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Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

Start date: June 1, 2016

Finish date: June 30, 2016

Discussion: June 2016- Never Let Me Go

Discussion leader: Marnie

Why we're reading this: This is a tale of deceptive simplicity that slowly reveals an extraordinary exceptional depth and resonan…more
[close] This is a tale of deceptive simplicity that slowly reveals an extraordinary exceptional depth and resonance.

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June 2016- Never Let Me Go

June 2016- Never Let Me Go
By Candice · 59 posts · 119 views

last updated Jul 04, 2016 02:39PM

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What Members Thought

Oct 02, 2011 Cecily rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: miscellaneous-fiction, overrated, film-good-or-better-than-book, dystopian-apocalyptic, bildungsroman, school-location

Very disappointing, despite a promising opening. It is a ridiculous story that is increasingly badly told. If you don't want to know the key plot point, beware of reading the back cover of some editions. :(

GENRE
Although often classed as sci-fi, I think that's more because dystopian fiction is often categorised that way, rather than anything inherently sci-fi in the book itself. In fact, it doesn't even feel dystopian for a while. In many ways, it's more of coming-of-age novel: coping with loss o ...more

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Feb 03, 2011 rachel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Kazuo Ishiguro is a writer close to my heart. Not just because I'm interested in the same questions he's interested in -- namely, how far we will delude ourselves about the things going on around us when life is just pleasant enough in the moment to keep us content. No, Ishiguro is most important to me because he was recommended to me by my uncle, who, in his frequent business trips to Japan became well acquainted with literature by Japanese authors and recommended to me Murakami, Mishima, Ishig Kazuo Ishiguro is a writer close to my heart. Not just because I'm interested in the same questions he's interested in -- namely, how far we will delude ourselves about the things going on around us when life is just pleasant enough in the moment to keep us content. No, Ishiguro is most important to me because he was recommended to me by my uncle, who, in his frequent business trips to Japan became well acquainted with literature by Japanese authors and recommended to me Murakami, Mishima, Ishiguro. Although he's technically a British writer, my favorite of these is still Ishiguro.

My uncle and I share something of the chilly remove of Ishiguro protagonists. He's dutiful and kind, but direct with his opinions. I typically don't speak unless spoken to, though I'm aware that people often read shyness as snobbery. At every family gathering, he manages to find me at some point to ask what I'm reading. I look forward to these conversations. When we're in the midst of one, I feel closer to my uncle than I do to almost anyone else I know. A Pale View of Hills is, I believe, his favorite Ishiguro. Remains of the Day is still mine.

So to me, there's a comfort and a familiar reflection in an Ishiguro book. He gets repressed people. You can open an Ishiguro and know fairly well what to expect. The narrator will be unreliable. There will be something devastating happening underneath the surface and your narrator, who is generally an innocent but wants terribly to believe that this devastating thing is not happening, will drop hints of the horror and then rationalize it away, so that it seems like everything might really be OK after all. The obliqueness and rationality of Ishiguro's characters makes them tough to warm up to. To those of us who aren't warm, it also makes them very real. Never Let Me Go is no different.

But Never Let Me Go is a departure for Ishiguro, in the sense that it's more speculative than any of his other works. I won't spoil the conceit for you if you've managed to make it through the movie promos and the five years this book has been out without being spoiled for it. But I will say that it details a future (though set in the past) that doesn't seem too impossible. The thought of humanity getting to this point is the equivalent of a kick in the ribs, and there are some scenes in the book -- Madame weeping when she finds young Kathy H. dancing alone comes to mind -- that are devastating.

This may be his most ambitious book (with the caveat that I have not yet read The Unconsoled). It might not be my favorite Ishiguro, but I definitely don't disagree with calling it a modern classic. ...more

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Aug 05, 2021 Kristi Krumnow rated it it was ok

Shelves: audiobook, europe, audible, literary-fiction, mystery, 21st-century, college-university, fiction

The author had to have had a plan to write about boarding school-children as clones or as children created for usage of their body parts. These are interesting ideas since fear of the unknown is creepy and has worked in British literature since the 18th and 19th century (i.e., Bram Stoker's Dracula, Walpole's Castle of Otranto, Austen's Northanger Abbey, and Ann Radcliffe's Mystery of Udolpho). However, the latter-mentioned novels set up a goal from the beginning. Ex: exploring a new place, sear ...more

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Apr 19, 2011 Shea rated it liked it

Shelves: manchester-district-library

This is a very thought provoking novel told in the first person. For the most part I enjoyed the narrative although, at times, it seemed to jump around unnecessarily. Ishiguro brings up questions of medical progress vs. ethical actions without being preachy. Reading this novel only reaffirms my belief that all life must be held in the highest regard and souls cannot be deemed expendable in the name of progress.

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Aug 14, 2018 Beth rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-read

A beautifully written, evocative and quietly devastating novel. The understated narrative and the gently unfolding truth pack a gut punch I rarely find in fiction these days.

Read it, without spoilers or knowing too much about it. Just find yourself irretrievably sucked into the world of these characters and go with it. It is a moving and unique experience.

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