Never Let Me Go book review

This is a book review on Never Let Me Go although before I go ahead with this review, I must say that I studied this book in English and had some spoilers going into it from my teacher. Therefore my experience with this novel my be different to yours. I tried to keep spoilers here to a minimum but there will be some minor ones.

Never Let Me Go is a book about a group of three students: Kathy, Ruth and Tommy growing up in a twisted reality like our own but as the book goes on you realise how alien it really is. It explores the ideas of friendship, love, death and our human nature, so on the whole, a pretty hard hitting book. It is written by Kazuo Ishiguro a Japanese born English writer who is known for books like 'The Remains of the Day'.

This book does not push the intricacies of the story into your face, but is subtle much like our own lives. The relationships develop in this book in a way that gives the characters more than one aspect and leads along with the narrator Kathy as you try to figure out whether you like someone or not. You can really appreciate this fact once you have watched the film, which goes out of its way to let you know THIS IS A LOVE TRIANGLE OK, unlike the book in which this aspect of the story is a layer which is not pushed down your throat but is one of the many shades that make this book whole.

However, at some points in the book my immersion was broken by some really obvious metaphors that did not fit what was actually going on in the story at that point in time. It was like Kazuo really wanted to have a certain image in the book but couldn't think of a good place to put it in, so he just awkwardly shoved it in. Fortunately, this is easy to look past and so did not present too much of a problem.

One thing you can give Ishiguro though, is that he understands humans better than many people, if not most. This makes the characters feel grounded as they go through the complex emotions that you experience when you are growing up and going throughout the rest of your life. You can understand why a character would do something and relate to them. Unfortunately, some people don't come to stories to see a perfect reflection of life but one with characters that break the norm and fight back against injustice. If you count yourself as among those, then this book may not be a good fit for you but then again this kind of writing might be the holy grail to someone that likes these aspects in a book.

This is the three characters in the film of Never Let Me Go.

With these relatable characters it is impossible not to be moved to some degree by certain moments although different people will be moved by different parts of the book depending on how your life has unfolded. For example people with less life experience like me at 14 years old, some bits won't be as poignant. There is a heavy theme of caring running through the book and for someone like me who has had the luck of not having to care for someone, will find it less powerful.

My final word of warning is that there are some pretty explicit points in this book and the subject of sexuality is a thing that returns time and time again. So if that would make you uncomfortable, I suggest that you don't read this book but pick up one of a plethora of other great novels (like Of Mice and Men).

Overall, if this book sounds good from what you have read above, I definitely recommend sitting down, getting comfortable and then giving Never Let Me Go a go.