I finished Never Let Me Go last night. Apparently I had such an intent look on my face my husband felt compelled to tell me now and then, “Don’t rush!”
The book is written in such a conversational and straightforward way that the disturbing subject matter barely ripples the surface. I felt emotionally distant from the story except for a part near the end when I got a little sad. But the emotional distance turned out to be an illusion, or a delusion, because when I closed the book and put it down I suddenly started crying. I was quite surprised and I realized I had been sucked in good. My Bookman was sitting in bed next to me and all he said was, “I know.” He read the book last summer and has been wonderful at keeping his mouth shut.
I love the way this book was written from Kath’s point of view. She is a student at Hailsham, an exclusive school somewhere in England. We only ever know what Kath knows as we follow her through school and her coming of age and leaving school. There are hints that all is not what it seems, that this isn’t just any boarding school. We gradually find out the truth and it is horrible. But what makes it even more horrible is that everyone in the book is so accepting and matter-of-fact about it, even the students. There is no horror for them. They understand but they don’t understand their fate and even when they do finally understand they don’t rebel. I wanted very badly someone to say no, to runaway, to challenge authority but it never happened.
I also liked that Ishiguro set the story in the present and near past. Even though the premise of the story is not at this moment possible, setting it in the present instead of the future made it more unsettling somehow. Perhaps he did this to keep us from thinking that the story could never happen, that it was in a future that would never be. And perhaps he wrote it in the present to point out that the possibility of the story is closer than we might think and so we had better start thinking, start debating the moral and ethical issues, take steps to keep the story from becoming real. Or perhaps he wrote the story in the present to point out the sad truth that the story is real, just not in the same context as the book.
I’m being purposely vague about the book because I don’t want to give away anything to anyone who has not read it. Revealing what the book is about wouldn’t ruin it, but it would ruin that gradually growing sense of horror I mentioned and I want you to have the opportunity to feel as sick as I felt when you figure out the truth. This is the first book by Ishiguro I’ve read. It definitely won’t be the last.
I’m so glad you liked it. I loved the narration too — Kathy was such a wonderul presence; I loved her voice, her thoughtfulness, her careful analysis of everything. She’s talking to somebody, but we don’t really know who — perhaps another person in her situation? But that sense of an audience worked for me too — Kathy is telling her story to somebody in particular. The other thing that got me was that Kathy’s situation isn’t so very, very different from our own — I guess I can’t say what I mean without giving everything away, but this book struck me as a way of talking about the human condition — we all face horrible things and there’s nothing we can do about it.
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What an intriguing review, Stefanie…you’ve got me so curious now that I’m going straight from here to my county library system to see if I can get them to hold a copy of the book for me. Thanks for the great review.
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I had that reaction exactly. It was one of those books that I didn’t even want to recommend to other people, because the experience I had reading it felt so unique, so incredibly personal.
Funny, though: I rushed the ending. I wish I hadn’t, as I still – two years after reading it – think about those characters and wish I had them with me. Perhaps this is one for the rare but important “revisiting” pile.
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Oh my goodness me. I can see this is a book I really need to read – and soon!
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I know so many people that have read this and felt somehow let down or dissatisfied by the ending. My own reaction wasn’t quite that, but more of a “hmmm… there’s something not quite finished here” (which I’m sure was Ishiguro’s intent). I did think that the world inside the school and immediately after were better realized than the ending, which may have led to the problems my friends had with the ending.
At our recent Book Fair I was able to sell it in a bundle with other vaguely distopian books. And that’s all I say about the genre.
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hmmm yeah… making my literary taste buds water….
btw… if you want to put spoiler info into Word Press, get the spoiler plugin and it will hide spoiler info with a “reveal” click for any who want to hear the details. That way you don’t have to be too vague…
You can find info about the spoiler plugin HERE
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Dorothy, there was a real connection for me with Kathy because I’m an observer type like her too. I liked though that she was not perfect, she made mistakes and wasn’t always right. It made her very real. I understand what you mean about the book speaking to the human condition. I got that sense too, that the story was bigger than the story, but for some reason I find it difficult to articulate.
Sam, I hope you find the book and I hope you like it.
Cup of Tea, you are right, reading the book does feel like a very personal experience, so intimate. I can already tell I will be thinking about this book for a very long time.
Litlove, with your psychoanalytic background, I am very interested in what your take on the book would be. The book is rich for analysis.
Lazygal, I can see how people might not like the ending since the book doesn’t really have an ending, I would love to know what happens to Kathy, but we do know what happens, just not the details. I agree, the time at the school is much more realized than later, but I don’t think the latter part of the story requires so much detail, especially after the great foundation created at the school. Not a fan of distopian novels? 😉
Arukiyomi, thanks for the spoiler plugin info, that will come in handy! And I hope your watering literary taste buds get a chance to enjoy the book 🙂
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I was a little bit afraid to read your review because I am soon to start reading this book, but then I realized that I’ve read your reviews before and you’ve never spoiled anything. So I read it and now I can’t wait to read the book. They should quote your review on the back cover because I think it would sell some copies!
