'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishiguro
As a child, Kathy–now thirty-one years old–lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.
And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed–even comforted–by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.- Goodreads
And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed–even comforted–by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.- Goodreads
Review, or How an Eastern Style of Writing Mashes with a Sci-Fi English Countryside
Unlike most of the teenage/young adult population, I read this book way before the movie. I haven’t actually seen the movie yet and am therefore; really unsure if this book should be calcified as a Young Adult novel, when clearly its scope was meant for a much broader and diverse audience. However, there are elements in this book that make it YA, so I decided to cover it first. Let’s dive in and see why.
In a nutshell: It is sci-fi, for the lovers of drama, for the sub-group of angst. Additionally, if you don’t like the Eastern, pacifist, passive point of view, where even happy things seem sad, this isn’t the book for you.
Main Character- While Tommy and Ruth play a big role in the plot of the novel, they really aren’t as developed as the narrator Kathy. This is in part because it’s a first person narration, so the reader is mostly in contact with Kathy’s inner world and emotions, but also because Ruth in particular drops out of part three and isn’t heard from until the very end. With that said, Kathy is a compelling female protagonist and she feels like a very real, well rounded individual, much like someone you might actually meet. She is strong and independent, as her decision making process shows, since she rarely consults anyone when it comes down to actual decisions. She is kind and thoughtful, even though Ruth, her best friend isn’t always a joy to hang around with. All in all, she really does sound like a young woman, reflecting on her past, and even her past actions sound plausible, like the actions of a child, teenager and later young adult. She isn’t perfect; she isn’t a movie-like star that is always smart and witty and can throw one liners around the room like confetti. She is very meditative and most of the book is turned towards her own self-reflection, rather than just a simple narration of events past.
With that said, Kathy isn’t flawless. There are flaws in her character, as no one would be that phlegmatic about their life as she is. She forgives Ruth for destroying with her relationship with Tommy and she isn’t very sad about her loss in the end. A normal human being would react in a much different way than she does, as she is too unrealistically passive about her emotions for her to sound real, and this can get in the way, especially in the third part of the novel. Maybe it’s just Ishiguro’s nostalgic style, maybe it’s his own passive view on life that is reflected through Kathy -- I don’t know. But it can be a bother. Not for everyone, but it certainly was for me.
Love Interest? Well, what’s a book without one, right? To be fair, the romance in this novel doesn’t feel forced or unrealistic like in other popular YA novels *cough*twilight*cough*. It really does feel like part of the characters’ growth, like a part of anyone’s growing up process. Tommy, the love interest, is also a compelling character. He is that one boy that’s different than the others, but in no way too out of the ordinary. He isn’t overly attractive or even smart; he’s just a nice, somewhat naïve guy that is trying to prove himself worthy for the world around him, and with that to the girl he loves. Though he is a part, of it, his role in the love triangle (which of course exists- it even says so on the back of the book!) isn’t very active; Ruth and Kathy are the ruthless players while he’s just sort of caught in the middle. While much of the girls’ actions revolve around him, the novel’s main plot and most of the sub-plots concentrate on other subjects so this isn’t your typical dystopian fiction romance. However the lone “cat fight” over the boy and the omnipresent love triangle, make this novel a lot more YA than it should be.
Supporting Character Racism? Well…no? There are no characters of color or other ethnic background. In fact, even though the book seems to be taking place in the early 90’s in Britain, so much of the history and world are twisted that it’s really difficult to pin-point the time period, and therefore the need for a mixed cast. All characters are very white and very…special, but I don’t think this points to anything significant in terms of plot or racism, but rather to the fact that really, white Anglo-Saxons tend to be the majority dwellers in boarding schools in England.
Negligent Parents? There are no parents in the book, with the teachers being the only authority figures. While I can’t really blame any of them for being negligent, the book’s ending is a very good pointer at their other, much greater sins towards the main characters. However, I’ll spoil the book if I go any further, so I’d just leave it to the readers to decide whether “negligence” will be added to the list of sins that Madame, Miss Lucy, Miss Emily and all the other teachers have committed.
Suspensions- There is a lot of suspension between Ruth and Kathy, but one should keep in mind that they’re teenagers both in love with the same boy. I did like the fact that their friendship was sort of stronger than that one boy, as it turns out in the end, and I did like the fact that Ruth atoned by acquiring Madame’s address, at least in part for most of her misdeeds towards Kathy. The rest of the supporting casts had nice forgettable roles, as many of them ended a very faint subplot. This was obviously intentional, as most of the book is concentrated on loss and grief and abandonment and how Kathy, Ruth and Tommy deal with these complex emotions. However, I will swoon over a book in which there are two girl-friends that don’t at one point argue over the same guy and are both equally important characters, not character- sidekick duo.
The end? Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can say without spoiling the book or movie, but I will say several things. The resolution on Halisham, the deferrals, the donations and the gallery was bloody brilliant. I know, it has been done in so many other things, like “I Robot” or “Blade runner”, but Ishiguro really did a nice job of connecting all of the loose threads throughout the book. The resolution between Kathy, Tommy and Ruth wasn’t as satisfying, the reason being that either end would’ve been predictable. Ishiguro simply created a universe in which it didn’t really matter what would happen to Tommy and Kathy in the end— we knew it was going to end in tears anyways. My only real problem with the end is that it felt a little rushed. The novel dragged on a couple of occasions, but the ending sort of came out of nowhere. Some parts could’ve easily been removed (especially parts of the first part in Halisham) and used to flesh out an ending in which not everything is revealed in the last 20 pages.
