Never Let Me Go

by Kazuo Ishiguro | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 1400043395 Global Overview for this book
Registered by napper of Brooklyn, New York USA on 1/10/2006
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8 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by napper from Brooklyn, New York USA on Tuesday, January 10, 2006
I will write more when I have time, but suffice it to say I thought this book was over-hyped. It was selected for my real-world book club. It was on the Times list of best books for 2005. I thought the narrative was clunky. My book club members loved it.

However, I will say the author captured childhood/adolescent pathos perfectly!

I started this bookring so I could hear from other BC'ers and then re-read it when I get it back to see if my perspective is different.

Journal Entry 2 by napper from Brooklyn, New York USA on Tuesday, January 10, 2006
This is off to ibis3 in Canada!

Journal Entry 3 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Thursday, January 19, 2006
Got this in the post today. Though the book was in fine shape, the envelope had a huge hole (big enough for me to pull the book through!). I hope there was nothing else in the package, napper.

Looking forward to giving you my opinions about it.

Journal Entry 4 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Saturday, January 21, 2006
So the first thing you'll notice, napper, is that I agree with you about the book being not as good as advertised. I didn't find the narrative clunky (I generally like books that are able to go back and forth in time while still relating a cohesive narrative). But there were a few major problems that really dragged this down for me.

Before I get to that, I'm going to give a few comments that can be read without spoiling the plot. First, I don't usually comment on cover art, but this time, I have to--what in the world does the photo have to do with the story? I'm sure they could have come up with something better & more relevant. This book was a little bit like A Handmaid's Tale and a little bit like The Rapture of Canaan, but not as well executed as either. At one point I caught an allusion to another book, but I can't now remember what it was and don't really want to bother going back to look for it.

OK, here goes my commentary about the book. I've done it in white font, so just highlight to see it.

I don't know if the whole cloning as organ donation fodder thing was supposed to be a surprise, but I figured that part out within the first few pages. Until I was about halfway through I was enjoying it. It seemed like the author was giving us layers of story that would be all tied together by the end. It was very compelling--I had started reading and didn't want to stop. It felt like there were revelations to come (aside from the clone/donor thing which was rather obvious). Then, just over the half way point, I started to get bored and restless. Enough, already! Okay, so we get another incident, and then another, and they get really dragged out unnecessarily. Still, I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, and wait for the gathering of all of these elements together.

Which never really happened! I really felt like, well, let's use an image from the story. You remember when she talks about the clown with the balloons? It seemed like someone was blowing up balloons, one by one & tying a string to each one. But the balloons *never* got tied together into a bunch! That was the big disappointment for me. I got to the end and said "okay, so what?" We found out nothing that we didn't already know by the mid-way point. The big revelation is just a confirmation?

And just a quick note on the characters--I'm not sure that Kathy was given a feminine enough voice. There was something missing, or she was kind of shallow (especially for a first-person narrator), I don't know. The whole attitude about sex seemed off, too. Was that supposed to be because she was a clone (i.e. not normal), because of the education they received, or was she supposed to seem normal, but the author didn't pull it off? I'm not really sure. I guess the same goes for the characters' attitudes towards donation. Is the blasé attitude because they're clones, because of the education/indoctrination? I guess it just didn't make sense to me that despite all the talk about deferrals and such, no character ever attempted to escape or resist (not even rumors of any such attempts).

And I won't even begin to take apart the whole underlying assumptions of the plot--cloning complete human beings and raising them in boarding schools (or other less savoury places) to be organ donors? Yeah. Right. That makes sense.

ETA: I forgot to mention something else--the Madame and Miss Emily characters were jarringly unrealistic and cartoonish (comic bookish?) at the end.


ETA: Reading Navig8r's review, I found myself tripping again over the name Hailsham. Every time I saw it mentioned in the book, my brain kept wanting it to be Havisham (as in Great Expectations). So I took a minute to parse the word & lo, I figured something out. Hail=hale or healthy & sham=pretending to be what it's not.

Journal Entry 5 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Friday, January 27, 2006
Sent to Navig8r today surface mail.

Journal Entry 6 by Navig8r from -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Saturday, February 18, 2006
The book arrived this morning. I actually have another bookring in front of it that arrived while I was away for a week, so there might be a delay in me getting to this one.

What I will do is post a JE with my comments without reading Ibis3's comments: that way you can get my 'pure' opinion, unfettered by picking up on what someone else has written. Once I've done that I'll read Ibis3's notes and see if I agree.

I'm looking forward to this one...

Journal Entry 7 by Navig8r from -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Firstly, let me apologise for keeping the book so long. I only just finished it today. Life just got in the way.

I will try to put my comments in white (highlight to read) but if it doesn't work, scroll down to avoid spoilers.

I should say that to start with, I enjoy reading books of this nature: those with a take on how different society could be. The book instantly reminded me of A Handmaid's Tale, like Ibis3, but also slightly of Oryx and Crake. Ultimately I think Ishiguro used both of these books as inspiration.

I do enjoy Ishiguro's writing: this is the fourth I have read by him. I'm a fan of his quiet, unprepossessing narrative style. And for someone who is not a girl, he picks up the female voice well. I also thought he captured the dilemmas of youth and interaction with school friends very well - it really came across how people in school blow things out of all proportion, use their active imaginations to cling to some kind of alternative reality etc. Kathy reminded me of myself, a little bit: she came across as shy, but also not desperately afraid to confront people. And I think every school has it's Ruth (some much worse than her) - someone who effectively runs the show. Who is in charge of the games, etc etc.

I thought the tension built up nicely - I found myself wondering the obvious questions like how they got to the school, why they were there, why there seemed to be no mention of any family at all. Ultimately I feel as though the book was really about searching - searching for your own personal roots and reality amidst a world which you don't fully understand. I'm sure most people could relate to Ruth's struggle to find 'herself' through another individual she was in some way related to.

The Kathy/Tommy love story was just a little too predictable, though, IMHO. It was pretty obvious from the start that there was something special between them, and that Ruth was jealous. I didn't find it at all surprising that Kathy followed Ruth's advice and found Tommy again.

I did care about Kathy, but when she became Ruth's carer I started to dislike her for the way she treated Ruth: she was in a position of so much more power at that point, than Ruth had ever had over her when they were children. There was no need for her to taunt Ruth, especially when she knew she wanted to find some notion of why/how about Hailsham.

For me, the most sympathetic character was Tommy. I couldn't help liking him - he seemed the most sensitive, even though he wasn't narrating.

I felt as though the end was tied up too promptly, too neatly - it was like Ishiguro just ran out of pages and thought 'Right, I'd better come up with some answers'. I also didn't appreciate how the notion of time got lost half way through the novel. Until the end of the cottages phase, we had regular ideas about how fast things were progressing. After that it was so much more vague and I had trouble picturing the characters in my head. When I really thought about it I felt like they would have been around 30 when Ruth died but i have no way of knowing. At the beginning Kathy states she has been a carer for 11 years - but that would mean that she was looking back from an age of around 29 at most. I don't know, but something just didn't hang together for me - too much appeared to have happened.

I enjoyed the language; the way Ishiguro picks up on the language of pre-teens and teens is a joy. 'This boy' instead of 'a boy', for example. It's exactly how I used to speak when I was at school.

So, overall, not as strong as Remains of the Day, but still a really enjoyable read for me. I agree though, that in terms of the subject-matter and flow of story, The Handmaid's Tale was better. Much better.


I have PM'd the next person for their address - as soon as I have it, I will pass the book on.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, napper, and I hope you've found my comments to be at least a little bit useful.

Journal Entry 8 by KiwiWonder from Auckland, Auckland Province New Zealand on Tuesday, July 11, 2006
This (highly anticipated!) book turned up in the mail yesterday. I have one other bookring to finish first (though I'm almost done with it) and then will move straight onto this.

Due to the fact that I could go into labour at any time now, I'm also PM'ing the person next in line after me, now (rather than waiting til I'm finished) so that everything can be sorted ahead of time, and if necessary, DH can drop the book in the mail when I've finished reading :-)

Journal Entry 9 by Jaycee1972 from Belper, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Monday, November 6, 2006
Received a couple of days ago. Thanks.

Journal Entry 10 by Jaycee1972 from Belper, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, November 21, 2006
I enjoyed reading this but like some others, I liked the first half of the book better. I felt like Kathy was older by the end of the book from the tone of her character than she could gave been. I also felt like some areas of the story required more explanation and detail. I have questions! I will look out for other books by this author as I liked the writing style for the most part.
Have lisa's address and will post this week. Thanks for starting this ring.


Journal Entry 11 by LisaGriffith from Cambridge, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Thanks Jaycee! I received the book in the mail and it's third in line. Books are moving pretty quickly during the holiday season so it shouldn't be long before the book is travelling again.

Journal Entry 12 by LisaGriffith from Cambridge, Massachusetts USA on Saturday, March 24, 2007
Interesting book. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on but at the end I found it left me with some interesting thoughts regarding stem-cells and the future. Book is now on its way to karenlea. Thanks for sharing napper!

Journal Entry 13 by Karenlea from Glendale, California USA on Sunday, April 1, 2007
Caught!!! I will be able to start it this week. Thank you for sharing!!!

Journal Entry 14 by Karenlea from Glendale, California USA on Tuesday, April 10, 2007
This is my first book by Ishiguro and I really enjoyed it. I didn't know anything about it going in and had no expectations. Even though the cloning thing wasn't exactly a surprise, I found the moral complexity to be interesting. I also liked some of the mystery aspects of the book- such as the madame/ art gallery thing. I was interested in the characters and overall found the book to be very compelling.

I had no luck in contacting in next participant, it seems that she is no longer active in Book Crossing. I am skipping to the last participant on the list and this book will be mailed off to Norway tomorrow. Thank you to Napper for sharing!!!

Journal Entry 15 by Kaleidoblikk from Sandnes, Rogaland fylke Norway on Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Arrived safe all along the way across the Atlatic Ocean! Looking foreward to read this!!

Journal Entry 16 by Kaleidoblikk from Sandnes, Rogaland fylke Norway on Wednesday, April 25, 2007
This is not a book I will remember for long, at least I don't think so.
I found the book extremely easy to read, it didn't really bore me; but it sure didn't erase any emotions in me either!
I don't think the author manages what it seems to me he tries to with this book: There are so many topics here that he could/should have treated more thorough. I think the book raise many important and touchy questions, but does not treat them as they - with their highly actuality - deserve.That goes for both the ethic/moral - but also for the "inbetweenhumanthing" (of course these two issues are mixed as in life). Also I think the story and the stories could have been very tender and sad and emotional, but I barely felt empathy with the characters, as if they weren't real (usually I am easily touched by books). And we know that all characters in book are for real, yeah? c" ,)

PS: I beg to be excused for my english; it's many years since I practised it by writing (also talking - other than as a tourist). I feel that both the grammar and the lack of a decent vocabulary in many ways stops me to express what I would like "to put down in words" (tji-hi; stole that one from Elton John) about this book.

Thanks for letting me join this ring, napper! I will send it back to you by airmail tomorrow! c" ,)

Journal Entry 17 by napper from Brooklyn, New York USA on Monday, July 9, 2007
Its back! Thanks to all who participated. I just read through everyone's comments. We'll see if I am motivated enough to try it again!!

Journal Entry 18 by napper from Brooklyn, New York USA on Sunday, July 22, 2007
My bookshelves are getting ridiculously crowded, so I have to be more ruthless in my trimming. Since I didn't enjoy this much, I am sending it off through paperbackswap.

Enjoy the book, and enjoy Bookcrossing - this book has made quite a few long journeys!

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