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A review by rwxtd
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
I had to read this for class back in undergrad- maybe five years ago? I made it about halfway through, but got busy and never finished it. I just had to read it for a different class, in graduate school now, and I think I understand now why I didn't bother finishing it the first time.
Honestly I found this whole book to be kind of a drag to get through. It's too bad, because I think the premise is interesting. In general, I really like stories that focus on characters and their relationships and how they change over time or react to different situations, so this book should've been right up my alley. Unfortunately, I mostly just found it really, really annoying.
I think it's mostly the writing style. It's very casual, as if someone is recounting stories from their childhood- because that's mostly what the book is, it is Kathy recounting stories from her childhood or about her past. But she doesn't tell these stories in an interesting way, so it just feels like someone I don''t know rambling on about other people I don't know. I have no reason to get invested in Kathy or any of these other characters. I don't know or care about any of these people. It felt like being in a room with a bunch of people who all went to high school together reminiscing about "the good old days" and forgetting you're in the room. There were also some more specific writing quirks that absolutely drove me up a wall. Primary example: any time Kathy is about to start a new anecdote, she starts with "it reminded me of that time when blank happened", or something along those lines. It felt like the narrator was fishing for the reader to ask what happens next. I absolutely can't stand when people do that. Just tell me the story if it's relevant, don't hint "oh there's a story here...haha...wouldn't it be funny if someone asked me to tell it" no! I hate this! I hate it in real life and I hate it here! Stop being passive aggressive and say what you mean already!
I think that's part of why this book super didn't work for me. The characters were very often extremely passive aggressive, there was a lot of performing and dancing around what you mean and putting on a show for someone else's benefit, it was entirely exhausting and frequently very mean-spirited. I guess that was probably part of the point? And I almost feel bad critiquing it because they are children for most of it, and children in stressful circumstances are not known for making stellar decisions, and that's fine. But it's really hard to feel for or care about these characters when well over half the book is them just being nasty to each other, and if the main focus of the book is the characters and their interactions and reactions to their horrible situation, it just makes for a rather unpleasant reading experience.
The characterization was consistent, I'll give it that. There were really strong, identifiable and distinct characters. I just didn't like or care about any of them. I didn't feel like I had a reason to keep reading other than "I have to for class".
It's an interesting premise, with very clear and unique characters. I'm not going to say it was bad, because I don't think it was, I think it just really super didn't work for me personally because I found the characters and writing style deeply irritating and the book didn't do enough to make me care about them despite that.
Honestly I found this whole book to be kind of a drag to get through. It's too bad, because I think the premise is interesting. In general, I really like stories that focus on characters and their relationships and how they change over time or react to different situations, so this book should've been right up my alley. Unfortunately, I mostly just found it really, really annoying.
I think it's mostly the writing style. It's very casual, as if someone is recounting stories from their childhood- because that's mostly what the book is, it is Kathy recounting stories from her childhood or about her past. But she doesn't tell these stories in an interesting way, so it just feels like someone I don''t know rambling on about other people I don't know. I have no reason to get invested in Kathy or any of these other characters. I don't know or care about any of these people. It felt like being in a room with a bunch of people who all went to high school together reminiscing about "the good old days" and forgetting you're in the room. There were also some more specific writing quirks that absolutely drove me up a wall. Primary example: any time Kathy is about to start a new anecdote, she starts with "it reminded me of that time when blank happened", or something along those lines. It felt like the narrator was fishing for the reader to ask what happens next. I absolutely can't stand when people do that. Just tell me the story if it's relevant, don't hint "oh there's a story here...haha...wouldn't it be funny if someone asked me to tell it" no! I hate this! I hate it in real life and I hate it here! Stop being passive aggressive and say what you mean already!
I think that's part of why this book super didn't work for me. The characters were very often extremely passive aggressive, there was a lot of performing and dancing around what you mean and putting on a show for someone else's benefit, it was entirely exhausting and frequently very mean-spirited. I guess that was probably part of the point? And I almost feel bad critiquing it because they are children for most of it, and children in stressful circumstances are not known for making stellar decisions, and that's fine. But it's really hard to feel for or care about these characters when well over half the book is them just being nasty to each other, and if the main focus of the book is the characters and their interactions and reactions to their horrible situation, it just makes for a rather unpleasant reading experience.
The characterization was consistent, I'll give it that. There were really strong, identifiable and distinct characters. I just didn't like or care about any of them. I didn't feel like I had a reason to keep reading other than "I have to for class".
It's an interesting premise, with very clear and unique characters. I'm not going to say it was bad, because I don't think it was, I think it just really super didn't work for me personally because I found the characters and writing style deeply irritating and the book didn't do enough to make me care about them despite that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content