Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go was published to critical acclaim in 2005. It was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, and was recently adapted into a movie, staring both Keira Knightly and the fantastic Carrie Mulligan. (This was released in the UK last year, and opens on March 17th 2011 in New Zealand). However, the sci-fi tinged tale received mixed reactions from genre communities. Some loved it. Others, quite understandably, didn’t.
So what did I think?
In one way, Never Let Me Go is a deeply touching story. It follows three characters - Kathy, Tommy and Ruth - over the course of their lives, from their childhood in an exclusive boarding school to their eventual foray in the wider world. Most of the book is told from Kathy’s perspective in series of memories that seem cloying, claustrophobic, and underlain by a certain strangeness: for example, at school, students are subject to weekly medical check-ups and never speak of their families. The blurb on the back of my copy claims that the novel’s revelations are administered “as precisely as drops of acid,” and I think this is where the book’s true appeal lies - in piercing together the tale before Ishiguro divulges the truth. But of course it helps that the characters themselves are deftly drawn, complicated figures, and their desires and losses seem heartbreakingly real.
However (and this is a BIG however), the book doesn’t stand up to a reread. As soon as you move beyond the protagonists’ tangled relationships and actually think about the world Ishiguro has created, everything begins to fall apart.
It is revealed that the main characters are clones, bred for their organs. The starting date for ‘donations’ vary between individuals. For most, the first is in their early to mid 20s; death follows soon after, and very few live past 30. Although this is never clearly explained to the main characters, it is hardly hidden either. Clones are told from an early age that they are special. Before their first donation, they are even employed as carers: travelling from one hospital and rest home to another, looking after other donors. As carers, they have cars, free access to the outside world, and at least a minor income. Best of all, they can ‘pass’ as regular people. It is hard to believe that nobody would try to escape. But surely the above freedoms would only be permitted if no clone tried to evade the life laid down for them?
And this is the main problem with Ishiguro’s world. He doesn’t provide any explanation for the clones’ mass passivity to their fate. For example, there is no mention of scientific shortcomings in the cloning process which could lead to shorter lifespan. No mention of a weekly pill administered by authorities that clones are addicted to and cannot live without. No mention of how clones are policed and the general difficulties of escaping. There is nothing wrong with the main characters accepting their fate. But the suggestion that all clones would implies that there is a definable difference between clones and the humans they were modelled on, thereby unsettling the entire concept of the novel: for if the clones are not as human as they think, then why should we care about their pain?
Verdict: Deeply moving but quite flawed. 2.5/5 stars.