Never Let Me Go

Ishigiro's Never Let Me Go is beautifully written and the character development is excellent. I did not put this book down and read it in several hours. It's a wonderful example of modern literature and completely unique in the fact that we read the most unspeakable horror and swallow it up, wide-eyed and alarmed, all the while amazed that something so terrifying can be written so poetically.This is not a horror novel by any means! This is an examination of a certain aspect of our culture and how we can all be indoctrinated to accept it.I don't want to re-outline the entire plot, since so many reviewers have already done so. What makes this story so powerful is how understated it is. We watch these children grow from childhood to adulthood, always knowing how their lives will unfold. Cloned from their "models", they know that they will eventually be harvested for their vital organs. This is their purpose, and it is never questioned. Ever. Sometimes certain events or things will cause the protagonists to stop and almost reconsider their destinies, but they fail to consider it fully and go on with their lives as they've been taught to. Notably, there is an abandoned boat towards the end of the book. Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy make their way to the dock to peer at this ticket to freedom. Kathy notes the cabin size and condition and it's clear they could take that boat somewhere and be free. They don't. They don't even discuss it. They just watch it sitting there. Kathy and Tommy drive all over the English countryside-- it's clear they have their physical freedom. They drive to clinics to visit other donors, to stores to shop, cafes to relax in, and hospitals for pre-donation testing. There are no doors or bars holding these people in. They are conditioned from day one to live their lives knowing they will one day donate and "complete". Nobody they know has done otherwise. There are no rumors about anyone refusing their preordained destinies.Herein lies the books strength and its weakness. Throughout the novel, I thought it seemed as if it was leading up to a more climactic event. And, it did and didn't. The climax was a bit anticlimactic and the characters brought in to meet with the two heroes seemed flat (while empathetic) and lacking depth. The horror this meeting could have evoked was felt more fully through the use of Tommy's hopeful art, through some of the thoughts Kathy had and immediately disregarded. It seemed as if more could have and should have been done with that rather than this macabre meeting with the two former school administrators.Yet, at the same time, maybe this is the novel's strength. Freedom is hinted at, yet not taken. There is no prison, yet they are prisoners of society and their own minds. There is love, but maybe the passion is lacking because they know subconsciously there is no future. And, Kathy has seen her friends complete. She knows what's coming after donation number 4 for the man she loves. She changes the subject when he brings the subject up. She dismisses it because it's too difficult to openly discuss it. We know this and they know this. And, although this might be the book's strength, I do yearn for this discussion. I'm left without real closure and I want them to wake up.This is heartily recommended.

This is the kind of book that win prizes, not the kind that becomes a bestseller.SPOILER ALERTIn literary terms, this book is a masterpiece. It is SO well-written, you won't even remember the author is a man. Mr. Ishiguro gives a perfect voice for his characters, that is for sure. Kathy, the narrator, is a somewhat shy girl, who's always left aside by her bossy friend, Ruth. And the VOICE the narrator has is SO REAL I've often got myself wondering if that's what a real author is supposed to be like, to write like.The book tells the story of Kathy, Ruth and Tommy - three people who are born "special". They are clones, made to donate their organs once they reach a certain age.You would think the story would revolve around that - maybe they decide to rebel and flee, maybe they decide to kill themselves for love, or something like that. Well, surprise, that doesn't even cross their minds. Instead of focusing on the drama such a terrible predetermined fate could cause, Ishiguro focuses on the characters' lives and on how they deal with the inevitable.The story begins at Hailsham, a school for special people, where lots and lots of children are raised and educated for the future. However, they are never told directly about their fate, and that prompts one of their guardians to say they 'have been told but not told' about what's in store for them.The first part is pretty boring, and nothing really happens. In fact, it is just a way of presenting life at Hailsham. The children have no parents, and that isn't mentioned once. Where do they come from? Who are they? Why are they special? We are left wondering. But we have 'Madame' and her gallery. Her mysterious gallery. The children at hailsham are supposed to 'create art'. The best 'art' is taken away by 'Madame' to her 'gallery'. And that's one of the most important things in the book.The second part shows Ruth, Kathy and Tommy at 'the Cottages'. It is somewhat of an intermediary place - a place they go before they start their training to become carers (the people who take care of donors, before they become donors themselves). There the teenagers discover sex, and some form of love. They struggle with the agonies of youth, and they fight and argue among themselves over stupid things. It is good to be young.In the second part we are presented to the concept of 'possible', and that's when we discover the children are clones. Not clones of normal people, but clones of 'winos, prostitutes, criminals'. In fact, it is at that point you realise WHY they've never tried to run away or rebel (that isn't even mentioned in the book). At least in my opinion, since they know what they are, and where they come from, they realise they have no place in the 'real' world, beause they are not 'real' people. They were MADE, not born, for the single purpose of donating their organs. And that's what they do.The third part is where it all gets interesting. They begin donating their organs, but there is little focus on it. We learn of the pain the donors have to go through, and of how destroyed the carers become after a while, but that's pretty much it. We are thrown directly into the feelings of the main characters, something that never happens in the first two parts - we only get hints of what was going on.It is at the point we realise how deep these characters are, how REAL they are. At first we notice they are very flat, but that is only because they are still children. Ishiguro presents us with a real portrait of the uncertainties of infancy, the sufferings of youth, and then we get to see real, developed adults, in action.Although the book is marvelously written, and Ishiguro is surely a Virtuoso when it comes to writing (I've never read his other works, though), the book is very boring in itself. As I said at the beginning of the review, this is the kind of book that wins prizes, not the kind that becomes a best-seller. When it comes to good literature, this book is one of a kind.Here's an example: the book is a sort of memoir written by Kath, very unpresumptuous, very simple. It is something she feels she NEEDS to write down before she 'completes' (i.e., dies after donating too many organs).Since it is a memoir, you are taken through her memories, often in a very disorderly way. She remembers something, and that makes her remember something else, and then she remembers what she was talking about, etc. It may be weird at first, but that is precisely how our memory works, is it not? The fact that an author is able to capture that process in words is simply fascinating to me.And that is not all. As I've already said, Ishiguro creates very REAL characters. At first you think he is simply writing things his readers can relate to, but then you realise that's not the case. You can relate to his characters because they are pretty much real people. I think I am repeating myself already, and I don't want to make this anymore longer than it already is, so here goes a TL;DR:TOO LONG; DIDN'T READ - If you want an entertaining book, full of action, adventure and emotion, this IS NOT the book you want to read.If you want a book where you can savour literature at its best, where you can FEEL what's going on and learn how to write properly (or, in my case, just be jealous because you're probably never gonna be that good), then please, GET THIS BOOK. Although very boring if you are expecting something more interesting, this book is a marvelous piece of good literature.