Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Never Let Me Go

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Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

92 reviews

grapefruitjuice's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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blau_elmo's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I feel that the label of 'science-fiction' or 'dystopia' is a bit misleading. Sure, the premise does have such elements, but the primary focus of the book is the human drama between the trio of Tommy, Ruth and Kathy.

The way Ishiguro sets up this seemingly normal universe at the start, but sprinkles in these tiny clues throughout the book of the true nature of the tritagonists, makes the pay-off at the end all the more amazing. The ending, in particular, is extremely poignant yet purposeful.

This is my favourite book of all time, for its drawn out human drama, for its tragic elements regarding inevitability, for its brilliant relatability regarding growing up (and the propensity to ignore the world that is bigger than us as teenagers), and its commentary on the ethics of technological advancements. There is a resigned fatalism that veils the entire narrative that grounds the story is realism, one that is crushingly unavoidable and real, regarding the smallness of us human beings.

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mlewis's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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marissasa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

This book has a very interesting premise, especially with the idea of human clones being raised solely to become organ donors or caregivers for other donors. However, the nonlinear storytelling jumping back and forth between present day and past memories of the main trio made it hard to follow the narrative. I didn't connect with any of the characters as much as I wanted to, which is ironic because the whole message of the story is showing the humanity and life within these humans who were othered and seen as a lower class because of their status as clones for donations. I also disliked the ending where the entire reasoning behind Hailsham was just explained to them by one of the teachers as it felt like an easy choice without the same emotional weight it could've had if they had found out on their own somehow instead of being told it.

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