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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
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Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro

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English (236)  German (2)  French (2)  Spanish (2)  Dutch (2)  Swedish (1)  All languages (245)
Showing 1-5 of 236 (next | show all)
Tucked away in the English countryside, the students of Halisham, a seemingly elite boarding school, live an almost idyllic life. As Kathy H. reminisces on the friendships and rivalries of her early life at Halisham, she also begins to touch on the strange and puzzling aspects of the school and her fellow students. For the students of Halisham are special in some undefined and unknowable way, and their futures are clouded and obscured from themselves and each other. Fed only the most basic information about their unusual lives and circumstances, they are reduced to living lives filled with rumor, conjecture and speculation amid the more typical everyday occurrences of childhood. As Kathy begins to unfold her curious tale that spans the unfathomable years of her adolescence, more and more curious facts about the children come to the surface, and eventually their bizarre fate is unmasked. Both lucid and frightening, Never Let Me Go takes its readers to the borders of an unimaginable world, where nothing is what it seems and peculiar things are hidden in plain view.

This is the kind of book that doesn't make its full impact until a few minutes after you have closed the cover. Written in lush but subdued prose, the narrative seems to unfold with a calmness and clarity that belies the book's true nature. From the outset, Ishiguro seems to be able to do something miraculous with this tale. He begins by describing some very commonplace events in the lives of a handful of students at Halisham, but peeking from beneath the more typical story he begins to interject random flashes of theme that seem almost disconnected and alien to the story itself. As more and more of the students' experiences are related it becomes clear that something "other" is going on, but with touches of brilliant technique, the readers of this story, like the characters themselves, are left on the precipice of understanding, splendidly misdirected into believing that things are just as they appear on the surface.

During the middle sections of the story, when both reader and character are just beginning to understand what is going on, a conversation occurs between the characters that documents just how much and in what ways the truths of their existence have been kept from them. In explaining it to each other, they come to conclude that they have been told, yet not told, about themselves, the facts being released to them at a time when it is almost impossible for them to understand them. Later, when these initial facts have set in, they become similar to ingrained truth and make the monstrous reality seem commonplace. It was at this point that I began to realize that this is exactly what was happening to the reader. It was the perfect specimen of art imitating life and it was one of the things that made the book so distinguished.

There were really two tales going on: the somewhat placid and serene tale of life as a Halisham student, full to the brim with the minutia of friendships, relationships and education, and the hidden and horrendous reality that was taking place underneath. Throughout the story it became clear by degrees what was really in store for these children, but I still found it both shocking and distressing when everything was finally brought to the surface in the last third of the book. Much of what was planned for them was spelled out in a direct way, but most of the horror of these discoveries was based on what was implied about what had been going on and its inevitable conclusion. The full story, once revealed, was extremely sad and I felt that Ishiguro was really able to capture the despondence and unfruitful hope that permeated these characters' lives. It was curious how detached they seemed to be, how resigned and accepting they were as they walked towards their destines. It was only later that I realized that they had no other basis for comparison and that the strange life they led was the only life they had ever known.

The characterization in this book was immaculate as well. Though the characters were meant to be somewhat indistinct, I found that they were all fully formed and that they were easy to identify with because they embodied the characteristics of people I have known throughout my life. That was one of the things that was so haunting about this book: I felt as though I knew these people in some way; one in particular reminded me of a friend I had long ago, so it was all the more disturbing to realize what was in store for them. To see their fate played out was frightening in a way that I tried not to examine too closely. I suppose the closeness I felt to the characters was in itself another of Ishiguro's deft manipulations, and that the book would have lost a lot of its impact if one were not so attuned to the characters' individuality and emotions.

I really loved this book for its intricacy and beautiful construction and think that its an excellent example of literary writing infused with just the right amount of psychological suspense. There is so much to explore within the constructs of this story, and in the end, the discussions that could be had about this book might be almost as complex as the book itself. I would definitely say that this is one of the better books I have read this year and that its subtlety and revelations were created with a master's touch. Reading this book was pleasurable, and in many ways, scary, but I am thankful that I have had the experience. A great read and highly recommended. I would love the chance to explore this book further and hear other's opinions, so if you have read it and would like to discuss it, please let me know! ( )
2 vote zibilee | Nov 3, 2009 |
Incredible! I can't say I knew for sure where this was heading (no spoilers, don't worry), but even the inkling I had wasn't enough to ruin the ride for me. This is eery and captivating as often as it is charming; definitely one that makes you think.

I've loaned my copy out to all of my friends. It's definitely one that I recommend. ( )
1 vote krysbrezinski | Oct 27, 2009 |
One of the most disturbingly quiet or quietly disturbing book I've ever read. The atmosphere and tone of the book provides a truly solid foundation for its plot. Despite being slow in parts, It raises so many ethical, moral and psychological questions that it left me unsettled and uneasy. Cloning for the purpose of harvesting organs? The acceptance destiny without struggle? Humanity judged on the basis of biological origin? It is a book of quiet desperation. A truely excellent book. ( )
  highbar | Oct 1, 2009 |
For any other writer, I might consider a four-star review, but considering that I've already read The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, I failed to find this book as touching or moving.