The Verdict? Positive, I’d say. I really liked this book, and all of my problems with it are small and insignificant compared to the beauty of Ishiguro’s writing style, the characters and his genius approach on such a well known and overly worked topic. If you are even a remote fan of science-fiction, dystopian societies, or well, romance, you will certainly like this book. It’s not something you’ll read several times over, but once is enough for it to remain in your memory.
In a nutshell: It is sci-fi, for the lovers of drama, for the sub-group of angst. Additionally, if you don’t like the Eastern, pacifist, passive point of view, where even happy things seem sad, this isn’t the book for you.
Main Character- While Tommy and Ruth play a big role in the plot of the novel, they really aren’t as developed as the narrator Kathy. This is in part because it’s a first person narration, so the reader is mostly in contact with Kathy’s inner world and emotions, but also because Ruth in particular drops out of part three and isn’t heard from until the very end. With that said, Kathy is a compelling female protagonist and she feels like a very real, well rounded individual, much like someone you might actually meet. She is strong and independent, as her decision making process shows, since she rarely consults anyone when it comes down to actual decisions. She is kind and thoughtful, even though Ruth, her best friend isn’t always a joy to hang around with. All in all, she really does sound like a young woman, reflecting on her past, and even her past actions sound plausible, like the actions of a child, teenager and later young adult. She isn’t perfect; she isn’t a movie-like star that is always smart and witty and can throw one liners around the room like confetti. She is very meditative and most of the book is turned towards her own self-reflection, rather than just a simple narration of events past.
With that said, Kathy isn’t flawless. There are flaws in her character, as no one would be that phlegmatic about their life as she is. She forgives Ruth for destroying with her relationship with Tommy and she isn’t very sad about her loss in the end. A normal human being would react in a much different way than she does, as she is too unrealistically passive about her emotions for her to sound real, and this can get in the way, especially in the third part of the novel. Maybe it’s just Ishiguro’s nostalgic style, maybe it’s his own passive view on life that is reflected through Kathy -- I don’t know. But it can be a bother. Not for everyone, but it certainly was for me.
Love Interest? Well, what’s a book without one, right? To be fair, the romance in this novel doesn’t feel forced or unrealistic like in other popular YA novels *cough*twilight*cough*. It really does feel like part of the characters’ growth, like a part of anyone’s growing up process. Tommy, the love interest, is also a compelling character. He is that one boy that’s different than the others, but in no way too out of the ordinary. He isn’t overly attractive or even smart; he’s just a nice, somewhat naïve guy that is trying to prove himself worthy for the world around him, and with that to the girl he loves. Though he is a part, of it, his role in the love triangle (which of course exists- it even says so on the back of the book!) isn’t very active; Ruth and Kathy are the ruthless players while he’s just sort of caught in the middle. While much of the girls’ actions revolve around him, the novel’s main plot and most of the sub-plots concentrate on other subjects so this isn’t your typical dystopian fiction romance. However the lone “cat fight” over the boy and the omnipresent love triangle, make this novel a lot more YA than it should be.
Supporting Character Racism? Well…no? There are no characters of color or other ethnic background. In fact, even though the book seems to be taking place in the early 90’s in Britain, so much of the history and world are twisted that it’s really difficult to pin-point the time period, and therefore the need for a mixed cast. All characters are very white and very…special, but I don’t think this points to anything significant in terms of plot or racism, but rather to the fact that really, white Anglo-Saxons tend to be the majority dwellers in boarding schools in England.
Negligent Parents? There are no parents in the book, with the teachers being the only authority figures. While I can’t really blame any of them for being negligent, the book’s ending is a very good pointer at their other, much greater sins towards the main characters. However, I’ll spoil the book if I go any further, so I’d just leave it to the readers to decide whether “negligence” will be added to the list of sins that Madame, Miss Lucy, Miss Emily and all the other teachers have committed.
Suspensions- There is a lot of suspension between Ruth and Kathy, but one should keep in mind that they’re teenagers both in love with the same boy. I did like the fact that their friendship was sort of stronger than that one boy, as it turns out in the end, and I did like the fact that Ruth atoned by acquiring Madame’s address, at least in part for most of her misdeeds towards Kathy. The rest of the supporting casts had nice forgettable roles, as many of them ended a very faint subplot. This was obviously intentional, as most of the book is concentrated on loss and grief and abandonment and how Kathy, Ruth and Tommy deal with these complex emotions. However, I will swoon over a book in which there are two girl-friends that don’t at one point argue over the same guy and are both equally important characters, not character- sidekick duo.
The end? Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can say without spoiling the book or movie, but I will say several things. The resolution on Halisham, the deferrals, the donations and the gallery was bloody brilliant. I know, it has been done in so many other things, like “I Robot” or “Blade runner”, but Ishiguro really did a nice job of connecting all of the loose threads throughout the book. The resolution between Kathy, Tommy and Ruth wasn’t as satisfying, the reason being that either end would’ve been predictable. Ishiguro simply created a universe in which it didn’t really matter what would happen to Tommy and Kathy in the end— we knew it was going to end in tears anyways. My only real problem with the end is that it felt a little rushed. The novel dragged on a couple of occasions, but the ending sort of came out of nowhere. Some parts could’ve easily been removed (especially parts of the first part in Halisham) and used to flesh out an ending in which not everything is revealed in the last 20 pages.
The Verdict? Positive, I’d say. I really liked this book, and all of my problems with it are small and insignificant compared to the beauty of Ishiguro’s writing style, the characters and his genius approach on such a well known and overly worked topic. If you are even a remote fan of science-fiction, dystopian societies, or well, romance, you will certainly like this book. It’s not something you’ll read several times over, but once is enough for it to remain in your memory.
Monika Spancheska