Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro [Review]

I don’t really do spoiler free reviews, but this one may allude to some particularly crucial ones so if you haven’t read Never Let Me Go, save this one and come back when you have. 

With Klara and the Sun fresh in my mind, this in many ways felt very similar to the experience I had with that book; it is written in the classic Ishiguro style; a slow burn story that isn’t especially plot heavy, written in gentle and conversational tone.

There is one key difference that stood out to me while I was reading this; Ishiguro makes some effort in the opening chapters of Klara and the Sun to define the rules of the fictional world he has created, allowing you to neatly slot the upcoming events into a storyline as they come about. In stark contrast, in Never Let Me Go these explanatory chapters are left until the very end, like a James Bond villain revealing his master plan in one big, overbearing scene. 

What Ishiguro does is intentionally leave the reader dark about what the story is about, and therefore what is relevant to the plot and what is just filler. The word clone is used in the books only once, and the blurb (in hindsight) is probably vague enough for readers to be misled. There are several terms that are unique to the world this book is set in (e.g. completing, possibles, donors and carers, etc.). This is the case in Klara and the Sun too, but the reader is given ample time in the opening chapters to process this.

I’m starting to think this would benefit from multiple readings, something like The Sixth Sense, though rereading is not something i generally do (that specific point is not exactly a criticism of the book, but more of an observation). It is unavoidable though that there are occasions where you just don’t have the necessary information to know how important a scene really is; there are several encounters between Kathy/Ruth/Tommy that, at the time of reading, could easily be disregarded as filler but resurface later as vital plot points.

This book is about love, friendship, mortality, and the human condition, disguised beneath a pseudo sci-fi filter — only, the disguise is a little too convincing, and this is part of its downfall. For me, Ishiguro’s objective of a discussion about love and friendship in the face of mortality gets muddled too much in a story about clones, which inadvertently raised too many needless logistical questions, and hindered the character development of the three main characters. I’m thinking back to my time at University, and I can imagine having to write about a text like this; if I was asked to examine the themes discussed in the book I could come up with examples and supporting evidence with some ease, but I didn’t FEEL any of them while reading the book in any natural manner. I am probably mostly to blame here of course, but Ishiguro bears some responsibility too.

From my limited reading of Ishiguro, what he does well traditionally is exactly what he does well again here, and I can understand why this is regarded by so many as a favourite. I genuinely enjoy the way he writes and I am not deterred from reading more of his work — it is a testament to someones ability when they can make it look at effortless as Ishiguro does. I like that there are generally no major twists in his books (from what I’ve read at least). The characters are natural, realistic, flawed, and (ironically) very human in some cases — I think we all know somebody like Ruth, for example. And ultimately, just as is the case in reality, there aren’t always happy endings, and in the case here there isn’t really an ending at all, and I quite like that.