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

Feb 07, 2011 Shannon rated it it was amazing

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Jun 06, 2013 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, sciencefiction, dystopia

I wavered between giving this book three and four stars, but decided to go with the "crowd" on this one. ;) I didn't find any of the characters to be particularly likeable, although I did find them believable. Mostly, I kept feeling irritated by Kathy in the beginning for holding Ruth in such high esteem, when she was clearly a "mean girl." And I had a little trouble buying into their lasting bond, although I'm sure there are a lot of friendships that unfold in a similar way. I just think that i I wavered between giving this book three and four stars, but decided to go with the "crowd" on this one. ;) I didn't find any of the characters to be particularly likeable, although I did find them believable. Mostly, I kept feeling irritated by Kathy in the beginning for holding Ruth in such high esteem, when she was clearly a "mean girl." And I had a little trouble buying into their lasting bond, although I'm sure there are a lot of friendships that unfold in a similar way. I just think that in most cases, girls outgrow them, whereas Kathy never really seemed to.

But that's when I have to remember that the upbringing and experiences that Kathy and her friends have are not anywhere near "in most cases." This certainly reads more like literary fiction than science fiction, so that I sometimes had to remind myself about the way that their upbringing might have affected them. They lacked a true "family unit", and yet still retained the human need for connection, and I think this need often does win out no matter how unhealthy the relationships forged are. I could give them the benefit of the doubt, believe that they were really doing the best they could with what they had been given.

The narration is very stream-of-consciousness, often jumping forward and backward in time, obviously constructed as memories from the past rather than events unfolding for the first time. The voice and tone seem somewhat effortless and even amateur, but I have a sense that an awful lot of cutting, revision, and effort went into making them that way. I liked the way so much of the story took place internally, and I liked the somewhat claustrophobic feel of it, with characters besides our main three merely drifting on and off the page without us having to expend much effort or investment in them. I found Madame to be an utterly fascinating character (does it help that she was supposedly Belgian?), although I wanted a bigger "reveal" from the encounter at the end. Still, all in all, it was a haunting, worthwhile read. Now I'm going to package it up and send it back to the Paperbackswap Universe from whence it came!
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May 20, 2012 mandy rated it liked it

Meh. I probably wouldn't have finished this if it wasn't for book club. I do think we'll get a good discussion out of it, but the "secret" doesn't seem very secret and I didn't really care about the characters for most of the book. ...more

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Nov 09, 2010 Ally rated it it was amazing

This book was amazing. Thoughful, full of fantastic imagery and above all, a great story. I'm so glad I didn't see the movie so that the visuals in my head could be what I see every time I think about this book. ...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Alvin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I had no idea what this book was going to be about, so I went in not having any expectations. I was confused for the first third of the book, but once it got going, I became more interested. The questions kept coming, one after another, with no answers on the horizon. It was a frustrating read, because by the end, the answers came out, but I had already lost interest and didn't really care about the characters. ...more

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