Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

"...you've been told and not told..."

I have to say that this book had enormous potential, and now that I've finished it I feel such a letdown.



When Miss Lucy goes off on page 81 and tells the students that no one is being honest with them about the future, that they've been told and not told, I thought how clever! The author was telling the reader something directly through a character's dialogue. I was so impressed. The entire book had been guesswork for the reader up to that point. You were given just enough information to form some assumptions about the subject of the book, and your assumptions (well, my assumptions at least) end up being correct. But your process through the book is exactly the same as the students' throughout their time at Hailsham. They learn about things before they can actually understand what they mean. The reader is the same way. In that regard, I loved how SMART this book was.

But I also hated how dumb the book was at times. For instance, the feelings between Kathy and Tommy are not believeable. I think you want Tommy and Kathy to fall in love, but all the sudden Ruth tells them they're meant to be together, they're having sex and searching for Madame. I just didn't buy it. It didn't feel sincere and it was almost insulting that the author expected their relationship (as it was developed in the book) to be enough for the reader.

I think this book had enormous potential as commentary on the moral dilemmas posed by the possibility of cloning or even lesser scientific advancements. But it fell short, and I was disappointed.