Never Let Me Go in AMS Book Club at UBC

Dec 20, 2023 Anna (ani) 🕷 rated it really liked it

“I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it’s just too much. The current’s too strong. They’ve got to let go, drift apart. That’s how I think it is with us.”

****/5

This was a beautiful and slightly devastating book about growing up, friendship, love, and living in an unfair world. I can’t say I was really surprised about anything, the book prett “I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it’s just too much. The current’s too strong. They’ve got to let go, drift apart. That’s how I think it is with us.”

****/5

This was a beautiful and slightly devastating book about growing up, friendship, love, and living in an unfair world. I can’t say I was really surprised about anything, the book pretty much went as I anticipated, but there were little moments that got to me because of how real or gut-wrenching they felt. Especially the moments in childhood— seeing how the children of Hailsham would take their Exchanges so seriously, even though it was a little illogical… I haven’t seen childhood written so accurately in a while. And when Madame shows up and they realize that she must be afraid of them, because why else would she look upon them as if they were spiders? That childlike innocence in the face of a cruelty they can’t understand hurt to read.

*Spoilers Ahead*

Another thing this book does really great is the commentary on what it means to have a fulfilled life— and how it’s viewed by society. We never get to see any of the “models” or the people receiving donations, but the conversation with Miss Emily and the Madame at the end really puts it into perspective. It’s clear that the donors can have fulfilled lives, even if not long. Kathy takes pride in her work as a carer, because she knows it’s important (and perhaps out of necessity). Her, Ruth, and Tommy are able to live for a while, even if their lives are cut short and filled with missed opportunity. Up until the very end, they accept that this is their fate, and it is only when it seems there is hope for deferring it that they come to odds with their “destiny.” Meanwhile, those in society who benefit from organ donations choose to turn a blind eye, willfully ignoring what it means. As humans, we so often overlook suffering and unfairness when it benefits us, going so far as to justify it through fear and discrimination as they do in Never Let Me Go.

In the end, it is those receiving the donations who are escaping fate, with the donors either forced to accept it or suffer. It’s a bittersweet reflection of humanity. The use of sci-fi to illustrate this point is done really well by Ishiguro, same as in Klara and the Sun (which was the first novel I read by him). While I’ve only read these two books of his, I feel like he really knows how to use science fiction in a really heart-wrenching way. ...more

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Oct 28, 2020 Sophia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: literatuuuuuuuure, read-for-school

read this for school, was kinda confused in the beginning, not really vibing with it, but then as it went along I got into it and the concept.
Idk how I would have felt reading this alone however (probably would’ve been scared and wanted to put it down), so maybe read with someone to ~discuss~

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Sep 27, 2023 Ishaan Sahai rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourite-books

April was the best and worst time for this book to have come into my life. The disorienting and softly helpless limbo of a life that shouldn’t have been what it was, but ultimately was, and maybe never could’ve been more. The barriers of a present and future that force us to live in our memories of the past. I wish its evocation of wistfulness didn’t break me as much as it did, but somehow its devastation and frustration remain nourishing in their inarticulable mundanity.

Something about this nov ...more

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Dec 10, 2020 Mona rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ishiguro is insanely talented at explaining emotions and feelings in each flashback of Kathy's childhood. So easy to slip into her world. Quick read. Endless cliffhangers. Makes me want to read more dystopian sci-fi... ...more

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Jul 22, 2023 de! rated it really liked it

• 3.5/5 rounded to 4🌟
Naomi said this book was like a sneeze that won’t come out. Really well written and cool concept, but it was hard for me to get through.

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