I’ve been wanting to read “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro for years now, and I finally picked up a copy one night when I was feeling lonely over the summer. I didn’t read it. I can’t remember why.

Anyway, the other day I stumbled across the following, which pretty much propelled me back toward the book (not too many spoilers, but should give you a rough idea):

Obviously, I prefer to read the book before I see a movie, because… well, I am a sane, rational being. So, I picked it up and vowed to get through it, despite my rather busy schedule. Luckily, I had a night a few nights ago where my body decided that 3 hours of sleep would be quite enough, and I was able to read through the night. I continued, over the last few days, during my breaks at school. I suppose, due to the cover which looks similar to a typical romance novel, my classmates and people on the buses assumed I was reading some sort of love story. I quite enjoyed when someone would inquire as to what the book was about, and I was able to answer “clones.”

Warning: From here on in there may be spoilers. However, the book IS good that if you find yourself interested, it is still worth a read, even if you know bits of the plot.

At first, I found it incredibly difficult to get into. I suppose the main reason for this was that it is in first person, which is fine normally, and not exactly told in a linear fashion. Sure, there are 3 parts, and each part sticks roughly to the time frame it is meant to be describing, but inside the 3 parts the story often jumps around. The first part actually seems to cover the most time, which is why it was a bit difficult to get into. The second and third parts are a lot more linear, and, of course, by then, you’re quite used to being inside the narrator’s head. After a while, I found it easy to get lost inside the character. I wonder if it would be a bit more difficult to become as engaged if the reader were male.

“Never Let Me Go” is the story of the students at a rather picturesque boarding school in an Alternate Universe version of England, in the 1990s. As the reader, you are quickly introduced to the lingo these students use which describe the basic premise of the story. Guardians are the teachers who constantly remind them that they are special. Carers are like nurses, and are what many of them know they will be before they commence the role they were meant to fill. The students are what they call the clones… created to provide vital organ donations as donors once they’ve reached their mid-20s. The school, which focuses largely on the arts, is established in an attempt to find out if the clones have souls. It’s interesting to read about how they perceive being creative, having possessions and the meaning behind sex when one is unable to reproduce.

I think one of the things that kept me entranced with the book was wondering “are they going to do something?” Human nature is so strange in that we want so much to take action and be in charge of our own fates, but how often do we actually fight for that control? Is it wrong to wish for something more than what you’re “supposed” to do, or to be somewhere other than where you’re “supposed” to be?

At times the lives of the students seem pointless, and at the same time the pointlessness seemed mirrored in several examples of human existence– the idea of living a life, only to have it end before truly understanding it, just on a condensed time line.

Ishiguro’s style in this novel is so subtle, it borders on bland, since everything is so matter-of-fact, like a diary, but that really does help the novel in making it feel incredibly real, and believable.

Overall, I believe that “Never Let Me Go,” is definitely worth the struggle of the first few chapters to get to the poignant and thought-provoking centre and ending.

Wednesday September 22nd 2010 — 5 Comments
✯ Posted under { Books • Review }