A review by traitorjoe
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It’s difficult for me to describe why Never Let Me Go resonates with me without delving wholeheartedly into the summers of my childhood at camp. 

Though it is not always, the days of summer camp are mainstays to my mind, and memories find their way to the corners of my lips. That is to say, though it may not have been Hailsham, my time at Duke TIP Summer Studies elicits the same emotional response I had while being privy to Kathy’s life and personhood.

That something so far away from me now, holds me still. That I can imagine it as it was, not as it lacks existence today. The friends I thought were lifelong, not gone, but nearly just as distant. And yet I feel as though I can stumble into a crowded shop, and see a familiar face, and act as though it wasn’t nearly ten years ago.

Never Let Me Go is not a science fiction novel, it’s a coming of age. And I don’t know if you’ll like it as much as I did. But I cried while reading, and text on a page has not done that to me since I was at summer camp. 

In short, I can’t believe they made my memories more real.