Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro REVIEW
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- Опубликовано: 18 авг 2023
- If ever there was a book you MUST read before watching the movie!
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Развлечения
I’ll never let you go book scientist.
I've been waiting for you to get to this one! I think you should re-read the book in a couple years, I've been rereading it every few years and it just gets better and better. I think the flat boring aspects of the book are purposeful, to create a kind of contrast with the horror of the slow reveal of what's actually going on. It makes the kids seem like just normal kids with their normal childlike concerns, which really aren't very interesting. I think you're right that the book is not overtly political at all, but when you find out just what the whole art show is about, and how there are certain people who are trying to help these children, to get others to see them as "actually human", you see it's making a statement about the indifference of most people, and how a certain few will fight for what is right but will typically fail. That's I guess political in an indirect way. I find myself incredibly moved by the children later in the book -- first, when one of them thinks she has spotted her "possible" (I believe it's called). That's such a beautiful and brutal way to show the need people have for connection, for knowing where they came from, what they are a part of. And then I find the dignity with which they meet their fate at the end so moving, and in a remarkable way inspiring. It's the strangest kind of positive note with which to end a book.
Love your reply
Thank you Dan - I really appreciate the comment and you make very valid points!
I read this book years ago, so my memory isn't crystal clear anymore, but I remember that it made me cry, yet didn't really convince me. Spoiler ahead: my main issue with the plot is, as sad as it is, it doesn't make sense to me that a society that is so technologically advanced they are able to produce clones wouldn't be able to produce organs needed for organ donations without the middlemen. I'm not normally one to look for logical flaws or to mind them very much, but in this case, it irritated me a lot.
Thank you for an eloquent analysis of the book, which was free from spoilers. Great content as always!
Spoilers:
I agree that, while Never Let Me Go can be read as a dystopian novel, the setting is far too vague to strongly support such a reading. I think that we're meant to relate to the characters on a far more personal level.
At first, we might be shocked that they only get to live such short lives, and we wonder what the point of all the art classes and the "gallery" is. Then we realize that our own lives are also quite short and painful, and that a lot of us try to find meaning in life through art.
It seems obscene that the characters are not only harvested, but that they also have to provide palliative care for each other during the process. Then again, we're in basically the same situation when we care for a dying relative in the real world. When we wonder what the point of the art classes in the novel is, we're also asking what the point of pursuing art in general is. And just like in the novel, few people even have the luxury of asking themselves that question. (The information that most clones in the novel live in abject conditions comes as a final disillusioning blow.)
A few scenes stood out to me in Never Let Me Go:
1) The one where the children greet Madame at the school and she gives them a disgusted look.
2) The one where Tommy's teacher says that she regrets not encouraging him to improve his art.
3) The one where Kathy and Tommy find out the truth about the gallery, and that it won't grant them more time together.
Scene 1) is interesting especially because Madame really cares about the children, but cannot hide her disgust. I've felt the same whenever I've given money to a malodorous homeless person. Ishiguro himself, if I remeber correctly, mentioned that comparison to homeless people in an interview: how we might feel morally bound to help someone without being able to hide our disgust. (I'm certain, however, that there are people - people better than me - whose altruism is completely selfless, to the point where they only see the humanity in the hypothetical homeless person and not their shabby clothes.)
Scene 2) speaks to the importance of art in our life. Tommy's teacher feels so sorry for the children that she tells them more than she's supposed to. She knows that the gallery is pointless and therefore lets Tommy ignore his art. It's only later that she realizes that she might've actually made his life worse for it. I'm not sure what made her change her mind. Maybe she thinks that she should have given him more hope to make his life more bearable (he was going to die soon either way, after all). Or maybe she thinks that the art works would've been a nice memory for him. The latter would also speak to the novel's theme of memory in general. Memory is a great comfort for Kathy, as exemplified, in my opinion, by how many details she can recall about her classes and the items she used to own.
