Book Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are special, as well as the other students at Hailsham, a boarding school in East Sussex, England.

They play. They paint. They make poetry. They stay healthy. And, they develop friendships and intimate relationships as they grow older. Although, no matter how normal these activities may seem, Hailsham and the children she houses are not of the ordinary.

"Never Let Me Go" by internationally-acclaimed and award-winning Japanese-born British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro is a haunting novel of innocence, love, and loss, narrated by the 31 year-old main character, Kathy H. The story is divided in three sections, namely Childhood, Adult, and Donor.

In Childhood, the reader is invited to take a peak at the kind of life children at Hailsham lived - how they were encouraged to write poetry and create artworks for "Madame's Gallery" - a collection of the best works that contain soul, and how they were kept at peak health. It was later revealed that the children of Hailsham are reared by their teachers or "Guardians" for a very uncommon reason: they are cloned in order to provide vital organs for non-clones. Before they reach they reach the height of their adulthood, they must be able to complete their donations.

The reader also gets to meet the three main characters of the story in Childhood: Kathy, Ruth and Tommy. Kathy is a kind and passive young girl, whereas Ruth is her complete opposite - extremely bossy and idealistic. Tommy is an ill-tempered bullied young boy with awful art skills. As the story progresses, they develop a close friendship.

In their adolescent years, sexual tension grows, and Ruth and Tommy engage into an intimate relationship. They soon break up, but Ruth talks Kathy through to help her patch up her relationship with Tommy.

The second part of the story, Adult, begins when Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy are young adults, and are sent to live in the "Cottages" to begin their contact outside the confines of Hailsham. There, they meet "veterans" - experienced people of their kind - who help them cope with the external world.

Ruth and Tommy reunite, as Kathy explores her sexuality with other students at the cottages, fearing the urge of having sex with just about anybody. During their stay, Rodney and Chrissie, two veterans the three are closest with, tell Ruth that they saw her "Possible" (the person she's copied from) at an office at Norfolk. They then travel to the place the veterans were saying, only to find out that the woman at the office is not Ruth's possible. Dismayed, Ruth had an outburst and claimed that they were moulded from trash.

It was also in Adult where the "Deferrals" are introduced to the reader. While on their Norfolk day trip, Chrissie and Rodney mention something about being able to defer, which could postpone a donation, so one could be together with the person they love for a little while - that is if they could prove that they're really in love.

The idea of "Deferrals" affected Tommy the most, as he failed to express his soul back in Hailsham when he struggled with creativity. In his theory, only those who were artistic enough to get picked for "Madame's Gallery" would be able to defer, for they were able to prove that they have soul in them. Sticking to his theory, Tommy draws once again, trying to be creative, so if one day he wanted to get deferred, he could show his drawings to Madame, and prove to her that he has a soul after all.

In Donor, Kathy is already a carer - someone who takes care of people who do donations - and she's good at it. At some point, she decides to become the carer of Ruth, who is not doing well after her second donation. Together, they were reminiscing their old times, when Ruth brought the topic about a boat on land. She said that a lot of donors have been there before, and she wishes to see it with Kathy and Tommy, who has already made his third donation.

Kathy makes arrangements with Tommy's carer and centre, so he could come with them, and the three of them went. Later, frailer than ever, Ruth hands Kathy and Tommy a piece of paper with an address on it, and tells them to go see Madame and apply for a deferral. She completes her third donation, and Kathy and Tommy are all alone.

Kathy eventually becomes Tommy's carer, and they made love as much as possible, so when they apply for a deferral, Madame would see the passion and love existing between them. Kathy already checked on the address Ruth gave them, and learned that it was the right place.

Soon, Kathy and Tommy went to Madame's home to finally get deferred. Tommy brought along with him a few of his best drawings, which he never ceased to make, to prove his soul. But, much to their dismay, they found out that there was no such thing as a deferral, and that it was only a rumour.

Kathy stops being Tommy's carer, and he completes his fourth donation. The book ends with Kathy about to start making her donations.

There's more to this story that I just couldn't write in here. It's this beautifully-written devastating elegy that takes the reader to a celebration of love and life, no matter how sad the story is. I, personally, couldn't put the book down the moment I started reading it. And the best part: it's not your ordinary sci-fi-love story. Again, Kazuo Ishiguro authenticates his craft as one of the best story-tellers of today with "Never Let Me Go".


♥Andz