A review by jarvvis
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Overall a well-written, enjoyable book, but one I feel is missing something essential.

• A lot of this book is about the small moments between people that dictate relationships, which, while being fairly realistic, gets a bit tiresome at times.
• There’s not a huge amount of dialogue in this, and when people do talk to one another, it’s in this strange stilted way where they say exactly what they mean. It is a good way to indicate how strangely socialised these kids are but also just rings of bad writing.
• Following on from that point, every character in this book has the same voice, and you really have to pay attention to when you’re told their personalities rather than just get a sense of who they are in a more natural manner.
• There’s not a whole lot driving this book forward other than the pure enjoyment of it in the moment, I wished it was a bit plottier and the stakes, which are fairly high, felt more intense.

Not sure how I feel about likely reading this next year for English. I might return with an updated review.