Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Never Let Me Go
Book Review: A page-turner for the wrong reasons
Summary: 1 Stars
Being a writer myself, I have probably a different take on this book. I expected something different, having read the back cover and having seen Remains of the Day (the film). I have not read anything of Ishiguro's before, but I didn't like his style at all. I kept turning the pages because I wanted to see if I was missing something and, besides I was reading this for a reading group. I have to say, I found the style silly and pretentious. If I wanted to read a book with a Brave New World twist, I wouldn't have chosen this one.Book Review: B R I L L I A N T
Summary: 5 Stars
There are only two I can't stop think even years after I've read them and keep urging my friends to read as well: Atonement and Never Let Me Go. I know this book's subject may be hard for some to like but I think you have to try it for yourself and see. Don't trust other people's opinions on this, because though the subject may indeed be morbid, it's the way the story is written that wins you after all. When I read the book's back cover, I was prepared that perhaps I wouldn't be able to finish it but boy was I wrong! I couldn't let it off my hands. I loved Ishiguro's writing style, the original plot and the way this book had me thinking afterwards... Please do yourself a favor and try it out, but only if you're ready for something dark, emotional and heart engaging. If you're in the mood for something light, easy, beach type reading don't come near; you'll just hate it.Book Review: this book is misery.
Summary: 1 Stars
don't read past the first paragraph unless you want a spoiler. i am still in awe that i was able to finish this book. it was nothing like the back cover described and it was very dark with very no light to balance it out. and it was really flat. dark and flat is not a good combination.
i didn't like how long it took to figure out what was going on at this boarding school. at first i was wondering if i was just ignorant of british lingo, but nope, it was indeed about growing human clones for the sole purpose of organ harvesting. i am fine with the meidcal science fiction (hey i like brave new world just as much as the next person) but the marketing here is misleading, and i guess i resent having to read this when i was expecting something else.
i am so glad this book is now a part of my past.
Book Review: Fitfully Good
Summary: 3 Stars
There's a moment in Never Let Me Go near the beginning, when Ruth invites Kath to play with her invisible horse, Bramble. "I accepted the invisible rein she was holding out," Kath says in Ishiguro's unshowy, almost titrated, prose, "and then we were off, riding up and down the fence, sometimes cantering, sometimes at a gallop. ... I don't know how long we spent with her horses that day: it felt a substantial time, and I think we both lost ourselves completely in our game." This seems to me a good enough metaphor for what any novel tries to do, and what Never Let Me Go manages to do only fitfully. The writer holds out to us the reins of an imaginary mount. Depending on the skill of the storytelling, we can either reject the offer or go along for the ride. It's an incredibly delicate spell, breakable at any moment by a lapse on either side and, once broken, rarely ever recast. Even if readers can't quite lose themselves completely in Ishiguro's game this time out, how can we not feel just as grateful next time, to saddle up behind an imagination so unbridled?Book Review: a flawed, over-cooked yet well written piece of science fiction
Summary: 4 Stars
'Never Let Me Go' is a curious piece of literature that ultimately fails yet contains many provocative elements that are deftly written (Ishiguro seemingly cannot write a bad sentence). The book takes place in the second half of this century where human cloning is permitted as a means of having a regular replacement organ supply available (for transplantation). There are camps where cloned individuals are raised for the purpose of providing organ donations which, inevitably, kills the clone. The author does a creditable job of laying out this macabre look at the future without being too obvious about it. Unfortunately I had a hard time believing that such a future would really happen. Beyond this, the author spends way too much time on the romances and heartache of clone love triangle. The characters were dull and, except for the lead character (the narrator), not well drawn. And so ultimately I didn't know if Ishiguro was writing a story about confused individuals suffering from constipated emotions or a story about the dangers of human cloning.
Bottom line: kind of interesting, weird and messy. Perhaps best left to Ishiguro fans.