Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

[sleepydumpling]

Did anyone here actually like this book? I hated it so much! I only read it all the way through because it was a book club choice, and a friend of mine chose it, so I really wanted to read it for her sake. But I got to the end and felt like I wanted to demand the time I wasted on it back.

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!

[kano]

Now I'm curious... The Remains of the Day is the only book I've read by Ishiguro, and I thought it was great. I sort of want to read Never Let Me Go just to compare.

[sleepydumpling]

It's funny, some people seem to love it, and I cannot fathom why, LOL. I can't see what it has going for it, but it was nominated for the Man Booker Prize...

[islanderbookworm]

I haven't yet read this one - but did read The Unconsoled. I've got Never Let Me Go on my shelf, but don't want to read it unless I've got someone to talk to about. Unconsoled left my mind swimming for weeks after without any way to confirm if I'd understood what I'd read.

Another book in a similar vein is Kafka on the Shore.

[megustaleer]

These were my thoughts after I read Never let Me Go last summer. Some of the other members of BookgroupOnline found it difficult to understand why Kathy & co just accepted their lives as 'donors', and didn't try to run away. It promoted some interesting discussion.

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]

This was my first Ishiguro book and I liked it. I read it quite some time back, so don't remember much of it.

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]

Ive been wanting to read it for a while and now that you've reminded me I'm going to read it and tell you what I think. [/i]

[Stoyk]

are 'the remains' and 'never..' identical writings? i enjoyed reading 'never..', is 'the remains' worth reading?

[Chocky222]

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]

[Fran]

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]

Couldn't agree with you more ... he's awesome

[Bmsb6f]

I've only read Never Let Me Go.


It bored me. Yes, I did feel somewhat melancholic for the characters at the

end. But overall, completely forgettable.

[Chocky222]

......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.

[StephenKingman]

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..

[Bmsb6f]

......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]

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..

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.