Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Never Let Me Go

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

46 reviews

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

This book is unlike anything I have read before, and I definitely want to read more of Ishiguro’s work in the future.
Never Let Me Go follows Kath as past relationships are rekindled, leading her to remember the significant events of Halisham, her old school. Through these memories Kath begins to learn more about the dark truths hidden throughout adolescence, but also truths about herself.
For me, the writing style and formatting are what made the book so unique. Told in 2nd person and non-linearly, readers are only given surface level information until the resolution. Ultimately, this helps cultivate a mysterious mood and makes the payoff more worthwhile.
Still, some elements of the confusion made it difficult for me to follow, which is why I rated it 4.75. The ending was phenomenal and quite a tearjerker, but in a few cases I wasn’t as invested as I would have liked to be.
No shame on the author however, as writing a book is incredible on its own, especially one creative as Never Let Me Go
If you like gradual sad books with character driven elements, this is for you:)

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kath_knits's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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greatu's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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skudiklier's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was really interesting, and for once I kind of guessed some of the twists/reveals ahead of time. I kept expecting the book to get suddenly more intense or sad, and though of course it was sad, I never came close to crying. It's almost like the mystery distracted me from how sad it was. But! Overall it was written well and it's a powerful book. Not sure I'd recommend it, but I definitely don't regret reading it.

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tarynlannister's review against another edition

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It was difficult to get into the style at times. It was told in a very conversational, memoir style, with lots of time skipping and references to things which may or may not have been explained yet. It was a bit jarring that it was so interpersonal relationship/drama focused when it was apparently a kind of light dystopia, and having the details of the messed up world trickled in between stories of young romance and friend schisms and silly school anecdotes was frustrating.

I also just found it rather bleak, so when I started getting bored I decided I would rather read something that was either more entertaining or at least less depressing.

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