Name: Doug Belshaw's review of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Item: Never Let Me Go
Rating: 4.5
Author: Doug Belshaw

Kazuo Ishiguro

*Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel Klara and the Sun is now available to preorder* One of the most acclaimed novels of the 21st Century, from the Nobel Prize-winning author Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life. 'Exquisite.' Guardian 'A feat of imaginative sympathy.' New York Times What readers are saying: 'A book I will return to again and again, and one that keeps me thinking even after finishing it. 5/5 stars' 'I loved it, every single word of it.' 'It took me wholly by surprise.' 'Utterly beautiful.' 'Essentially perfect.'

Never Let Me Go

A reunion with two childhood friends draws Kathy and her companions on a nostalgic odyssey into their lives at Hailsham, an isolated private school in the English countryside, and a confrontation with the truth about their childhoods.

Helen 

I was thinking about the rubbish, the flapping plastic in the branches, the shore-line of odd stuff caught along the fencing, and I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything Id ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field, and gradually get larger until Id see it was Tommy, and he'd wave, maybe even call. The fantasy never got beyond that- I didn't let it - and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasn't sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was Supposed to be.

Because maybe, in a way, we didn't leave it behind nearva much as we might once have thought. Because somewhe underneath, a part of us stayed like that: fearful of the wotla around us, and - no matter how much we despised our selves for it - unable quite to let each other go.

Jillian Roberts

“I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water trying to hold onto each other. Holding on as hard as they can. But in the end, it’s just too much. The current is too strong. They’ve got to let go; drift apart. That’s how I think it is with us.”

Anushree Taparia

that there are people out there, like Madame, who dominate our lives. don't hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you - of how you were brought into this world and why - and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs. The first time you glimpse yourself through the eyes of a person like that, is a cold moment. It's like walking past a mirror you've walked past every day of your life, and suddenly it shows you something else, something troubling and strange.

In one of the most acclaimed and original novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewered version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never let me go hauntingly dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School, and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never let me go is charged throughout with a sence of the fragility of life.

Stavros Kosmas

It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to

I think of my pile of old paperbacks, their pages gone wobbly, like they'd once belonged to the sea. 

So you're waiting, even if you don't quite know it, waiting for the moment when you realise that you really are different to them; that there are people out there, like Madame, who don't hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you - of how you were brought into this world and why - and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs. The first time you glimpse yourself through the eyes of a person like that, it's a cold moment. It's like walking past a mirror you've walked past every day of your life, and suddenly it shows you something else, something troubling and strange. 

Denisse Garcia Ramírez 

Most importantly, we demonstrated to the world that if students were reared in humane, cultivated environments, it was possible for them to grow to be as sensitive and intelligent as any ordinary human being.

You said it was because your art would reveal what you were like. What you were like inside. That’s what you said wasn’t it? Well, you weren’t far wrong about that. We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.

Emiley Jones

Doug Belshaw

I read “The Buried Giant” a couple years ago and I learned that it was Ishiguro’s only book in 3rd person, so I thought to myself, ‘his other books must be better.’ This one wasn’t. Ishiguro writes incredibly staggered, with this quiet cadence I could not latch onto at all. His characters read like poor imitations of Wes Anderson creations, flat dialogue and no emotion (which was strange for a book lauded to be tender and all about relationships!). I liked Madam’s spider-vision, I liked Madam watching Kathy dance, what I did not like, and I’ll tell you soon what that is, was how every couple paragraphs out narrator would preface that they were about to say something and then say that  thing. It happened far too often to be enjoyable, maybe once is enough but even that is pushing it. Klara and the Sun has such a pretty, red cover I want to read it next but now I’m scared!

