Recommended by Ryan Williams
While it is at heart a story of childhood friendship and growing up, Kazuo Ishiguro manages to thread a much darker and melancholy plotline into Never Let Me Go, expressing the importance of memories and unity throughout the terrible experiences during life.
Nominated for the Booker Prize in 2005, Ishiguro creates a novel that hooks the reader, containing gripping tension between the characters.
The plot centres around the love triangle of Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, developing from being children at Hailsham Boarding School to adults. Ever since they were young they recognised that they were different from outsiders, and only later do they learn of their roles in life as “donors.” From the narration of Kathy, a carer who has strong beliefs, the reader experiences a world full of false hope and disappointment, as told through her memories with Ruth and Tommy.
What makes this book so easy and gripping to read is the way that Ishiguro delivers information to the reader; slowly and carefully, allowing the reader to guess, but never to know until he wishes them to do so. The jumbled chronology, rather than hindering plot development and confusing the reader, adds to the plausibility of this book being Kathy’s diary, written from memory, as if she is trying to reason out her actions.
Throughout the novel there are emotional scenes of loss, nostalgia, and true friendship, whilst also having connotations of the power of servitude and control. The complicated triangle of Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, and their troublesome emotional and sexual development creates great tension in their lives, and what truly stands out in the novel in the strong connections they share and accept. Ishiguro creates a novel that accentuates the outstanding impact friends can have on a person’s life. Whilst there are incredibly sad and shocking moments, equally there are moments of great love, creating a dramatic and pleasing read.
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