Never Let Me Go - Review

Title: Never Let Me Go
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Source: Library

From the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, a moving new novel that subtly reimagines our world and time in a haunting story of friendship and love.

As a child, Kathy – now thirty-one years old – lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.

And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed – even comforted – by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood–and about their lives now.


My thoughts:

Lately we have been hanging out at my friend's house on Friday nights - they are simple, involving music, wine, scotch, assorted snack items.  Conversation is wildly varied - video games, to work, to music, and maybe even sometimes books.  A couple of weeks ago, I made the comment that I hate science fiction, hate it loathe it will never read it.  I will fantasy, but not science fiction. Bleh. If it has a plot that relies on technology, or god forbid, takes place in space, don't even tell me about it. I am that close minded. Lol.

So my friend challenged me to read this book, which is classified as science fiction. But I beg to differ - I didn't think it was necessarily science fiction.  Maybe that is because I liked it though.

I also really really happen to love books that are set at a boarding school or university. This book begins with Kathy and her friends and fellow students living an idyllic life in the middle of the English countryside.  They are encouraged to be creative; they even shows where they can purchase artistic works by the other students.  You know though, that something is wrong, and is not as picture perfect as it may seem.  The teachers, or Guardians, sometimes hint to the students about their future, what they will learn, what they should learn now even maybe.

And you do find out what the secret is, pretty early on. This didn't make me less interested, it actually made me wonder if things were about to change. The main character, Kathy, is a thinker and an observer.  Maybe she is going to change their future, maybe things will be different.  I don't want to give much away, so I won't say.

I am interested to know what any of you who have read this thought - science fiction or no? What did you think of the ending?