Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro

“Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading.” 

Kathy is 30 years old who's reserved adult life is interrupted by her past by her two friends from school, Ruth and Tommy. They grew up in a place called Hailsham, a remote and sheltered private school which happens to be cut off from the outside world. The Hailsham students are brought up to be happy and healthy and lead to believe their perfect childhood and health will one day be of service to society. 

Kathy reflects on her life at Hailsham after rekindling her friendship with Ruth, questioning the meaning behind her own life, her determination and her complex relationship with Tommy.

Her memory starts in the classrooms at Hailsham with the rest of the school's children, where creativity and a health are encouraged and supported. The children are completely isolated but seem content enough to carry on living their lives this way as it's all they've known and see it as normal. In fact the idea of the outside world thrills them, yet terrifies them at times.

The world only gets more confusing as the Hailsham children enter young adulthood and leave the confines of the school before accepting their inescapable fate to 'serve society'.  

From left; right: Keira Knightley as Ruth, Carey Mulligan as Kathy and Andrew Garfield as Tommy in the film adaptation of Never Let Me Go

The Verdict: 

The story and tone of Never Let Me Go is so unique that it doesn't fit a specific genre. 

Kathy's passive narrative style allows the sci-fi elements of the story to blend into the background with ease, whilst the reader concentrates on the completely human side to the story.

Her relationships with both Tommy and Ruth are so different and complex to each other, yet the three are peculiarly tied together until the very end.

This novel appears as quite simple, but Ishiguro manages to tie in themes of friendship, deceit, love and death, all while exploring the meaning of life and the idea of having a soul with the story getting increasingly complex the closer you look.

Never Let Me Go was adapted into a movie, featuring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley as the main roles. It's a completely captivating and heartbreaking.

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