to give the plot of this book away although I am sure that what is not given away in the synopsis can be inferred to some extent , but still I'd rather not be responsible for ruining it for anyone . Therefore , I am left with very little to say to actually describe the book , however , I am left with lots to say about how much I enjoyed it . On the cover of the book a reviewer from Time Magazine calls ' NEVER LET ME GO ' A page turner and a heartbreaker . and there are no two better adjectives that I can think of to describe this book . Ishiguro delivers a beautifully written and easy to read account of the lives of three Hailsham boarding school students that spans the course of close to twenty years and takes the reader back and forth in time . The narrator , Kathy does her best to recount her past in , maybe , an attempt to explain inevitability of her future and the future for all Hailsham students and how she has come to terms with it .
' NEVER LET ME GO ' will keep you guessing even once all of it's secrets have been revealed and is sure to break your heart with the reality of these students situation . Similar to Margaret Atwood's ' THE HANDMAIDS TALE ' or George Orwell's ' 1984 ' , ' NEVER LET ME GO ' is a great look into what could be and is highly recommended . 5 Stars !
157 4 I bought this book on a whim , based on an Amazon recommendation and the user reviews seemed pretty interesting . Let me just say that I'm so glad that I did . This isn't the kind of book that comes right out and grabs you , but as you get into it it develops a slow burn quality that builds as the book goes on . You start to get attached to the characters and the book slowly draws you in . The general feel of the book is an above average coming of age tale taking place in an exclusive boarding school . There are your normal circle of friends , some friendly teasing / hazing , and adolescent romance . What sets this book apart is a slightly sinister subplot surrounding who these kids are and why they are there . Relatively early on you discover these kids are not like you and me , and do not live a normal life . Although they are not normal , and they are dealing with realities that normal people would not have to deal with , you still identify with them , and you seem to mature with them as they deal with realities that are unfair & cruel . It's these moments of maturty and realization that set this book apart , and made me recommend it to everyone I know .
158 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Audio Cassette )
Kazuo Ishiguro's NEVER LET ME GO has excellent literary quality as well as insight into a possible future of cloning . The book starts out with selected children who attend at private school in which they know they are treated differently from ordinary children . The characters take on an Orwellian quality as the reader assumes that the future is preplaned for our characters . Also , the mysterious twists and turns of the concept convert it into a major league page turner . This , of course , refers to the audio book which I can listen to endlessly with the aid of my earphones so that I don't disturb my husband's sleeping . With the discovery of an old recording of the coctail music version of a song entitled Never Let Me Go , a theme is developed and redeveloped that gives the reader clues as to why the children are treated differenly by each teacher and how the children discover the limitations of their futures . I would give this books a 5 + on the development of the characters and a 5 + + on a science fiction theme that could become a reality in our life time .
159 4 Kazuo Ishiguro's NEVER LET ME GO has excellent literary quality as well as insight into a possible future of cloning . The book starts out with selected children who attend at private school in which they know they are treated differently from ordinary children . The characters take on an Orwellian quality as the reader assumes that the future is preplaned for our characters . Also , the mysterious twists and turns of the concept convert it into a major league page turner . This , of course , refers to the audio book which I can listen to endlessly with the aid of my earphones so that I don't disturb my husband's sleeping . With the discovery of an old recording of the coctail music version of a song entitled Never Let Me Go , a theme is developed and redeveloped that gives the reader clues as to why the children are treated differenly by each teacher and how the children discover the limitations of their futures . I would give this books a 5 + on the development of the characters and a 5 + + on a science fiction theme that could become a reality in our life time .
160 4 I am starting off this review saying no spoilers . I am doing so because virtually all of the reviews I have read ( here on Amazon as elsewhere ) give away a central twist . I can understand why . . . it's hard to talk about without giving away certain central information .
I think this book is enjoyable whether or not you have any advanced knowledge of this twist , but as with any novel , it can best be appreciated if you read it as the author intended , gaining your knowledge of events when the author intends you to .
Saying all that , this review will be tricky , but I will try .
The beginning of this novel takes place in the seemingly idealic setting of a private school named Hailsham . The kids there are educated in the basics , but with special emphasis in the arts and in literature . They are rewarded for their creative achievement .
The story follows the characters of Kathy , Ruth , and Tommy , as they first become friends at Hailsham , and later on as they leave the school , as required , when they become 16 years old .
While reading this novel , we are filled with an impending sense of doom . Something is not right , and we are not looking forward to what happens when the students leave Hailsham .
I thought this was an entertaining story . I read it in one sitting , although the first few pages were slow going for some reason for me .
I think it is a provocative tale , but one that has been told before , and better . It is a little heavy-handed , and there are some major questions the reader is left with at the end that are not really addressed .
All in all , I do recommend this novel . It is well-written , and it's easy to lose yourself in the story of these 3 remarkable individuals . And after all , isn't that one of the reasons we read ?
Recommended , and sorry if this review appears a little odd . . . I truly think this book can best be appreciated if you approach it without any advanced knowledge of certain aspects of the plot .
161 4 This review is from :
Never Let Me Go ( Hardcover )
There seem to be two themes running through the Comments : the first is the novel's position on the morality issue at its crux , and the second is whether the novel can stand by itself without it . I happen to remain ambivalent about the first : I certainly can't decry what I consider progress with the furor of other readers . But in no way can I agree with readers who believe the story lacked substance or that the characters were not engaging .
The novel is intricately plotted and very well thought-out , and as a result , for me at least , watching those characters grow and bloom and fight and love * was * engaging . I wasn't disappointed that the story never emphasized the science behind the lurking menace because the characters and their relationships constitute the story's core . I hope that you're not discouraged by the other commenters here or the issue-oriented discussion at work , because the truth is that Ishiguro's work is masterful , and this novel is no exception .
Read this book !
162 4 There seem to be two themes running through the Comments : the first is the novel's position on the morality issue at its crux , and the second is whether the novel can stand by itself without it . I happen to remain ambivalent about the first : I certainly can't decry what I consider progress with the furor of other readers . But in no way can I agree with readers who believe the story lacked substance or that the characters were not engaging .
The novel is intricately plotted and very well thought-out , and as a result , for me at least , watching those characters grow and bloom and fight and love * was * engaging . I wasn't disappointed that the story never emphasized the science behind the lurking menace because the characters and their relationships constitute the story's core . I hope that you're not discouraged by the other commenters here or the issue-oriented discussion at work , because the truth is that Ishiguro's work is masterful , and this novel is no exception .
Read this book !
163 4 Kazuo Ishiguro's book , Never Let Me Go still lingers . It is a masterpiece , even if I only concentrate on the art of exposition or the portrayal of characters , or the fact that a man could write a memoir from the viewpoint of a young girl better than many female writers . But the real wonder is not the technique . It is the horror of innocence . The book plays with the contrast of what Kathy H . , the protagonist and her friends and readers know . As she told the tale of the perfect childhood , where her main concerns were the falling outs with her best friends or the loss of a tape , my skin was crawling with the knowledge that this is a facade . These kids are raised to be harvested - they even know it in a way and accept it as something irrevocable . This is a book about passivity and innocent dreams . It is also a book of no escape .
It doesn't let me go .
