Never Let Me Go: June Group Read Discussion

[Bonnie G.]

So I start out with an apology -- I am not going to have this done for June 1st. Though I am really loving the book, it has been a slooooow read. I will chime in soon, but I am opening the thread to discussion, and posting a few interviews and reviews I think you might enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jCB5...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/boo...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

[Sara]

I flipped back in my archives for my initial thoughts on this book, which I read almost six years ago (it has somehow been that long!).

I found it very engrossing, with its quiet, lurking horror and regret. The notion of missed chances had the biggest impact on me, with more of a cumulative effect than individual instances. When I finished, I kind of felt like I'd been punched in the gut. It's a book that has stuck with me. The one note I had was that I expected more drama going in, but this isn't that kind of book.

[Alicia]

Sara wrote: "I flipped back in my archives for my initial thoughts on this book, which I read almost six years ago (it has somehow been that long!).

I found it very engrossing, with its quiet, lurking horror ..."

I agree with all of that! Including that I can't believe how long ago it was that I read it!

[Lori]

I totally agree with that also! I loved this book- I found it so sad but really beautiful.

[Bonnie G.]

I expected the quiet and slow approach based on my previous experience reading Ishiguro. I love the writing, but the pace and the overarching focus on mortality have made it a very long read for me. I am not a big reader of dystopian fiction (I have enough problems in real life, I don't need to introduce the possibility of a bleak and violent future) but I loved Station Eleven, and am liking this A LOT, even if it is a little bit at a time.

[Kris]

Per Station Eleven - that is not at all my usual genre of fiction, and I loved it and recommended it to quite a few people.

As for this book...Wow. Intriguing subject matter taken from a very logical perspective. I ended up having lots of questions, though. But the first person perspective would have had a hard time answering those questions. Were they implanted with trackers? Did anyone ever disappear successfully? Did they have recent "possibles" or were they generations/decades old? Were there repeats and how often and why? So many questions.
But I did appreciate the first person narrative. Very sad, ultimately, though. Definitely makes you think about what's possible.

[Bonnie G.]

Kris wrote: "Per Station Eleven - that is not at all my usual genre of fiction, and I loved it and recommended it to quite a few people.

As for this book...Wow. Intriguing subject matter taken from a very log..."

In the interview with Ishiguro that I posted above he talks about how he was not interested in escape, and doesn't think its relevant. He said there were already lot's of good and interesting books about the resistance and escape (he did not mention it, but I thought of Handmaid's Tale) but that his focus was on how we adapt to our realities and allow them to become normal, about how we stop questioning what seems abhorrent. It was that desire to not fight against that which seems inevitable that was his topic. That and mortality.

[Kris]

That's very interesting, Bonnie! I haven't clicked on any of the links, as I've been sick this week. I'll have to do that.

This is the first book I've ever read about clones. I didn't realize it was a sub-genre in itself!!!!

[Alicia]

I just finished it and really liked it. I thought the confrontation with Madame and Miss Emily, like the NYT review Bonnie posted above, was like something out of the horror genre. I'm not sure about Tommy. I'm interested to see how he is portrayed in the movie.
Has anyone seen the movie?

[Joanie]

While I'm not sure if I actually liked the book or not, my takeaway was that you could easily replace the word "clone" with any ethnic demographic and it would apply to how some of the world views other people.

In the end, we are all just born (or created, if you will) in the beginning and we all die in the end. We all search to make meaning of our lives, we hope for a way to make life last longer, but we know, without a doubt, we'll die after our bodies are no longer useful to the business of living.

The book simply put those ideas into different terms and raised questions about how we view ourselves and how we view others. Madame and Miss Emily are odd anthropologists attempting to gather proof that all lives are of importance, that all humans feel, have souls.

I can think of a few politicians and countries that could do with a reminder of this. Of course, they'd likely miss the point.

[Bonnie G.]

Interesting observations! I should be done tomorrow. It is fascinating to see how differently each of us viewed this. To me it seems about how easily people become inured to things. We may be up in arms when things first occur, and then we barely notice. School shootings, people imprisoned for years for minor crimes, people killed by the police, all things that once left us wailing or stunned now have about a 2 hour news cycle or go completely unnoticed or accepted as thins that happen to "those people" however we define "others" in order to differentiate ourselves from them. I know the author says its about death, and I see that, but i dont think its the whole story. I want to see the movie for sure. My library doesn't have it, and I keep forgetting to check Amazon Prime, but i want to track it down.

