Never Let Me Go
I really enjoyed Kazuo Ishiguro's "An Artist of a Floating World" because of the subtle and understated way he dealt with issues, and how accurately he expressed Japanese voice in English. Never Let Me Go is another low-key novel that contains careful characterisation and extremely realistic depiction of human interaction, as well as a slowly revealed sinister setting. I recommend reading this book without any foreknowledge of its story.
The first-person narration with frequent digressions I found distracting at times, and the pace was fairly slow - Never Let Me Go is definitely literary rather than genre fiction. I do like that everything was explained at the end though.
Big spoilers follow...
I knew in advance that the kids were organ donors, so I was relieved when it was stated outright at the end of the first third. Hints and been dropped, most intriguingly the non-capitalisation of "donation" and "completion", which suggested that such concepts were better known than the "Sale" or the "Exchange". I was surprised by the final revelation that Kathy and friends existed in a parallel timeline, that the farming of clones for organs was widely accepted, and that Hailsham, rather than being a sinister place to keep clones until they were ready, was part of a political campaign to recognise their humanity.
The characters were really well described: the way they hurt each other and made up in such oblique ways, Ruth's relentless social climbing and domination of the group, Tommy's awkwardness and inner frustration, Kathy's adoption of countless unmentioned sexual partners. The ending is very sad: Kathy imagining all the lost things of her childhood, accumulating amongst rubbish in Norfolk, including her too-late romance with Tommy.
I suppose that we ultimately must meet the same fate that the characters do.
The first-person narration with frequent digressions I found distracting at times, and the pace was fairly slow - Never Let Me Go is definitely literary rather than genre fiction. I do like that everything was explained at the end though.
Big spoilers follow...
I knew in advance that the kids were organ donors, so I was relieved when it was stated outright at the end of the first third. Hints and been dropped, most intriguingly the non-capitalisation of "donation" and "completion", which suggested that such concepts were better known than the "Sale" or the "Exchange". I was surprised by the final revelation that Kathy and friends existed in a parallel timeline, that the farming of clones for organs was widely accepted, and that Hailsham, rather than being a sinister place to keep clones until they were ready, was part of a political campaign to recognise their humanity.
The characters were really well described: the way they hurt each other and made up in such oblique ways, Ruth's relentless social climbing and domination of the group, Tommy's awkwardness and inner frustration, Kathy's adoption of countless unmentioned sexual partners. The ending is very sad: Kathy imagining all the lost things of her childhood, accumulating amongst rubbish in Norfolk, including her too-late romance with Tommy.
I suppose that we ultimately must meet the same fate that the characters do.