Eli Alvah Huckabee

Chris Dailey

Subtle and devastating novel that straddles coming-of-age confusion and horrifying dystopia. Set in two periods - late 80s and late 90s - in rural England, the story follows a group of friends in boarding school that reconnect "later" in life. The dialogue, conflicts and confusion are ostensibly banal and kiddish...until the small hints and intentional vagueness reveal a terrifying truth that our protagonist and her friends are in-fact clones being raised for organ harvesting. Their idyllic and beloved boarding school is actually a liberal endeavor to provide these children with a semblance of humanity before their demise. The build is slow and clues sparse except for a feeling that something is off. In the end, the normality and inevitability of their fates is the most upsetting. Slow and banal for large portions but ultimately worth the ride.

Joub

Mah Chuan Kai

Never written a review till now. This was my first Kazuo Ishiguro book and I was really moved towards the end of the book. I was so absorbed into the bleak, enclosed life, yet dotted with rays of happiness of the students as described by Kathy that the overarching themes of sci-fi and dystopia never really occured to me other than just hanging in the background. I have not read anything quite like this before, where the story just kind of flows with a lot of emphasis on mood and atmosphere rather than a clear plotline. By the end I was really attached to majority of the characters. 

I an sure to read more books by him in the future. 

"I was thinking about the rubbish, the flapping plastic in the branches, the shore-line of odd stuff caught along the fencing, and I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across and the field, and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy, and he'd wave maybe even call. The fantasy never got beyond that - I didn't let it - and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasn't sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be. "

4.25. Ishiguro's style is quiet, subtle devastation. I enjoyed the confined exploration of what identity, friendship, and community mean for these clones at a seemingly posh boarding school. But at times, it can feel a little dry and slow. Though it takes patience to make it to the payoff, the themes are worth the exploration.

Katelyn Caillouet

damn good plot. i like his writing style too. i was pretty stumped for a solid 2 days after reading this. would definitely read more of his works.

sneha

Anjorin Molayo 

i went into this blindly, and i genuinely think it would be a complete miss if i went searching for specific things about the book. the point of this book lies elsewhere, and not where you’d think if you went into it with expectations 

i have just finished it and i feel crushed. not in an overly dramatic way, but in a more suppressed, empty kind of way. the sort of sadness you feel about something that "could have been".

what a book. I was so bored so many times(if not throughout). it was very slow paced, but by the end I think even that boredom served a purpose in this story. all the childish pettiness, all the fights, the delicacy of human relationships from childhood to adulthood, the simplicity of life, the complexity of it all at the end of the day. the contrast between the mundane and the tragic. everything worked its way up towards delivering a question to us in a subtle yet very clear way.

the reason why i gave this 4 stars and not 5, is because the narration felt a bit barren and detached. I understand the passivity of Kathy serves a purpose too for the overall tragedy of the story, but i would have liked a more colorful and sentimental description of the past, which i believe would serve well in the book for the dark reality to hit all the more harder. just because the events are mundane doesn't mean the characters have to be written in a boring way. 

all in all, i love this book, and i’ll definitely read more books from the author.

i went into this novel not knowing what it was about. i wanted to experience it blindly, so i didn’t read the synopsis or any reviews before. and i only plan on reading the reviews after i am done with my own.

at first, i was kind of confused, a lot of new terminology and concepts that weren’t at first explained at all. honestly, i actually loved it like that. it kept me interested and on the edge, to find out what was actually going on at hailsham and what was going to happen to all these students after their time at the school, and what were the donations all about. 

i liked how slow the pacing was, it fit the story well and i got so immersed into this world and i loved kathy’s voice and how she explained and reminisced about her life and her time from hailsham to the cottages to her work as a carer. it felt really raw, and it made me emotional more often than not.

it’s really thought provoking, emotional & beautifully written. one of my favourites for sure; i now want to read more of ishiguro’s works.

i went into this novel not knowing what it was about. i wanted to experience it blindly, so i didn’t read the synopsis or any reviews before. and i only plan on reading the reviews after i am done with my own.

at first, i was kind of confused, a lot of new terminology and concepts that weren’t at first explained at all. honestly, i actually loved it like that. it kept me interested and on the edge, to find out what was actually going on at hailsham and what was going to happen to all these students after their time at the school, and what were the donations all about. 

i liked how slow the pacing was, it fit the story well and i got so immersed into this world and i loved kathy’s voice and how she explained and reminisced about her life and her time from hailsham to the cottages to her work as a carer. it felt really raw, and it made me emotional more often than not.

it’s really thought provoking, emotional & beautifully written. one of my favourites for sure; i now want to read more of ishiguro’s works.

ghost girl in satin

I'm not sure I loved this book, but I found it interesting and captivating enough to keep me reading it until the very end.

