Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
2015 Reading Challenge: ‘A book that became a movie’
Blurb: “In one of the most acclaimed novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.”
How I found this book: A couple of friends had mentioned the film adaptation of Never Let Me Go a few times in passing. It wasn’t until months after I first heard about it that I saw a DVD in the shop where I worked that starred both Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley (two actresses I love, who play Kathy and Ruth respectively). Only later did I make the connection between this DVD and the film my friends had told me about. So I bought the DVD, but it spent ages sitting unopened on my shelf – because, as with many other films that have been recommended to me, I wanted to read the book first.
My thoughts: This book is so, so interesting to me. It had my interest even before I picked it up to read, though I only knew very basic things about the story itself. The things I had heard about it from different people all alluded to the same thing: that it’s a harrowing story. Naturally, I wondered what on earth could be so upsetting about it.
Personally, I don’t cry at books. Or I tend not to, at any rate. It’s incredibly rare that I’ll catch my eyes filling up while I have a book in my hand – not because what I’m reading isn’t playing havoc with my emotions, but simply because I don’t cry much. And so it was with this book. I didn’t cry, as I’d been told I was likely to. But I get it. I very definitely get it. The story is mind-blowing.
I’m almost uncertain what to say about Never Let Me Go, because it’s so thought-provoking as well as emotional that I’m not sure where to start. Stylistically, I’d say the book is actually a fairly easy read. Despite the theme of the story and the backgrounds of the Hailsham students, the book is not heavy with complex scientific or artistic knowledge. As early as the first page, the concept of carers and donors is brought in – and as the story progresses we gain an understanding of each of these roles, and how they are generally played out. It also becomes obvious that art and literature are prominent if not key factors in the education and upbringing of all the students. But these are explained to us in due course by Kathy as facts of life for the characters, rather than anything complicated or at all confusing. Kathy as a narrator is, I found, easy to get along with. She tells her story as if the reader is sitting right there with her, in conversation about her memories. She explains everything in as much and as little detail as is necessary, and adds reminders sometimes that she has since had conversations with Ruth or Tommy in which she found out that they remember a certain event differently than she does herself. So, while it’s evident that this is all very personal to Kathy, we are often given other possible perspectives and new information which heightens Kathy’s reliability as a narrator.
Perhaps it is the simplicity of the narration which paradoxically adds to the increasingly disturbing reality of the themes that become more apparent as her story progresses. While Hailsham is at first painted as an idyllic setting in which the students are brought up, questions and hints of a deeper story behind it are continually raised. The conclusion that’s reached is, quite honestly, stunning. While the explicit questions in the story are ultimately answered, on finishing the story a whole different set of questions are likely to be swimming in the head of the reader – questions of why things had to play out the way they did; of how we ourselves might fare in this slightly altered but significantly darker version of the world know; of the differences between the characters we have just come to love, and ourselves as people; of what is humane and what is right.
Overall, I have to say, I loved reading this book. It took no effort on my part to form attachments to Kathy, Ruth and Tommy; I found it easy to picture each setting and identify with each emotion and atmosphere. I had never read anything by Kazuo Ishiguro before but, given that I found it so easy to become enthralled in the depth of Never Let Me Go, I’m extremely keen to read more of his work. There’s nothing I can really say that will effectively live up to my thoughts on this book by way of a recommendation – but if you enjoy books that leave you lost in thought and questioning what you know for a long while afterwards, you should definitely give this one a go. It’s nothing short of spectacular.
Favourite quote/passage: “When I think of that moment now, standing with Tommy in the little side-street about to begin our search, I feel a warmth welling up through me. Everything suddenly felt perfect: an hour set aside, stretching ahead of us, and there wasn’t a better way to spend it. I had to really hold myself back from giggling stupidly, or jumping up and down on the pavement like a little kid. Not long ago, when I was caring for Tommy, and I brought up our Norfolk trip, he told me he’d felt exactly the same. That moment when we decided to go searching for my lost tape, it was like suddenly every cloud had blown away, and we had nothing but fun and laughter before us.”