Modern Fiction Annotation

Author:  Kazuo Ishiguro
Title:  Never Let Me Go
Genre: Science Fiction, Adult Fiction, YA Fiction
Publication Date:  2004
Number of Pages:  288
Geographical Setting:  Hailsham, England
Time Period:  Circa, late 1990's

Summary:

Hailsham Boarding School, England; 3 friends, Ruth, Kathy & Tommy are represented in 3 acts & 23 chapters. This Academy teaches a life of health & the creation of art.  What sets Hailsham apart from the rest of the other preparatory schools, is that no real or ongoing serious study of academics or future life skills are taught.  Why?

It seems that Hailsham is a School of Clones, the reproduction humans of wealthy people, who wish to have organs & body parts available to them when needed; Hailsham is a Clone Farm for the Elite. Never Let Me Go is a journey of friendship, sacrifice, sorrow & inner renewal.

My Take-away:

This book broke my heart in many ways. The novel itself is written from the narrative voice of Kathy when she is in her 30s, recounting her days in a school life that should have been the history of living freely. The realization that her life & the lives of her friends are controlled by a terrifying elite is an opportunity to fix a future dystopia.

Kathy is a realist narrator who is often overshadowed by the life of Ruth, who is her best friend. Ruth, in contrast lives a reading life, stays out of trouble & tries to be genuine in her living days. Kathy, in contrast, is punk-rock, outspoken & suspicious. Kathy lives a more lonely life than Ruth, because she realizes Ruth already knows the reality & has tried for relevance. Ultimately, Ruth, Kathy & Tommy will take down Hailsham forever...
  

SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: Women -- Fiction.
Human cloning -- Fiction.
Organ donors -- Fiction.
Science fiction.
Genre/Form: Psychological fiction.
Miscellaneous fiction.
Science fiction.
Psychological fiction.
Science fiction -- England.
Geographic:  England -- Fiction.


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https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6334.Never_Let_Me_Go

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4629918

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jan/29/never-let-me-go-kazuo-ishiguro

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2005/04/brave_new_world.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/books/review/17KERRL.html?_r=0

https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/477/Kazuo-Ishiguro

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Never-Let-Me-Kazuo-Ishiguro/dp/0571258093

http://www.worldcat.org/title/never-let-me-go/oclc/56058300

http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5829/the-art-of-fiction-no-196-kazuo-ishiguro

http://www.randomhouse.com/audio/catalog/display.php?isbn=9780739317990

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/85609/never-let-me-go-by-kazuo-ishiguro/

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781400078776