Book Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

This was a book club read for my local library (Crystal Lake Public Library) before I joined in June of 2010 that I read on my own to catch up later on (orig. they read it for 3/2010). This is a very bizarre tale to say the least! If you do not want to know the plot do not read on because I cannot think of a way to talk about the novel without describing what happens in the pages.

You think it is going to be a tale about school chums, and in a way it is, but it is more of a sci-fi tale and one that makes you think about the moral implications of cloning. The characters are essentially that, clones, who are raised in a school and eventually become donors of organs, and are proud of themselves if they can donate four organs before death. The main character is Kathy H., who is a counselor and recovery assistant to these "donors," a profession called "carer" in the book. She is at a crossroads in her life and looking reflectively back at the school where she "grew up" called Halisham. What she is deciding boils down to whether or not she will continue on counseling the other clones as they donate themselves to death, their real purpose for existing, or if she will now become a donor herself.

The book makes you think a lot about human nature and about our rights to exist. Although these characters are clones, I felt bad for them that they didn't have a right to a "normal" life and that there whole existence was to give until they die and that they were brainwashed into believing that life actually mattered to them when they were really just alive to supply parts for "real" people. I am disappointed that I missed the book club discussion for this one because I would have loved to have known what the other ladies thought of this one! We have not read anything remotely like it since and I have been in it for nearly two years now.

It is definitely not your typical novel, and I would recommend it to people interested in books that make you think about what it means to be human and to sci-fi fans as well!

And so it goes...