June 2016- Never Let Me Go

[George P.]

I didn't have any problem with not feeling good about the story at the end- perhaps partly because I've read a lot of novels that didn't have a feel-good ending, many of which were excellent (how about "The Old Man and the Sea? or a novel I just finished, "Half of a Yellow Sun"). After I finished the last page of "Never...", I looked at the picture of Mr Ishiguro on the back jacket flap and gave him a thumbs-up sign, and said "good job, dude!".
Of course, I felt that the essentially slave status of Kathy and her compatriots was outrageous. I would hope society would never go along with such a plan. I have heard of the idea of chimpanzees being used in a similar way, if a method could be found to make them compatible- perhaps I could accept that under some circumstances, but it wouldn't be very palatable either.

[Samantha]

I saw the movie a few years ago (I love Carey Mulligan.) and loved it so I was excited this book was chosen for the group read. I've just finished it and I found it to be as heartbreaking and wistful as the movie was. The universe is plausible which I think adds to the eeriness of it. Would people ever be okay with using clones to harvest organs if it meant their loved ones could beat cancer or live for a few more decades? I know clones and stem cells and such are highly controversial but these are questions we will see raised throughout our lifetimes.

I liked the meandering style of the writing and the way Kathy would bring up a topic only to promise to come back to it later. It kept me reading but it also kept the storytelling conversational and easy. The subject certainly wasn't.

[Beth]

I just watched the movie: Never Let Me Go. It was beautifully filmed with a gorgeous musical score. Like the book it was quiet, gentle and so very sad. It was pretty true to the book but did leave many details out which for me was not a bad thing. I preferred the movie to the book.

[George P.]

Beth wrote: "I just watched the movie: Never Let Me Go. ..."
I have put in in my movie list to see. I'm going to get the Bluray disc from Nflix.

[Alana]

Beth wrote: "I'd say that was one thing I didn't care for. Overall, I really enjoyed the book but the teasers were excessive. At first they built some tension but after awhile it lost the effect for me. The rev..."

I love your description, makes me think of internet "click bait." :)

I don't recall feeling a negative reaction to them, more just a curiosity about what would happen next and just assuming he would get us there eventually.

I liked it overall, I thought it was actually a fairly reasonable account of what society is like when we accept something as "normal" when from the outside, it really and truly shouldn't be, should in fact shock and horrify us. The complacence with "the way things are" speaks a lot to our society (or any society, really).

[Beverley]

Beth wrote: "I just watched the movie: Never Let Me Go. It was beautifully filmed with a gorgeous musical score. Like the book it was quiet, gentle and so very sad. It was pretty true to the book but did leave ..."

I almost always hate movie adaptations but, to be fair, this one was very good with some amazingly underplayed performances. I thought the book was one of the most harrowing I've ever read, probably because of the resignation of the characters to their fates and the complacency of all around them, as many people have remarked upon. Altogether too plausible I think, and the film captured this 'banality' of the horrific situation very well.

[Beth]

Ishiguro seemed completely focused on the characters dealing with their fates vs. how the world had gotten to that strange and awful place where clones were used for body parts. The complacency made me sad but didn't anger me, maybe because I didn't look beyond these characters to the how or why. That opens up a whole new can of worms and he didn't seem to want to go there.

[Paul]

I saw the movie and it was stylishly directed. The cinematography depicted the dreary English country side beautifully and enhanced the films sad story. The actors were superb! Hopefully an "indi" hit that will stand the test of time.

On the DVD's additional material, Ishiguro admits that the novel is a metaphor for the end of life, that we all face with banality.

I don;t really agree with this, we have been given life even if its used to fight a corrupt, loveless and inhumane system.

[Paul]

I also browsed a bit and found some interesting view points and opinions;-

"Melancholia best describes the mood of this film. It was not meant to excite the viewer, neither was it attempting to be an escape from reality, as so many films strive to be. Rather, this film causes the careful viewer to examine their own views as to what makes us human and to meditate upon humanity’s propensity to marginalize others when their utility becomes more important than their humanness.

It also asks the question “Are the lives of others who differ from us worth any less because of their difference?” Do they feel and experience life any less than those of us who may consider ourselves superior, or more complete, than those lesser beings?
Mankind has been guilty of unthinkable cruelty because of our innate ability to objectify those who we disapprove of, or want to make go away. “Never Let Me Go” is just the film to help us consider these things.

Never Let Me Go may indeed remind us that love is good and that life is short. However, wittingly or not, it also laments another heartbreaking reality. It's the acquiescence of the weak in their own exploitation by the strong."