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I had the same fascination. Have you read “When We Were Orphans?” It’s another one of the same tree branch. I just simply adore the way he writes… even “The Unconsoled” in which he turned so experiemental was a pleasure to read.
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Wow, I’m going against the grain here I guess, but I wasn’t nearly the fan that you seem to be. There were parts I enjoyed and some of the issues that were raised (and like you, it crept up on me a little), but I wasn’t fussy on the execution. I especially didn’t like the constant suggestions about something awful. To me, I didn’t think a person would really use as much foreshadowing in what felt otherwise to be a normal conversational tone. I felt Ishiguro’s prescence way too often. Still, I enjoyed your review!
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It is definitely a book that leaves an impact. Like John, there were parts I really enjoyed, but I did feel the weight of the foreshadowing.
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I agree with John and Jenclair, also. I think I knew too much about the book before reading it, so the foreshadowing bothered me because I guessed too quickly where it was leading. But it did provoke a good discussion about free will in my book group!
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I read this book a few months ago. It has continued to puzzle me – probably because of its setting in the almost-now future. When I read it and wrote about it on Tea Reads I was very conflicted because I was so conscious of not giving away the details – as you say, the horror builds slowly, and doesn’t completely hit until you have closed the book.
Excellent review!
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Matt, you’re so nice! I try to be careful not to give things away, and if I did I would be sure to include a warning.
JCR, I’ve not read When We Were Orphans, but I have now put it on my TBR list.
John, Jenclai, and Gentle Reader, I can see what you all mean and how the foreshadowing can be annoying. I knew the basic premise of the book before I started it but I somehow managed to “play dumb” so I could be “surprised.” I did find the hints to be a bit frustrating at times, but it was wrapped up in such a nice package I didn’t much mind.
Melanie, thanks! I’ll be popping over to read your thoughts on the book.
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You are selling me on the book. As I mentioned on one other posting of yours where you mentioned Ishiguro, I have this book on my shelf for a long time now and have just not gotten around to reading it.
But the powerful effect it has had on you makes me want to dust the thing off and read it.
Thanks Stefanie.
Thank you for making me add another book to The Leaning Tower of Must Reads!
— Cip
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It’s odd that I didn’t like the foreshadowing in Ishiguro’s book. Recently I defended the ample doses of foreshadowing in Mary Lawson’s “Crow Lake” to my book club members. Must have been in a better mood for that one, I guess.
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Actually, I like dystopian novels (particularly those set in the proximate future, like this one or Speed of Dark). It’s more that I didn’t like the ending here, and not from a sense of incompletion but I just stopped caring about what was going on.
I’ve been finding that more and more books are having pacing issues. They have a certain speed, and then they change that two-three chapters from the end. My suspicion is that an editor said “this is getting long” and rather than tighten up all along they just chop the ending. While that doesn’t quite apply to this book, the ending did seem at variance with the rest of the novel.
Still, to all who are considering it: read it. It’s definitely worth the time.
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I adore Ishiguro on the sentence level as a writer, and I thought that Never Let Me Go was at his usual beautiful best just in terms of the way he put the words together.
I found the book extremely emotionally upsetting; actually, my reaction to it was quite similar to yours.
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Cipriano, it’s a good book. Add it to your leaning tower 🙂
John, sometimes an element that strikes us as great in one book doesn’t do it for us in another for whatever reason and that’s ok. If we all liked the same books in the same way, things wouldn’t be quite so interesting 🙂
Lazygal, I can see what you mean about the ending. You bring up a good point about pacing. I have trouble with books slowing down in the middle.
Whatladder, a good observation. You make me remember there were a few points where I stopped and re-read a paragraph or a sentence because of the interesting way it was phrased or put together. That doesn’t happen very often, so I know I’ve found a good writer when it does.
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I loved how you encapsulated (spelling?) the feeling of the book without divulging its contents. It was such an ‘oh and ah’ book, wasn’t it? I have A Pale View of the Hills in my TBR. I just want to read everything he writes or has written.
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Ishiguro is one my favorite writers. I had a similar reaction to the book as you, there was something very unsettling and unnerving about it. In some ways, it reminded me of Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale particularly how Ishiguro makes the seemingly impossible appear not so farfetched after all.
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Thanks LK! It was definitely and “oh and ah” book. After reading this one, I want to read everything he has written too.
Bookbinds, I can understand why Ishiguro is one of your favorite authors. I love how he made the impossible seem possible. It was all so matter-of-fact. I think that was part of what was so unnerving about the book.
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Well, I’ve been looking at your blog and have come across this review. Have you read more Ishiguros since this one as you’c hoped? I hope so because he is a wonderful writer. I’ve read all of his novels to date, with the exception of The inconsoled, and his new one which I expect to read in the next few months. I highly recommend all but if you haven’t read any yet I recommend The remains of the day as your next one. Cheers.
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Glad to hear you enjoyed Never Let Me Go as much as I did (http://bit.ly/jMaDcG), I hope you’ve gone on to discover some of Ishiguro’s other fantastic works. 🙂
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