[Elizabeth]

Sara wrote: "I flipped back in my archives for my initial thoughts on this book, which I read almost six years ago (it has somehow been that long!).

I found it very engrossing, with its quiet, lurking horror ..."

Gut punch is a very good description- I read the book almost 5 years ago, and I still remember how tragic it felt that ultimately the characters had very little control over their own lives, yet each one of them tried to believe they did. It was a very slow read for me, and I remember it taking me about a month, but it was engrossing, just somewhat painful to confront all the emotions it drew out.

[Bonnie G.]

Elizabeth wrote: "Sara wrote: "I flipped back in my archives for my initial thoughts on this book, which I read almost six years ago (it has somehow been that long!).

I found it very engrossing, with its quiet, lu..."

Having the same issue. I have been reading for nearly a month, and still have 40 pages to go. But I think the book is excellent. Its just hard, really hard, to read.

[Bonnie G.]

Better late than never. Here is my review:

I actually finished this a few days ago, but I didn't know exactly what I was going to say about it. I held off, I reflected, and here goes. This is one of the most complicated books I have read in years. It is clearly about death, about both our acceptance of it, and our fight against it, even when life offers nothing at all to recommend it. In the case of the three characters here, life does not even offer the possibility of a better future, no "tomorrow is another day." Things are only going to get worse, it is preordained. And yet Kathy, Tommy and Ruth hope against hope to prolong life. Yes, this has a science fiction element, but really the behavior is no different than the person whose illness is terminal, and yet they continue painful and expensive treatment with the hope of one more day, one more really bad day.

The book is also about how we accept our fates, about how we don't fight back, we don't escape. Most dystopic fiction has an element of fighting the man, whether its Katniss Everdeen, or Sarah Connor, or Offred. But really, we wouldn't fight back. Every day we accept things that are clearly unacceptable, we vent a little outrage on Facebook, and then we think about what we are making for dinner. All of our characters have opportunities to escape, but they don't even consider it. That seemed to me very real, and very sad.

The book is beautifully written, stark, authentic, all good things, but it is also relentlessly bleak and tells truths about people we might not want to think about. It took me a month to read this (I generally read a book every week to 10 days.) Most days I got home and opened the book, and then just could not read it. So this is recommended for everyone, but read it when you have no other stress in your life or it could send you over the edge.

[Pamela]

Bonnie wrote: "In the interview with Ishiguro that I posted above he talks about how he was not interested in escape, and doesn't think its relevant..."

What is interesting is they all talk and dream about the deferrals but there is no talk about anyone escaping.

I was curious about the rest of the world. Kathy lives out in a bedsit in the real world, did she interact with "real" people? Did they know she was a clone? What was known and what was not?

I saw the movie years ago but feel the need to rewatch.

[Pamela]

Sara wrote: "I flipped back in my archives for my initial thoughts on this book, which I read almost six years ago (it has somehow been that long!).

I found it very engrossing, with its quiet, lurking horror ..."

I recently did a major life change that I should have done when I first had the chance 3 years ago but didn't for all sorts of lame reasons but now that I have done it, I walk around thinking "why did I wait?" So that part of the book really hit me hard, the regret of wasted time and chances.

[Alicia]

I watched the movie this week (Hello, Domhnall Gleeson!) They did add tracker wristbands to the characters-Kathy 'beeped' out of her apartment in the morning. The only people I remember seeing her interact with were doctors and nurses who I'd assume weren't clones. Tommy was still a mystery to me... he seemed dumb and not worthy of anyone 'fighting' over him.

[Pamela]

Alicia wrote: "I watched the movie this week (Hello, Domhnall Gleeson!) They did add tracker wristbands to the characters-Kathy 'beeped' out of her apartment in the morning. The only people I remember seeing her ..."

They also all clicked in when they came back from Norfolk- that totally made me laugh.

Tommy was really not appealing, not really engaging. With the shaved head and super thinness, he seemed too sick to do anything.

I also found the lack of storyline between Ruth and Kathy made their relationship seem strange.