katekintailbc | Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Reply)

Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
(Audio)

Kathy grew up in Hailsham, a boarding school full of people like her--clones who eventually grow up and donate their vital organs. This is the story of her life, from her friendships to the time when she'll start making her donations. She has a small group of "friends" at the school, among them Ruth (a complex, realistic character I never truly loved but could understand and felt sorry for or angry at) and Tommy (who was emotional and thoughtful and a good way of showing slight wrinkles in the system). It takes time for the children to understand who they are and what they're there for. There are all sorts of strange rules and customs at the school and their guardians sometimes let things slip or come right out and say things, so that eventually small things just become fact in their minds. But that doesn't mean the kids can't think for themselves either.

Kathy tells us the story a bit non-linearly at times. She jumps around throughout her time at Hailsham, going by theme instead of time. "That was before Tommy and I had that conversation" she might say. Or "I think that is why later when such-and-such happened, it finally made sense to me." She also contradicts herself a lot in the early stories, with the fortunate presence of hindsight on her side. For example, she might go on about a certain incident and say that it was completely different from how everything else was... and then she'll suddenly say that now that she looks back at it, it wasn't so different at all. You can never fully trust her words, because she doesn't always know what's going on. And the people who do know only give certain amounts of info. So you definitely get the feeling that there's more... you just can't get to it. Still, Kathy is incredibly good at remembering details and telling us, truthfully, what she remembers and what it meant. She analyzes and observes as few people can. So, of all of them, she is the best to tell the story. But it's still not the full picture.

As the story is told by Kathy, we readers are left to piece together things she doesn't understand or know about. Throughout the whole thing, I felt like there was some hidden meaning just beyond what I was getting, that I couldn't quite reach out and get to no matter how much I thought. This was a bit frustrating and a bit delightful. I enjoy books that make me work, but I like to come out of them with a sense that I figured it out at the end. And though there was a resolution of a sort and a peace that set in by the end of the book for me, I still don't think I quite got to the place in my mind where I wanted the book to force me to go. Maybe because I wanted more from her. I wanted her to wake up and realize things. I wanted her to set out on her own, just keep driving. But, by the time I got to the end, I realized she couldn't. She was exactly the way she was made. And she was made too well. Which is both beautiful and sad.

All literary analysis and deeper meanings aside, the story is a compelling one. It's full of human nature and raw emotional reaction as well as thoughtful reactions. It's full of great observations and truths revealed. I really enjoyed finding out what happened to Kathy and Ruth and Tommy (and some of the others we get to know alon the way). Kathy is honest from the start, telling us little things that happen later, allowing us to piece everything together even before it happens. But then seeing how it plays out is still a grand adventure and exploration. This is what I love about dystopians--how much they reveal about our own natures and societies. My heart hasn't ached for characters so much in a long time as it did throughout this whole book.