Hello dear Charlie!

Today I want to share with you a book that I've read and particulary enjoyed : Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro!

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is a novel that has definitely been made to move people. The writer is more than talented when it comes to play with the reader’s feelings by using surprise effects and suspence. The narrator, Kathy H, shares with us her childhood’s memories and the doubts and mystery that come with it. The reader is immersed in the life of this young woman confronting her own past in search of truth. A political aspect is also present in this book, Ishiguro depicts a world where evolution is the consequence of a grave loss of humanity.

I was fascinated by the vivid description of Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school in the English countryside where Kathy has spent her childhood before leaving it to become a carer, which appears to be a logical process after this school. Indeed, at the end of this school each student immediately become either a carer or a donor. A big part of the novel is dedicated to Kathy’s daily life in this school, her first experiments and how she met Tommy who is going to have a crucial part in the rest of the novel, especially with him discovering the brutality of the so-called outside world.

I really was spellbound by the intensity of the description of each character and by the writer’s capacity to make the reader feel Kathy’s feelings and at the same time horrified and caught up in the suspense of these students’ lives. Indeed, they are confined in a school and totally cut off from the world for a reason that remains unknown to the reader till the end of the book. In fact, there is nothing too showy in this novel. It is all about ordinary chronicles in an environment that is cleary ordinary not which intensify its mystery.

The characters of this novel are introduced in a unique literary style and present real psychological features. The character that I found the most interesting is Tommy, Kathy’s boyfriend. He always has been different from the others and he is the first one to discover what role plays these students in the society. By the description of this character we discovered how cruel can be this frightening society invented by the talented Ishiguro. This book can be considered as a science fiction novel even if the border between our society and the fictitious one invented by the writer is not as far away as it could seem.

You will really love this book with its detailled observations and its mysterious atmosphere.

Each page is full of clues that have been meticulously chosen by the writer in order to play with the reader’s surprise. It definitely will transport you into a contrasting barbaric world of lies, love and solidarity. Moreover, the philosophical aspect of this novel is well explored by the writer with his questioning about what define a human being and what is the limit of this notion. This novel ends on a beautiful note, it clearly is an homage to art and creativity : ‘Look at this art ! How dare you claim these children are anything less than fully human ?’. 

Hope you liked my article!