Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

46 reviews

deedireads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Never Let Me Go is a quietly eerie, thought-provoking book with a strong first-person narrator. It’s engaging and will stick with you long after you finish it.

For you if: You like books that ask ethical questions.

FULL REVIEW:

I’m late to the Ishiguro party (my first book of his was Klara and the Sun), but several people recommended Never Let Me Go as a beloved backlist title of his. I went in with few expectations and little knowledge about the plot, which I think was a good way to do it. I definitely enjoyed it, but it’s also proven to be one of those books you appreciate even more as time goes by and you think back about it later.

I won’t give too much away, but the book is written in the first person by a character named Kathy H. She’s speaking directly to us, her readers, telling us a mostly linear account of her time at school with her friends, and then what happened to them as they aged. That makes it sound boring and straightforward, but the society that Kathy lives in is not quite like our own, and she and her friends are not like you and me (except they also are, which is kind of the point).

Once again, Ishiguro has blown me away by his ability to write for an entire book in a very distinct character voice; Kath and Klara sound nothing like one another, and wholly like themselves. Going by prose alone, you might not even know it was the same author. But of course, it’s all Ishiguro, and the two books have similar thematic threads, both being a sort of subversion of the dystopian genre in which there are troubling technological advancements and humanitarian issues at play, but no attempts to "overthrow” them. Only a sort of melancholy acceptance that makes the books even more disquieting. This one, in particular, makes you think more about how you may be a cog in a machine, what you may be complacent in, and how much agency you actually have. That, and ethics in modern (and future) medicine.

The one thing that bothered me about this book was how Kathy H. constantly told us she was about to tell us something. It seemed like every few pages she was like, “or at least that’s what I thought … until what happened next” (implied DUN DUN DUUUUN). But ultimately that’s a small complaint.

While I’m not sure this became an all-time favorite like it was for some of my friends, I’m really glad I read it and definitely recommend it. It’s one that will stick with you for a long time.



CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Infertility; Terminal illness (in a way?); Death and grief; Sexual content (non-explicit)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility and Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Terminal illness

milton's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Grief

Moderate: Infertility, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Vomit, Sexual content, and Medical content

kirareads02's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was such a tense listen. You never knew what was going to happen or what secrets would be told. I really enjoyed how we found everything out slowly, and the narrator told us her story as though we lived in that world, like we knew what her school was. 

Really lovely, romantic and hopeful book. At the start I was hooked but couldn't understand reviews as to why it was classed as a dystopian novel so that was interesting for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, Grief, Medical content, Infertility, and Sexual content

Minor: War, Classism, Cursing, Cancer, and Confinement

angela_iseli's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Infertility

bootsmom3's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Medical trauma, Medical content, and Sexual content

kotahlotah's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Cancer, Confinement, Infertility, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Trafficking

trappednerve's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness

elefantino's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Toxic friendship, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Blood, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Vomit

jfield351's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This was a fascinating, well written book. It was just so good. Ishiguro really understands human psyche and behaviour, and childhood. It was deeply intriguing and mysterious. The audience finds out things as if they are growing up as a child at Hailsham themselves. I’m not sure if the part that

they were clones used for donating vital organs

was supposed to be a secret, i happened to know this all along from a spoiler. Anyways this book was wonderful. Parts 2 and 3 were less interesting than part 1 but it was still a very solid story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content and Infertility

Minor: Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Homophobia

quinn24's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Infertility

Minor: Sexual content