Book Review of "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

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RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

BOOK BLURB:

As a child, Kathy-now thirty-one years old-lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.

And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed-even comforted-by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood-and about their lives now.

BOOK REVIEW:

NOTE: This review contains spoilers. DO NOT CONTINUE if you haven't read the book.

I really enjoyed the subtlety of this book ~ nothing is explicitly spelled out for the reader until very close to the end, much the same way the information has been doled out to the main characters and, much like them, you aren't surprised when you're finally told the whole story. The writing was exquisite and the characters very well-created.

That said, I wished Kathy and Tommy could have decided to leave it all at the end. Kathy in particular lived what Thoreau called a life of "quiet desperation," but it simply wasn't in her nature to think of going about the business of living any other way than what was already laid out for her. After the final meeting with Miss Emily, I wanted nothing more than the two of them to take arms against their lot in life and break free.

I understand that was beyond the realm of their world but still, that's what I wanted to see happen, and when it didn't, I felt disappointed. The book would've been four stars or more if Kathy had done SOMETHING to fight against what others had prescribed for her instead of just letting someone else rule her life.