Published Oct. 29, 2010 by Vintage.
Kathy, a clone about to donate all her organs and die, reflects on her past about her school and the friends she made over there. Ishiguro explores what it means to have a soul and how art distinguishes man from other life forms. But above all, Never Let Me Go is a study of friendship and the bonds we form which make or break while we come of age.
This is probably one of the most disturbing books I have ever read. It is not immediately obvious why this should be so.
This is a bildungsroman with practically no conflict. The result is magnificent, but chilling.
It's hard to convey what sort of novel this is without saying too much--an important part of the reading experience is the unfolding of what is, for a whole sub-population, a mystery.
Told in the first person by Kathy, one of a group of children (focusing on Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy) brought up in a rather idyllic boarding school, sheltered from the outside world. And right away, many questions nag the reader: where are the parents? Why the unusual education? For instance, artwork is stressed, while math, science, and athletics are ignored...
The children themselves are given just a little information, doled out very gradually--they are "told, but not told" what their fate in life will be.
Gradually, a couple of these "students" find out the answers to the riddles, as not many do. It is serious and sad, and told in Kathy's rather detached tone, which challenges the reader β¦
It's hard to convey what sort of novel this is without saying too much--an important part of the reading experience is the unfolding of what is, for a whole sub-population, a mystery.
Told in the first person by Kathy, one of a group of children (focusing on Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy) brought up in a rather idyllic boarding school, sheltered from the outside world. And right away, many questions nag the reader: where are the parents? Why the unusual education? For instance, artwork is stressed, while math, science, and athletics are ignored...
The children themselves are given just a little information, doled out very gradually--they are "told, but not told" what their fate in life will be.
Gradually, a couple of these "students" find out the answers to the riddles, as not many do. It is serious and sad, and told in Kathy's rather detached tone, which challenges the reader to make his/her own assessment, without manipulation.
At the end, the one question that kept badgering me was, why don't any of these characters try to escape? And I'm still working on that one...
Never Let Me Go is one of the more unusual novels I've read lately, and very thought-provoking in a way that reminds me of Margaret Atwood's novels.
I trust that's not saying too much!
