Never Let Me Go in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

May 16, 2011 Arianna rated it really liked it

shelfnotes.com

Dear Reader,

Well, this was my first Ishiguro (I have Remains of the Day lined up as well; I had difficulty deciding which audiobook to start with!) and I feel like there was definitely a lot of hype for it to live up to. Well-deserved hype, but...would I have loved this book just a little bit more had I stumbled across it, and not expected so much from it? Probably, yes. Because I think I DID love the book. It was charming and sentimental and I adored the conversational tone that I shelfnotes.com

Dear Reader,

Well, this was my first Ishiguro (I have Remains of the Day lined up as well; I had difficulty deciding which audiobook to start with!) and I feel like there was definitely a lot of hype for it to live up to. Well-deserved hype, but...would I have loved this book just a little bit more had I stumbled across it, and not expected so much from it? Probably, yes. Because I think I DID love the book. It was charming and sentimental and I adored the conversational tone that Ishiguro wrote from Kathy H’s point of view - and I was quite impressed by the author’s ability to write young women! But. There was the expectation built in. Which really upsets me, because I enjoy reading books that people have already read & loved. It makes me feel certain that I will find something worthwhile in between the covers. (I defer often to the “wisdom of the crowd” on Goodreads!) And it does work out well that way - I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that I ended up hating that others adored. But, I have fallen into this situation several times, where too much hype makes me want more from a book than the book can give me. Le sigh!

However. That is not to say I didn’t love this book! It had such a great concept (I feel as if I can’t spoil it, though! - so talking about this book will be mighty difficult). I give Ishiguro a lot of credit for taking a current trend and imagining a truly possible (and somewhat horrifying) future. I just wish I had come up with it, myself! He did a wonderful job with character development; I enjoyed how the reader grew up with the students at their private school. I wanted to befriend Kathy and I wanted to kick Ruth in the teeth for her manipulative ways. Tommy just always seemed rather...slow to me. Perhaps that was just how the reader portrayed him, but I really got the impression he was somewhat dimwitted. Maybe Ishiguro just meant to convey a feeling of innocence around that character, who knows.

And they were all so innocent of their actual futures. It was tragic, and certainly moving when they finally realized what was going on. You want desperately to believe that we, humanity, would never do such a horrific thing, but...it’s frighteningly easy to see that as one possible future for us. Man oh man.

Great slow reveal, and while the climax wasn’t terribly startling, it was a strong resolution to a long-running puzzle. I enjoyed this book and certainly look forward to more Ishiguro!

Yours,
Arianna

P.S. This isn’t related to the review, but wanna know one thing that really bothered me? The fake cassette tape that they sent out to promote the film adaptation looked NOTHING like Kathy H had described it. Why would they not recreate the image that the author had described, since it was his invention?!? So weird.
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May 01, 2011 Jessica rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 01, 2010 Isabel rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Meet Kathy H., our first-person narrator. Meet a dystopian version of Britain in the 1970's and 1980's where one has figured out how to 1. clone humans and 2. harvest clones for their organs. Can you see where this is going? Precisely, Kathy H. is a clone. Her job is to care for other clones who have started their "donations" until they "complete" around their third or fourth donation. In the book we follow both Kathy's life in the present and in the past as she remembers her days at Hailsham, a Meet Kathy H., our first-person narrator. Meet a dystopian version of Britain in the 1970's and 1980's where one has figured out how to 1. clone humans and 2. harvest clones for their organs. Can you see where this is going? Precisely, Kathy H. is a clone. Her job is to care for other clones who have started their "donations" until they "complete" around their third or fourth donation. In the book we follow both Kathy's life in the present and in the past as she remembers her days at Hailsham, a boarding school for clones. There she meets Ruth and Tommy, with whom she becomes close friends, but also has a very complicated relationship because, well, you can see where two girls, one guy is going, right? Kathy ends up first becoming Ruth's carer when she starts her donations and then Tommy's. This brings us to the final big element of the book, namely rumors that Hailsham students who can prove they have fallen in love can get a deferral before they start their donation cycle. Kathy and Tommy decide to investigate.

Do clones have souls? That's one of the overarching questions here. There are many more, beyond purely the ethics of cloning. It is an incredibly layered book about cloning, childhood, death and loss, and many, many more things. And it is a completely compulsive read of the "cannot put it down" variety. It moves very slowly, but something about the first person narration and the general atmosphere draws you in and doesn't let you go. There are a few bits I really didn't care too much about-- how many pages of musings devoted to discovering sex do you need?-- and for my taste I would have liked to see more exploration of the clone theme rather than the who's in love with whom theme, but that may just be me. All in all it's a very good, and, because you find out about the whole clone thing only with little hints here and there for the first 100 or so pages, rather creepy. To my shame, this was my first Ishiguro (I've seen the film version of "Remains of the Day," that's it), and it certainly won't be my last. Very nicely done. ...more

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Oct 08, 2010 Richard rated it it was amazing

Ishiguro sets up a dystopian novel in an irresistible way. He gives you characters in an inscrutable setting that you find yourself invested in before you even care what kind of dastardly future the author has dropped you into. As the novel progresses, he strings you along looking for the idea tossing you scraps here and there. The narrator's voice is beautifully crafted for what her surroundings would allow her inner life to be. This is certain to become a classic. ...more

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May 14, 2009 Stephanie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I mostly liked it, it was very beautiful, but the end was not nearly as shocking as I had been expecting/hoping. The "reveal" felt a bit pasted on, somehow. And I was disappointed that the characters didn't really change throughout the book when I hoped they would. Still, I couldn't put it down, read it in a day and a half. ...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Sarah rated it liked it

This was my bedtime read, but probably not a good choice for that, as I kept forgetting what happened in between reads. More a weekend read where you can devote hours in one sitting.

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