Never Let Me Go

Mar 30, 2008 10:19

I’d noticed that since I finished the Masters in English I hadn’t been reading much mainstream fiction.  So, while it wasn’t a New Year’s resolution or anything, I determined to begin reading regular fiction while taking a break from sf.  My first attempt to do so was unexpectedly slightly less mainstream than I thought it would be.

I must admit ( Read more... )

book review, sf

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Comments 8

veradee March 30 2008, 14:52:45 UTC
For example, a half-page paragraph in Never Let Me Go typically uses 4-5 adjectives and adverbs total.

This alone sounds like a good argument for reading the book. I adored The Remains of the Day many years ago but have never read any of his other books.

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ubiquirk March 30 2008, 15:02:39 UTC
It's lean and simple and gorgeous.

I love the movie of The Remains of the Day, and now am keeping an eye out for the book. I must admit I'd originally pigeon-holed Ishiguro as a period-piece writer, but Never Let Me Go is set in contemporary time.

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veradee March 30 2008, 15:10:41 UTC
The Remains of the Day is split if I remember it correctly. Stevens drives through the country (almost) in the here and now and remembers what happened in the 1930ies and 40ies. Well, for me everything that takes place after 1900 is rather contemporary - I'm saying that as a reader, not as a former literature student.

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ubiquirk March 30 2008, 15:21:35 UTC
This one's definitely in the latter part of the 20th Cent, so it'll be very contemporary for you.

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electricalgwen March 30 2008, 15:39:12 UTC
Hee! I must thank you for writing such a detailed review. I haven't done a book post in a while, though I'd been accumulating a list of recs, and Never Let Me Go was on it. One reason I've been putting it off, though, is that I never seem to have time to marshal my thoughts to write suitable descriptions for each book. Now I don't have to, I can just point and say, "Uh, what she said." *g*

It is funny, that sf tag. My mother almost certainly would not have read Children of Men, even though a local book group was, if it had been labeled sf.

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ubiquirk March 30 2008, 16:05:25 UTC
I'm trying to write detailed reviews that don't ruin the reading experience and that also explore what you can get out of books as a writer.

That whole "no, this isn't sf - this is real literature" gets on my nerves.

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laiksmarei March 31 2008, 13:35:14 UTC
I find it so disheartening, the stigma attached to Sci-Fi novels. Readers practically liken it to the plague. I am very thankful that a friend introduced me to the genre as a teen.

For example, a half-page paragraph in Never Let Me Go typically uses 4-5 adjectives and adverbs total.

Sometimes so much more can be said with so little. I am a very eclectic reader and sometimes writer in that respect. Not all occasions call for flowery prose.

I shall definitely add this to my 'must read' list, after I finish my Willis books, of course. ;)

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ubiquirk April 2 2008, 00:04:33 UTC
I find it so disheartening, the stigma attached to Sci-Fi novels. Readers practically liken it to the plague.

Yes, and writers too.

I hope you enjoy!

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