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Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

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Jul 16, 2013 Casey rated it it was amazing

I've never read a book quite like this. It's written in first person, in a sort of journalistic style, but reading it almost seems more like having a conversation with the narrator, Kathy. She explains events and describes people in a meandering way, sometimes focusing specifically on what she was feeling in the moment, sometimes going back in time to preface was she was just talking about. While reading it, I felt like I knew this girl and she was relating her stories because I had asked her ab I've never read a book quite like this. It's written in first person, in a sort of journalistic style, but reading it almost seems more like having a conversation with the narrator, Kathy. She explains events and describes people in a meandering way, sometimes focusing specifically on what she was feeling in the moment, sometimes going back in time to preface was she was just talking about. While reading it, I felt like I knew this girl and she was relating her stories because I had asked her about them.

While the book is set in a fictional world, it still has a lot of real-world relevance. I'm a sucker for social commentary, and I love how this book delves into the notion of walking a mile in someone else's shoes before making judgments about them. It's easy for our society to separate people into groups and denigrate those who are different because we are afraid of them (and we are afraid because we are ignorant about who they are). With this book, we see that situation play out in a particularly clever way. Kazuo Ishiguro's writing sneaks up on you and teaches you a lesson you didn't even know you were learning.

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I loved the overall structure of the story, how the reader finds out the truth of the narrator's situation in much the same way she did. In the end, we find out she and her friends are all clones specifically created to be organ donors for the rest of society. When she talks about her childhood, we have no idea. When she talks of her adolescence, we know she's a clone, but we don't really know about the donating. For them, it's not even unusual. They've lived sheltered lived and don't question the way things are done. What MOST interested me was that I never questioned the humanity of these characters. They were always real people to me--people with souls--and yet the greater society in which they live doesn't see them this way. Many people view the clones as a tool for medical advancement without considering them as individual humans with individual emotions and dreams. Reading about Kathy's life from her point of view allowed me to see just how disgusting that view is. ...more

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