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

Jan 01, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: authors-i-don-t-ever-want-to-read-a, audio, 1001-books, literary-schmiterary, everyone-loved-it-except-me

Recommended for fans of Everything I Never Told You, another slow rambling book that others found deeply emotional, but I just hated.

Everything about this book annoyed me. The funny thing is, I didn't think it was bad, exactly; it's well-written, and different enough to be memorable. But I hated it, hated every moment of it ... hated every character, hated all the endless details, hated the rambling style, hated the Britishisms and constant mentions of Hailsham. This was a hate read for me.

This Recommended for fans of Everything I Never Told You, another slow rambling book that others found deeply emotional, but I just hated.

Everything about this book annoyed me. The funny thing is, I didn't think it was bad, exactly; it's well-written, and different enough to be memorable. But I hated it, hated every moment of it ... hated every character, hated all the endless details, hated the rambling style, hated the Britishisms and constant mentions of Hailsham. This was a hate read for me.

This book is like going to someone's high school reunion as a first date: you don't know any of these people, and you don't give a crap about their reminiscing stories, you're just praying you have enough alcohol to make it to the end.

I admit to rolling my eyes every time she goes on about that stupid song, Never Let Me Go, and every time she goes on about her sexual urges and having sex, in the most ridiculously clinical detail.

I have questions: (view spoiler)

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Review from my first try, back in ~2014ish, when I DNF'ed - my opinion did not change this second time around, in 2017, when I finished it:
I'm having a hard time with the rambling style of this one - I find myself skimming and skipping. I keep hoping that eventually I'll get drawn into the story, but so far (and I'm not really very far in) I hate Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy. ...more

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Aug 14, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, euro-fiction, uk

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

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Jul 31, 2010 Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, 2010books

I’ve been reading pretty much exclusively for school for the past 10 or 11 months, with a couple quick breaks for “fun” books here and there. I guess when you do a grad program in just a year you ought to spend all your time reading and have no room to complain about it. So with that in mind I will not complain, only say that finishing my program has freed up a major amount of time in my life, time that I'm desperate to commit to reading all the books I have stockpiled on my shelf.

The first book I’ve been reading pretty much exclusively for school for the past 10 or 11 months, with a couple quick breaks for “fun” books here and there. I guess when you do a grad program in just a year you ought to spend all your time reading and have no room to complain about it. So with that in mind I will not complain, only say that finishing my program has freed up a major amount of time in my life, time that I'm desperate to commit to reading all the books I have stockpiled on my shelf.

The first book to come down off that shelf: Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go.” How did “NLMG” get the coveted first nod? Two reasons, really: 1) the film adaptation is coming out soon, and 2) my friend who had read it and loved it really turned up the heat to get me to read it before it gets spoiled by the movie. Having seen the trailer now, I don’t know if the book would have been spoiled, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Regardless of methodology, it turned out to be the perfect book to return me to my happy life of reading freedom: elegant, readable, quick...oh, and sad...forgot about "sad" for a second. Note: by “sad,” I mean really, really sad. Anyway, I gobbled this book; I chugged this book; I inhaled this book. If these metaphors haven’t made it clear already: I was starving for books, real books, not competitive analysis books or process innovation books. As intellectually stimulating as my program was, I was still desperate and ravenous for fiction the whole time. I guess it’s as biological as actual hunger.

But back to “Never Let Me Go,” which proved an easy book to wolf down. The crux of this book is neither in the plot, nor really in the characters for the most part (though there are three particularly careful, loving, nuanced portraits drawn), but rather in the oppressive, mysterious MOOD. One knows from the beginning that something is “off” in the book's world, but everything hinges on slowly understanding just what it is that’s off, and by how much. As my friend warned (strongly admonishing me to avoid the trailer for the movie), the secrets of the book spoil easily. Whether or not spoiled secrets ruin your enjoyment of the book is debatable; I had a pretty good sense of the “twist” before I started reading and was completely engrossed nonetheless. (A word to the wise: if you want to stay away from spoilers on this one, avoid those tiny library classifications at the front of the book at all costs!! Aye yie yie.)

At any rate, it’s a really wonderful book, heart-breaking and ominous, perfectly written and tightly controlled. I can’t imagine any better plotting or pacing in a book – especially given the overarching mystery: one wants the explanation at the same time as one loves the unbearable tension. This kind of book is why I crave novels: the pure expansion of possibility, the tackling of topics in an unimaginable way, the effortless transportation to a strange, sad world. A really, really sad world. ...more

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Mar 04, 2018 Loretta rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reading-for-craft

Okay. Yeah. I really should have read this so long ago. Beautiful, brilliant, heartbreaking in this quiet, matter-of-fact voice. The craft involved in this slow reveal of a world, a culture, a love story just blew me away. I'll be collecting and reading every one of Ishiguro's books in the next little while. ...more

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Mar 25, 2009 Lori rated it really liked it

Shelves: on-line-book-club

Definitely strange, but good. Certainly makes you think.

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Jun 03, 2018 Nicole Adrienne rated it liked it

I liked this but, didn't love it. I think perhaps because the characters seemed to act, think, speak, behave etc in a very 1950's dramatic television show way, I just couldn't connect with them on a deep level. ...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Maggie rated it it was amazing

I was truly blown away by this book. I enjoyed the conversational style of the narrator and the slow reveal about what was really going on. I'm glad I read this book without knowing too much about it. ...more

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