Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Release Date: December 1st, 2005

Publisher: Vintage

Age Group: Adult

Overall: 3, 5 Monkeys

Source: Borrowed

Summary from Goodreads:

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were.

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special—and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

My Opinion:

Kazuo Ishiguro created a whole new world in this novel, and while I had really high hopes for it -I kept reading nothing more than five stars reviews for it- it didn't live up to my expectations.

The book's written in Kathy's POV, and it tells the story of herself and her friends, Tommy and Ruth, growing up in a boarding house in England. Hailsham (the boarding house) was a school for special students. These three spend their lives together, with the exception of spending a few years apart at the end.

One thing I loved about the book was its writing. It's like Kathy's talking to us, telling us her memories of Hailsham and her friends. It really was a fresh and original way of writing, but the plot fell a little short in my opinion.

All throughout the book, we get little hints as to what the kids are doing in Hailsham, we learn that it's not the only school of its kind, and we get to see beforehand where their lives are headed.

Well, to me, all this was told a little too beforehand, so when the moment of the big revelation came along, I already knew what to expect, and it lacked the big WOW moment I kept waiting for. Actually, when it ended, I thought, "This is it?"

Things like Madame's Gallery and deferrals are addressed in the final chapters, but like I said, these revelations added little to what I'd already read about them.

Apart from the plot, I did love the way Ishiguro handled the group's emotions, and the depth of the characters. Since we see them from when they were little through Kathy's memories, we also get to see them grow, and the way they are is constant, making the characters interesting and relatable. You could see the why behind any one of them's actions, and understand it very well.

But, as I said, I didn't get to see the turning point in this book, perhaps I missed it, and while I was hoping to love, love, love this book (someone told me it was their favourite book EVER) I just liked it. It kept me interested enough, but at the end it disappointed me.

I must be one of those few people who think this, but it is what it is. Sometimes you love some books, other times, they just aren't for you.

I am expecting to love the film, however. I do like its cast. :)

Oh, and HAPPY 2011!!!