Reviews

this was so beautifully disturbing and mundane and left me feeling nothing but despair.

ishiguro’s writing style is so personal, i felt as if kathy was confiding in me. i loved the prose and the picture of kathy’s life slowly being filled in by her anecdotes.

i’ve read some reviews saying it was slow and boring, which is right, it is slow but it is not boring. you have to just let yourself get immersed in hailsham and the connections between the characters.

5 starts- this will definitely haunt me for a long time!

also, i got deja vu to normal people ???

maggiebook's review against another edition

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3.0

The story was very good and made you think about it long after finishing it. The writing for the most part was very indicative of young adults. The narrator Kathy provided depressing yet almost non-emotional tone of the book. Even when describing some carefree days while the main characters were in school, there was always an underlying sense of foreboding and tragedy. The brilliant way that was done would make me give it a solid 4-stars.
What I struggled with was the first two parts in the three part story. The narrative in part one and two tries to set up anticipation for the reader to know what is really going on by withholding information. Many times the narration stops the story with: but I will get to that later or that will be revealed in a bit. There was also a couple of times where the narrator would start taking about an important event and 5 pages of talking about something else you get to 'as I was saying' etc. I found it so annoying I almost DNF'd it halfway through the book but I had heard so many positive reviews about it I wanted to finish it. Parts one and two were a solid 2-star for me.
What saved the book for me was the third part. Again very little emotion but enough reveal that I was glad I finished it. The third part moved very fast for me and I felt it was a reward for making it through the beginning. So I ended up averaging the two ratings and giving this book a solid 3-stars.

swimstein's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nejtack's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

jackjpaton's review against another edition

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5.0

I pulled this book out from my library on a whim after hearing mention of the author, Kazuo Ishiguro. What a good decision that was. It’s taken me less than 48 hours to get through its 263 pages, and I can safely say I wasn’t totally sure what was going on for about 230 of them. Ishiguro has this fantastic way of slowly revealing elements of the plot to you through the narrator’s almost conversational tone. Generally I enjoyed this and found it engaging, the only occasionally jarring part being that sometimes Ishiguro sets up his next paragraph with lines such as “but now I’ll tell you about xyz”. Pinpointing the deeper meaning and moral of “Never Let Me Go” will take some time and thought, I’m sure, as well as what exactly has captured me so much. It’s far from my usual cup of tea, yet this particular story, with its endless narrative gaps and layer upon layer of uncertainty, gripped me. Give it a read.

opheliabox's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 ⭐️ Listen, I didn’t like any of the characters in the book and nothing of note really happens, but I read it all the way to end anyway because it was very nicely written and I was hoping for more spooky Madame moments. Perfectly fine book.

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