Reading time: 1 week
Pages: 288
Genre: Science Fiction?
So, "Never Let Me Go"....
Ishiguro's story centers around three students at a school in England called "Hailsham." Hailsham is actually a school for genetic clones in an alternate late 1990's setting. While growing up, the students know they will one day become "carers," or those or care for "donors," students completing organ donation. This is their purpose as clones. Seems like a normal enough boarding school setting. Kathy is the narrator and follows her experience with friends Ruth, and Tommy.Ruth and Tommy date as teenagers but Kathy maintains close relationships with both of them. There's a rumor going around that those who find themselves in love and are from Hailsham can get their donations deferred so they can spend more time with their loved one. After Ruth "completes" her donations, Tommy and Kathy *finally* get together, and discover the truth about deferrals.
My thoughts....
Well, in the beginning I was really struggling to find out what was going on because the back summary was only filled with comments about it being the best book of the decade, a "tour de force," etc... I slowly figured out they must be clones for organ donations and wondered why Ishiguro never really centers on such an interesting topic. One reviewer commented that no student tries to escape their fate at Hailsham, and basically, what's up with that!?
I said this was "science fiction" but it's only by default of the topic of cloning humans for organs and shipping them off to little organ donor schools. I was actually putt off by the novel almost the entire time because it's one of those "deep" static novels, I'd say. Where the plot stays very flat, and the most drama that happens is someone steals Kathy's tape that has the title song "Never Let Me Go" sung by Judy Bridgewater. OOO! Ugh...
I think it's safe to say nothing really happened until she throws in the towel to become a carer, leaving Tommy and Ruth at the cottages where students go after sort of 'graduating' from Hailsham. Then it started to get good when Ruth urges Tommy and Kathy to get together as she's doing her donations. Hooray! Finally some LOVE in this "Provacative" novel.
That's another topic in here... there's the whole rumor of being in love will get you deferred, and many students couple up. It's a big deal in their lives I assume. But even when Tommy and Kathy finally get together, I never believed it was love. I had to wonder if the author had ever been in love because I'm sorry, I don't think I could leave my sweetheart at the hospital, waving goodbye to me, knowing he's doing his fourth donation and that's kind of the limit (also how many times can you give up organs and be functional!? Jeeze Louise...) and not bawl my brains out. I just wished there was a little passion thrown in there as they go about "learning to live their lives" as Ishiguro wanted to focus on. Meh.
LadyBug Rating:
C-
--Once I started SKIMMING chunks of pages, was I entertained by the dialogue. But, not sure if it's a British English thing/difference, but I felt a lot of the dialogue would never happen. No one actually talks that way. Unless... everyone's really a clone-ROBOT! Woah! Plot twist!
--A couple good scenes, such as a young Kathy pretending to sing to a baby (Never let me go!) and confronting the Hailsham Madam at the end (deferrals? Yes? NO?!)
--I really detested the transitions. Every break would be a one sentence cliff hanger, followed by the next passage picking up on it, then beating around the bush a page, maybe two, before getting back to the point. Every. Single. Time. Dull please!
+Oh, and I'd say a C- is generous.
However I hear the movie is great?? Congrats. Watch it instead.
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