Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
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- sleepydumpling
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Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
I felt like I was back in school, reading the minutae of childhood squabbles. It really bored me rigid.
But to think the same author wrote The Remains of the Day which is a fantastic book!
- sleepydumpling
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Another book in a similar vein is Kafka on the Shore.
- megustaleer
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I found the first few chapters of this book really irritating. There is obviously 'something' that Kathy is taking for granted that we are not party to, and I was full of questions that no-one was answering... What was 'Hailsham'? If they were 'students', why did they have 'guardians', not teachers? Why were they so happy to buy the bits of second-hand junk from the 'sales'. Why was there no mention of parents or siblings? Why did they have no contact with the outside world (that seemed really weird in our 'communication age'; they never watched TV or listened to the radio)? Why were they so reliant on each other? etc.
Most of the problems I had were because of the way I was reading the book - two paragraphs, or two pages at most, and I fell asleep. Once the weather got too hot to work in the garden I read larger chunks, and the story began to take shape. However, I see that others also found it difficult at first.
Anyway, the questions were gradually answered, and the horrifying truth slowly emerged.
I never wondered why they didn't run away. Run away from Hailsham? Why? They were happy there, they knew nothing else, what alternatives did they have? By the time they got to 'The Cottages', they had been so long on the conveyor belt to 'donating' until they 'completed' that they welcomed it.
It's quite a scary book, because modern scientific developments could make this possible in an almost forseeable future. There must be a point somewhere between Bush's position (Vetoing Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding) and the Hailsham -and worse- style cloning, where a line should be drawn. But will we recognise it in time?
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- book_reader
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This borders somewhere on science-fiction and yet not so much. I did have questions like Why they didn't run away, but I never got a satisfying answer.
I have also read Remains of the day and Artist of the floating world, and I liked 'Never...' is better than 'Artist..'.
- blushingmilk
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- Fran
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Couldn't agree with you more ... he's awesomeChocky222 wrote:this is a most extraordinary book by the extraordinarily talented Kazuo Ishiguro. You would hardly believe that the author of this book is the same author of the brilliant Remains of the Day. I envy you if you have not read either of these, as you have fantastic reads awaiting.....I cannot imagine that anyone could fail to be overwhelmed with either of them.......I cannot stop telling people about them....absolutely brilliant![/b]
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- StephenKingman
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Chocky222 wrote:......can only think that your literary taste must be totally different to mine. Find it incredible that ANYONE could think this boring! Horrifying and depressing maybe. Perhaps you are much younger than me and don't yet appreciate the reality of your own death. I think that this is what the book is about, as well as the way that we all look at life and how we use people.
I wallow in existential thought just like everyone else.
In fact, this hits me so hard everyday that I think I may be depressed.
Not good.
- Fran
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Mike I think you are thinking of a different book ... there are definitely no vampires in Never Let Me Go. It is IMO a great book but I am a great fan of Kazuo Ishiguro. I know the movie is on release but I would strongly recommend reading the book before you watch the film but without spoiling it I can't tell you why ..... suffice it to say the theme is original, thought provoking & indeed scary.StephenKingman wrote:I might put this one on my TBR list as i dont usually read vampire novels and i saw the original Swedish movie recently and it was quite good..
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