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kmackenz_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Medical content, Trafficking, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Grief
gm_vak's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, Medical content, Trafficking, and Medical trauma
jonsnowsmanbun's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Forced institutionalization and Medical trauma
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
scruffie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
nepheloma's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.75
I think that the only thing that I didn't enjoy very much was the writing style of this book. I do understand that it is designed to reflect that the story is told orally, but I found it repetitive. Sometimes, there was foreshadowing that was too obvious or even repeatedly mentioned, which made me feel that the set ups the writer wanted to create were a little not too strongly built. At times, I also found the narration somewhat emotionless, especially in the beginning of the book, but even though this bogged me, I have to admit that it did contribute to the general morose, yet hopeful, atmosphere that the book had.
Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Minor: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
theres_claire's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Never Let Me Go follows the unwinding memories of Cathy, focusing on her relationship with Ruth and Tommy, through school, early adulthood and their time as carers and 'donators'.
Minor spoilers ahead!
What I loved:
-
I adore science fiction that's very grounded. It's a world that feels so similar to ours, maybe even a bit closer to something we would recognise from the past, but there's one sci-fi element that has changed everything. The sci-fi elements are explored and unveiled so well throughout the book. - Thematically, this book explores heavy topics. It asks what exactly makes humanity, what makes someone human, what's equivalent to a soul. What I love most about it is it doesn't force an answer, it never moralises at you, it just gives you the space to explore these characters and through these characters come to a conclusion about their humanity.
- The characters are fantastic. Cathy's POV voice is clear and specific, but Tommy and Ruth too feel so real. They're intensely flawed people and they regularly hurt each other, they're regularly thoughtless about each other or selfish about each other, but you can feel how much they love each other and how intensely close they are to each other. I found them so compelling and beautifully written.
- I personally loved the writing style, the way events unfolded slowly and the feeling the prose evoked of being in a classic coming-of-age novel.
What you may not love:
This is a 5-star for me; I loved everything about it, but there's definitely elements I can see being not for everyone!
- The pacing and structure. This is a slow-moving story and it unfolds mainly as memory. Like real memories, Cathy's point-of-view tends to slip from one thing to another fairly tangentially. She'll be remembering a conversation she had with Tommy in childhood, but then something from a later time in their teenage years will be relevant and she'll go through that and then back to her conversation with Tommy. I loved this style it felt like real memory, but I could see it also being frustrating.
The ending. This is absolutely a sad ending, and not in a bitter sweet, maybe hopeful sad way. Just unapologetically, hopelessly sad. If you hate a sad ending or have to be in a particular mood for it, leave this one!
I loved everything about this book!
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
queenfury's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Maybe all of us at Hailsham had little secrets like that--little private nooks created out of thin air where we could go off alone with our fears and longings. But the very fact that we had such needs would have felt wrong to us at the time--like somehow we were letting the side down."
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Medical content, Trafficking, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
Minor: Ableism, Infertility, and Infidelity
hayleighg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical trauma
catol's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
I took this book to empathise with child laborers and the clients of their labour. It made me reflect on my views of humanity, how to take action. This book was a personal insight into being born in a situation where your future is a second thought and comes after you have escaped the system that ties you to poverty, unless you donate all the labor you have to give until you die. This book gave an insight into the atrociously inhumane treatments neoliberalism has created. I understandjbellomy's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Trafficking and Medical trauma