No plot, no meaning, just empty, hollow and dumb. Hated every character so it's not a character driven book and there's literatly no moving foward in terms of "plot" so it's not a plot book either, so what even is it? It's not a mystery, it's got like 0.00003% touch of emotion in it, which I guess is the point of the book, but it was so meaningless, it felt so useless. Genuinely I do not understand how anyone could like this book? It's just so boring. It's so stale and reminds me of eating cardboard really. Would not recommened ever.  

surtified™

maitha mana

I rate this book a 2.8. This is one of the rare occasions where the movie is better than the book. I initially saw the movie first and fell in love with the story, and had high expectations for the book to meet the same standards; which unfortunately it didn't. The dialogue Ishiguro uses as with the character makes it hard to concentrate. It feels more like diary entries than a flow. There's constant back and forth between events from the past and present, and much more unnecessary bits where she drags on about a lake or a tree; and even then, it isn't done nicely. The only part I truly enjoyed was Part 3, where the suspense kicks in and we are given background on why the students came to be.

This felt incredibly slow. The style is there but at times it felt a bit like it would never end. 

Will Dawson

of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewered version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now 31, Never Let Me Go hauntingly dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School, and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.If you enjoyed Never Let Me Go, you might also like Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, now available in Faber Modern Classics.

Honestly I don’t even know how to describe this book. For most of it, I was utterly confused, but I realized it may have been because the main character has been a child and also unsure about what was really going on. 

little spoiler ahead but I need to get this off my chest: I hate the right-person-not-enough-time-trope. I needed more of their love story!

I still don’t know how I feel about this whole premise of that donor thing. I mean what if this is already happening right now somewhere - the technology is certainly there - a crazy thought, I know. Even if we could cure all the  incurable diseases, how can a whole human race morally accept cloning people for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs and not even letting them life a nice life. 

Valentina

Honestly I don’t even know how to describe this book. For most of it, I was utterly confused, but I realized it may have been because the main character has been a child and also unsure about what was really going on. 

little spoiler ahead but I need to get this off my chest: I hate the right-person-not-enough-time-trope. I needed more of their love story!

I still don’t know how I feel about this whole premise of that donor thing. I mean what if this is already happening right now somewhere - the technology is certainly there - a crazy thought, I know. Even if we could cure all the  incurable diseases, how can a whole human race morally accept cloning people for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs and not even letting them life a nice life. 

slow at first, but the set up and getting familiar with the characters is absolutely worth it. you start with a lot of questions and put the pieces together bit by bit as more is revealed and when it clicks, i think everything hits like a brick. my favorite part about this read was how expressive and emotional the characters are; there's a lot to think about regarding the human condition. it's melancholic and thought-provoking and a lot of instances made me pause and think about the dialogue, or the meaning behind interactions as i got deeper into the book. just... a beautiful, but tragic read.

Hannah Yoon

It took me a while before I got into the story, but as it moved along the mystery of it all drew me in. It left me feeling empty but in a fulfilling way because of how powerfully nuanced the whole story was.

The movie does no justice for this book. While the movie emphasized on romance, the book felt more of a soul searching vibe. Loved the book, I can see why it won a Nobel prize.

Cristina S

Isabella 

this was a really good book. i loved the characters and the theme and the story was very touching, but also creepy because of the whole dystopian factor. it starts out slow, but definitely worth the read. a really sad, but amazing book.

