Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
17 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
“In one of the most acclaimed and strange novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewered version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now 31, “Never Let Me Go” hauntingly 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.”
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a beautifully moving and captivating novel that truly allows the reader to consider what it means to be human.
The novel’s main character, Kathy (now 31), is the readers’ guide through this dark and terrifying alternate England, allowing one into her mind and displaying her most intimate thoughts and emotions as she reminisces about her abnormal childhood and the events that followed.
As the reader watches the events of Kathy’s life unfold through her eyes, one slowly begins to see the horrific truth behind these events, and to see their dreadful purpose.
Ishiguro slowly and subtly reveals the depth of horror within the plot through beautifully composed chapters, following the thoughts and experiences of innocent and unfortunate Kathy and her friends.
Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are elegantly constructed characters who become so real and human to the reader, that they continue the flawless poignancy of the novel with seeming ease.
A gripping read from the first page to the very last; this novel will stay with me for a very long time!