Rather than altering a familiar universe through language, as Ishiguro did brilliantly in Remains and Orphans, he tends to rely more on sci-fi/fantasy tropes to pull him through. (Again, for another writer, I'd excuse it, but I know Ishiguro can do better). His narrator's relationship to her world is also somewhat unconvincing, as Ishiguro constructs her as both self-aware enough to tell an eloquent story and innocent to much that surrounds her. I also felt that the thrust of the story was a letdown-- the book is written in a way that makes you anticipate a grand finale, and I felt that finale never came.

I imagine that a high school student or a young adult looking for a "crossover" book might find it more valuable than I did. I also see from reading the reviews below me that everybody has a different take on where Ishiguro is at his "best." So this is one of those books you'll just have to read for yourself! ( )
  aliay | Sep 20, 2009 |
(spoilers)
I've read better clone stories. I guessed they were clones in the first chapter. I didn't find the friendships or the romances very convincing, and the bidability of the clones struckan off note for me. Syrely some of them would try and make a break for it, especially after tracking down Madam and finding out that there were no extensions. And why was the great hope for extension, and not for freedom? That is what I found creepy - the lack of initiative. ( )
  francescadefreitas | Sep 19, 2009 |
Showing 1-5 of 236 (next | show all)
Ishiguro is extremely good at recreating the special, oppressive atmosphere of school (and any other institution, for that matter)—the cliques that form, the covert rivalries, the obsessive concern with who sat next to whom, who was seen talking to whom, who is in favor at one moment and who is not.
added by jburlinson | editNew York Review of Books, Anita Desai (pay site) (Nov 22, 2005)
 
The eeriest feature of this alien world is how familiar it feels. It's like a stripped-down, haiku vision of children everywhere, fending off the chaos of existence by inventing their own rules.
 
"Never Let Me Go" is marred by a slapdash, explanatory ending that recalls the stilted, tie-up-all-the loose-ends conclusion of Hitchcock's "Psycho." The remainder of the book, however, is a Gothic tour de force that showcases the same gifts that made Mr. Ishiguro's 1989 novel, "The Remains of the Day," such a cogent performance.
 
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Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
To Lorna and Naomi
First words
My name is Kathy H. I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Canonical titleNever Let Me Go
Original publication date2005-04-05
People/CharactersKathy H., Tommy, Ruth, Miss Emily, Miss Lucy, Miss Geraldine (show all 9)
Important placesHailsham, England, UK, Norfolk, England, UK
Awards and honorsLocus Nominee (SF Novel, 2006), Time's All-Time 100 Novels selection, National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (Fiction, 2005), The Morning News Tournament of Books (Quarterfinalist, 2006), Time Magazine's Best Books of the Year (2005.10|Fiction (1), 2005), Alex Award (2006) (show all 15)
DedicationTo Lorna and Naomi
First wordsMy name is Kathy H. I'm thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years.
Last words(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
BlurbersOndaatje, Michael, Oates, Joyce Carol, Stone, Robert
DescriptionAt the age of thirty-one, Kathy H. is coming to the end of her time as a carer – a milestone that prompts her to reflect on her unusual life. She begins, naturally, with her childhood at Hailsham, where she and her friends ... (show all)
Book description
At the age of thirty-one, Kathy H. is coming to the end of her time as a carer – a milestone that prompts her to reflect on her unusual life. She begins, naturally, with her childhood at Hailsham, where she and her friends Kathy and Tommy negotiated the lessons and Exchanges set by their guardians, as well as the constant social pressures of school life. As her recollections progress, however, Kathy must take care not to delve too deeply into the tangled knot of her own emotions. The past holds no refuge for her; even since childhood, the knowledge of what the future holds has always been there, deep down – and some truths are too terrible to be confronted.

Amazon.com (ISBN 0676977103, Hardcover)

All children should believe they are special. But the students of Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside, are so special that visitors shun them, and only by rumor and the occasional fleeting remark by a teacher do they discover their unconventional origins and strange destiny. Kazuo Ishiguro's sixth novel, Never Let Me Go, is a masterpiece of indirection. Like the students of Hailsham, readers are "told but not told" what is going on and should be allowed to discover the secrets of Hailsham and the truth about these children on their own.

Offsetting the bizarreness of these revelations is the placid, measured voice of the narrator, Kathy H., a 31-year-old Hailsham alumna who, at the close of the 1990s, is consciously ending one phase of her life and beginning another. She is in a reflective mood, and recounts not only her childhood memories, but her quest in adulthood to find out more about Hailsham and the idealistic women who ran it. Although often poignant, Kathy's matter-of-fact narration blunts the sharper emotional effects you might expect in a novel that deals with illness, self-sacrifice, and the severe restriction of personal freedoms. As in Ishiguro's best-known work, The Remains of the Day, only after closing the book do you absorb the magnitude of what his characters endure. --Regina Marler

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:55 -0400)

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