Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

The book,Never Let Me Go , is billed as science fiction, but the science fiction aspect of the book is really just the background of the book.  This book is a lovely piece of literary fiction that follows three students through their lives and relationships.  It's shrouded in mystery, revealing bits and pieces of the truth of these students lives as we move through their years, ending in a complete picture.   It is written in a conversational tone and the narrator often meanders in and out of stories like she's remembering the past. To some this might be annoying, but I found it endearing.    Due to the nature of the story, revealing too much of the plot would spoil much of it.   I liked figuring out what was going on myself, and so I will give the same respect to you!  If you would like to know the plot ahead of time, then read below the line.  If not, then skip the section in between the lines!

SPOILERS

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Kathy, Ruth and Tommy are students at Hailsham.  As the story progresses we learn that they are clones, created solely as organ donors.  Through their donations, most serious diseases have been eradicated from society.   Hailsham is an innovative attempt to raise these clones with an education and a rich environment.  An attempt to prove that there is humanity in each of them.  It is a failure, as it is closed down by the end of the book.  But, for the short lives of the Hailsham students, it provides them with depth and meaning.  

Kathy is the narrator and is telling the story through her perspective.  She is a carer, someone who takes care of the donors before becoming a donor herself, and has been for a number of years.  Due to her success as a carer, she is allowed to choose her donors.  In this way, she is able to reunite with Ruth and Tommy.  The relationship between these three is complicated, like all relationships.  We are able to see their love, their hurts and forgiveness.  The book also shows that humanity is humanity.  We try to segregate groups from society, but inside we are all the same.  We all love, we all have hopes and dreams, we all have fears.

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First Line - "My name is Kathy H."

Last Line - "I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be."

Rating - (4/5)

Books read this year.