A review by enmcurrie
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

What I love about this book is the beautiful execution of the plot. Kathy, the narrator, looks back on her life in the seemingly idyllic “Hailsham”, where students are taught art and literature. As she grows up, she realises the purpose of her existence and why her and others at Hailsham grew up so secluded from the outside world. Kathy recalls her life through anecdotes of her time spent with her dearest friends Ruth and Tommy. The book is advertised as science fiction/dystopia, but to me it’s so much more than that. 

It’s about the value of human life, the “right” and “wrong” time for love, the beauty of friendship and how one deals with the inevitable fate of death. The plot is written in such a subtle way, that you almost forget you’re reading a dystopian novel. I love the way Ishiguro writes. The way he “tells” you something without telling you, the way he foreshadows throughout and the way he can create such a horrifying plot that’s difficult to come to terms with, in the simplest of prose. It’s beautiful storytelling, I felt like I was taking a journey through Kathy’s memories with her.
There is no shock factor or grotesque writing, and yet it still feels like you’re trapped in this ongoing nightmare with the characters, and it’s really quite sad. 

What stuck with me most was Kathy’s quiet and painful abdication to what was going on around her. Her story is heartbreaking, and the ending sort of left me reflective and sombre. I recommend this book a lot, I really enjoyed it. It’s subtle, it’s chilling, it’s horrific, it’s beautiful. Just a great piece of writing, with poignant messages.
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