Scene 3) contradicts scene 2) in a way. Kathy and Tommy realize that the gallery, i.e. all of the greatest art the school children had produced, will not help their situation in any way. It reminds me of how Tolstoy later in life kind of said that War and Peace (which happens to feature prominently in Never Let Me Go) and Anna Karenina aren't worth reading, although that was due to his religious views, so this is more of a personal connection for me. In any case I think that a lot of people will try to consult great art works to find meaning in life, or at least some guidance, only to ask themselves later on what they really gained from it. Personally, I mainly read novels to learn how to navigate life, and Never Let Me Go seemed to painfully reflect the doubt I sometimes feel as to whether I will get anything meaningful out of it. The goal of the gallery in the novel, trying to prove that the clones have souls, also makes me think of art in terms of redemption: how humans try to transcend their lives through creating something beautiful. I'd have to reread the novel to see if there's more to it than that.
I think the same complaints would apply to every Ishiguro novel I've read. The all have a painfully slow middle that feels like a bit of a punishment if you are in a hurry. It's not complicated either, it's kind of long with not much happening for a long time. At the same time it's nice if you aren't in a hurry and thinking about your TBR pile. This was my favorite of his and I felt this one was worth it in the end.
LOVE this book
you're absolutely right about approaching the book without spoilers! in my case, i had watched the movie. i LOVED the movie! then when i read the book, it left me with an underwhelming feeling. i don't know, but book Kathy seemed a little cold compared to movie Kathy, and movie Ruth felt like a character with more depth. even the relationship between Kathy and Tommy seemed more intense to me in the movie. but, for reference, i watched the movie when i was 15 and read the book when i was 24, so maybe my teenage brain did something there to enhance the romance haha
i still think the book is really good! and i liked that it didn't feel like science fiction, i mean the locations (the school, the cottages, the towns). and the vocabulary was very interesting too (euphemisms such as "completion" for death).
have a good day!
I couldn't agree more with you. I've loved every other book by Ishiguro I've read (The Buried Giant and An Artist of the Floating World being my favourites), but this one was a bit disappointing for me. I still haven't read Klara and the Sun because of it, I feel they might be quite similar
Excellent!
Never disagreed more with one of your reviews :/ for me its my fav Ishiguro by far. Hopefully you can reread it in the future and get to see its brilliance and why its often considered his best… if not then well we all got those books we cant rly connect to and everyone seems to love (im looking at you Gatbsy
The Buried Giant is magical. Darkly.
I enjoy your reviews…please keep them up✅. Your point about the plot being digressive reflects how life itself is digressive. It’s so easy to miss crucial details when life keeps coming at you. This book devastated me and boosted the admiration I already have for the author. 🌿🌿🌿
Hi, I hope you're doing good. I have just subscribed to your channel and went through certain videos of yours. Just wanted to get life update from you as where in career have you headed after your PhD?
Thank you for watching! I have left academia at the moment, and I work in publishing :)
@@TheBookchemist good. Best of luck.
i’d say i’m a fairly patient reader who isn’t bored easily, but this book was a tedious slog
Hey, if you enjoyed david foster wallace, thomas pynchon, michael chabon, you will also like Mark Leyner. I like him so much so I try not to tell people about him so I can "own" him sort of... hahahaha. But with you, I really wanted to share it.
Also i like Ishiguro's The Remains of the day. Please try while ur at it!
It's a metaphor about the effects of neoliberalism, just look at the time settings, on the coming generations
I found it boring and the characters unengaging. The twist was unoriginal, I had read a YA novel in school and watched one or two movies with the same premise. The moral question raised is the same as in Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”. Very disappointing read, especially since I absolutely loved The Remains of the Day
I absolutely agree. The style of the book is very strange, and I couldn't get into the plot.
Read it 15 years ago. Boring as hell. Can’t remember a thing and it put me off reading any more Ishiguro 😞
I read this many years ago for university and didn't like it. At the time, my suspension of disbelief was simply not there; the premise didn't seem at all acceptable. However, your comparison of the kid's situation to battery farming gives me pause. With that in mind, the novel clearly says something about the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality we in the western hemisphere in particular have. On the other hand, that's hardly revolutionary.
Maybe the novel isn't as bad as I remember it being, but it seems overrated to me all the same. Maybe I should reread it sometime to make sure. It is rather short, after all.
This one was ok. Think I got Kazuo Ishiguro and Haruki Murakami confused.
God i hated this book so much. So boring. 0 likeable characters. Not engaging. No interesting ideas being introduced. Bland. Bland. Bland. Bland. 🥱
I felt this way about Saramago’s Blindness.