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Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

Start date: February 1, 2025

Finish date: February 28, 2025

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What Members Thought

Oct 21, 2014 Carrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, favorites, beautifully-moving

Question: What did you think?

Answer: I don't know...

Sometimes you read a book and as you read you form in your head how you are going to approach a review or thoughts on it and as you continue on these change and new ways come to mind. But then you finish and your mind is left, I can't say blank but more so numb with so much thoughts, feelings that the words are not there, they refuse to make themselves known. So when it comes to sharing them you're at a loss.

When I first picked up this book, I ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Sep 18, 2015 RJ - Slayer of Trolls rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. First, the narrator was obnoxiously vapid. She drones on and on with self-indulgent stories about Billy and Jimmy and Sally and all her other boarding school pals. It got old fast. This trick with the narrator who lacks self-awareness about important plot elements worked great with Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day (which is better even than the terrific film version) but it just doesn't work here.

We're aware right from the start of what's unusual about the kids. It doesn't take a genius to figu ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

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

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

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

5 likes · Like · see review

May 16, 2013 spoko rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

I picked this up based entirely upon vague recommendations I’d heard. I hadn’t ever read anything by Ishiguro—or really even wanted to, though I knew his reputation as a good writer. And here’s a little confession: I pick books based at least partially (sometimes largely) based on their covers. It’s something I discovered when I was working at a bookstore: You may not be able to actually judge a book by its cover, but you can frequently pick them based on that. Covers are designed to appeal to t I picked this up based entirely upon vague recommendations I’d heard. I hadn’t ever read anything by Ishiguro—or really even wanted to, though I knew his reputation as a good writer. And here’s a little confession: I pick books based at least partially (sometimes largely) based on their covers. It’s something I discovered when I was working at a bookstore: You may not be able to actually judge a book by its cover, but you can frequently pick them based on that. Covers are designed to appeal to the same target market that the book itself would appeal to. It’s not a perfect approach, but I’ve found that it yields a lot more hits than misses. Anyway, the cover of this book is not the type of cover you’d see on a book that I would read. I like covers (and books) with warmth and texture. This cover is cold and ironically impersonal, and even the irony itself was on display. I’m honestly not sure why I went ahead and got the book.

The thing is that while I didn’t misjudge it—it’s pretty much the type of book I expected, based on that cover—still I’m glad I read it. After the first couple of chapters I wasn’t sure I’d like it, and I flirted with putting it down. But it was so well written that I decided to stick with it. Ishiguro deserves his reputation, I have to say. The writing is very good; good enough, in fact, that you can read the entire book and not even realize how well written it is. It doesn’t stand out, but it’s very effective. It’s also a very thoughtful book, and gives you quite a bit to work out in your head.

The first half of this novel is all very mysterious, and you’re trying to figure out who these people are and what makes them so special and what the hell these “donations” are they keep talking about. To really discuss the book as a whole, I’m going to have to spoil it, so here goes with that.

(view spoiler)

In which sense, it was a pretty good book. I’m definitely glad I finished it. ...more

1 like · Like · see review