Kazuo Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go

This was not what I was expecting from Kazuo having read The Remains of the Day some time ago. You could call this book science-fiction but it wouldn’t give it justice. Even though the world portrayed here isn’t real it does feel as if it was. To just say that the book talks about cloning would be very unfair too.

If you’ve read The Remains of the Day you know the beautiful style of Kazuo’s writing – it is the same here. As you go through the slow paced and incredibly descriptive pages of the book you see all the places as if you were there, you like or dislike the people as if you’ve known them for ages. It’s definitely not the kind of book that you read very quickly to get to the end, it is a book you read slowly, enjoying the beauty of every single page. Which is probably why I haven’t posted anything here for a while...

So what would our lives look like if we were clones, or “students” as they’re called here, created only to provide organs for other people? We grow in a glass tube, then spend our early years in a farm until we are ready to become donors. Would anyone care about what happens to us in those early years before we are ready to serve the purpose we were brought to the world for more than we care about chickens for example? In Kazuo’s world the “students” are given a proper childhood, with education, friendship, love, rules that keep things in order and future they dream about. The only thing they do not know about is that their future has already been written and they have no chance of starting a family or getting an office job.

It is a truly scary vision and you do start to wonder if this will become a reality in future. Can a human take the right to become God and give life to people but not give them the right to live like people? Do the clones have souls like we do or are they just our back-up organs in human bodies? I do ask these questions to myself but the book doesn’t at all. It’s not a point of view on cloning, it just paints one possible way things could take and lets you live in this world for a while. Sad but beautiful world nonetheless. But I bet it will raise lots of questions in your head too once you’ve finished reading it.

I have really enjoyed reading Never Let Me Go, the subject of the book is disturbing though interesting, the characters are complex but clearly identifiable, the childhood at Hailsham seems so joyful. And I love the language Kazuo uses – simple but how beautiful. All this will stay in my head for a while I suppose.

And I think it's time to add The Unconsoled to my waiting list - it's been on my shelf for years now but always scared me away by its length. Given the varying reviews it got I think it may we worth a try!

My rating: YYYYY