This story was not at all what I thought it would be. However, it was still as beautiful and strange as people suggested. It just leaves you feeling very sad in a good kind of way.

Huiting Lim

3.8-ish/5

this is definitely the type of book you have to avidly avoid reading reviews and spoiler-y hints to enjoy. the writing style is conversational and showcased the vulnerable fragmentation of our memories. for a moment, i was quite engrossed in the mystery and wished for an outcome that was spectacular and resolute. this isn’t the type of book for that. either ways, the way the book handled finding purpose left me with a deep sense of isolation, emptiness. i would recommend this to someone who enjoys reading about the nostalgia of childhood and innocence. (don’t read this for the mystery and the suspense but instead for the longing of returning to a state you were once familiar with)

JoAnna

The cover reviews were right: this book is definitely beautifully disquieting. 

Nothing about this book is what you'd think it is. Ishiguro's style is clear and accessible; he doesn't rely on stylistic gimmicks to grab your attention (not that those are bad—just not prevalent here). Transitions are smooth; sometimes they feel forced because he uses the same transition every time, but truthfully it works either way. I found them helpful and they kept me reading. The characters are complex and sympathetic, the narrator's voice intimate. Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth all have this childlike quality to them that makes the story so nostalgic and endearing. I couldn't stop thinking about this book as I was reading it. Most of all, the dissonance between the moral dilemma at large and the intricacies of adolescence will tug at your heartstrings.

Julie Rubens

This was such a beautifully heartwarming and heartbreaking story at the same time. I have to say, I didn't expect to like the book a lot when I first started it, because I'd read Klara and The Sun by the same author a while ago and didn't enjoy reading that a lot, but I was very happily surprised!
I love the worldbuilding and even though it was a pretty difficult book to read, because of the frequent flashbacks and -forwards, I loved the fact that you really learned how the world works along with the main character. I love Kathy and the way she thinks, because it's just so pure and intelligent at the same time. I didn't really like Ruth to be honest, but that's okay and Tommy is just so sweet and kindhearted.
I have so much to say about this book, but most importantly I do really recommend it! I think it has some really important outlooks on life and it definitely makes you think about the human species.

jack

really liked this a lot more this time around. not being able to do half star ratings on goodreads is so wack but this would probably be 4.5 stars if i could. genuinely teared up this time around, didn't last time. very sweet, a lot more to it than i saw last time.

Annika Arguemore

3.7 stars, man. Hands down. Also definitely better than the movie. This book should have been called 'Never Let Hailsham Go' because, well, Kath never did let Hailsham go and I assume neither of the students ever have until their dying breath. Although the story progresses really slow, the slowness of the story-telling's quite vital so all the details could be told in the proper manner. Resplendent. Moving. This one would keep you turning the pages even though it wouldn't seem like it at first because the small font's really overwhelming to read.

the book burned a little too slow for my taste and i didn’t find kathy to be an especially interesting main character. however conceptually the story is cool and the friendship dynamics between these characters were real and moving

petrina

I was almost put off reading this book due to the title, which makes it sound like some kind of romantic fiction, which it's not. 

The narrator writes in an almost chatty, colloquial way and the first few chapters seem kind of pointless, just reminiscences about a boarding school. 

But there's an undertone of something being not quite right, which kept me reading. Small details accrete over time, until you get a fuller picture and the end will stay with me for some time.

It's both richly human and bleak at the same time. I can't say more without giving away spoilers.

I was almost put off reading this book due to the title, which makes it sound like some kind of romantic fiction, which it's not. 

The narrator writes in an almost chatty, colloquial way and the first few chapters seem kind of pointless, just reminiscences about a boarding school. 

But there's an undertone of something being not quite right, which kept me reading. Small details accrete over time, until you get a fuller picture and the end will stay with me for some time.

It's both richly human and bleak at the same time. I can't say more without giving away spoilers.

Doug Belshaw &
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Doug Belshaw &Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Doug Belshaw &
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro