Page Forty-Two

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Another book where I saw the movie first. While I think that was definately a mistake, it did help make sense of the book for me. However, I kept comparing it to the movie, which I loved, and felt I could have appreciated the book more had I not seen the film first.

The concept is very intriguing. A number of children are growing up at Hailsham, a seeming boarding-school in England. The children are told yet not told, know yet don't know, what their purpose in life is: to become donors until eventually they "complete." Cut off from society, fed half-truths, and raised to eliminate death in the world, none of these children fully understand how their lives have been one big lie.

Kathy H. narrates the story and looks back on her life at Hailsham, her complex relationship with friends and schoolmates Ruth and Tommy, and brings us into her current life of being a carer. She and Tommy eventually find the romance that had been hinted at throughout the novel, even during Tommy and Ruth's lengthy relationship, but realize their quest for a "deferral" in order to live as 'normal' human beings for a few years before returning as donors, is ultimately futile. Upon finding Miss Emily, the headmistress at Hailsham, she informs them deferrals do no exist and to think of themselves lucky to have been raised at Hailsham -many other 'institutions' of its kind were not as humane. Kathy H. has spent the whole book revealing the humanity and emotions of herself and others who grew up at Hailsham, and at the end we realize society has rejected this group of people and simply uses them as a means to an end.

A very engaging read, and an excellent and emotional film version.