hello_lovely13 's review for:

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
3.75
dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
Each reveal in the story unfolded so well that it made you more invested as you read. The writing style was easy to sink into, though I did tend to get distracted at some points and wasn't constantly wanting to pick it back up once I put it down. However, from the halfway point onwards, I was much more inclined to do so. The three main topics covered (
living organ donors, possibles, and clones
) were well thought out and executed, and the way they are explored can also be related to so many things. In the last part of the book, the fact that they call the donors' deaths "completing" really got to me because it, in such a simple way, showed just how much they were seen as objects, rather than people. As for the relationships between the main three characters, I think that the intimacy and bond between Tommy and Kathy was very well established and something I looked forward to reading when I got to those points in the book (
it didn't have to become sexual/romantic, but it was done well enough
), and I was incredibly surprised by
Ruth and Tommy's romantic relationship
. Ruth and Kathy's relationship probably has the biggest presence in the novel, and it is so complex. If I'm being honest, I did not like Ruth for a majority of the book; she came off as very "pick me", manipulative and controlling, and a liar (so much so that in the last significant conversation we see between the three of them, I fully thought that she was straight up lying to them and was surprised to find out she wasn't). Kathy's loyalty to Ruth often frustrated and confused me, but in context it makes sense because they cling to whatever relationship they can form (Kathy's discussion in the last part of the book about the connection between Hailsham students further solidifies this). As much as I find Ruth unbearable, she is also interesting because her behavior is completely realistic for how someone might react to her situation (pushing forward her own fantasies and trying to be as control of her situation (and by consequence, those around her) in order to cope with her own inevitable fate). So many interesting conversations (and unsettling parallels) are brought up in a subtle, elegant way that I can see why this book is so praised. For instance, the question it poses, without fully answering, about how responsible the monitors were in the fates of the students (and whether they were fully doing the right thing or just telling themselves they did enough to soothe their own guilt about not doing enough/not being able to do enough, sometimes in a way of stating "you (students) should be grateful your experiences weren't as bad as others"). This would ve very interesting upon a reread, but also stands well enough in your memory alone.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings