Never Let Me Go

Sort of science fiction novel
By Kazuo Ishiguro

Have you heard of this movie? With Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan and that guy from the new Spider Man movie. I haven't seen the movie but it's always kind of a bummer to me when I read a book after the movie comes out, because I picture the actors rather than use my own images. The same thing happened with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It also means I know a little about the story, and it's a dang good thing or I would have quit reading this book. It's...well it's kind of science fiction, kind of memoir, kind of coming of age story. It would have been very confusing to start with no knowledge of what the narrator, Kath, is remembering.

I can't discuss this book without giving a little away, and you probably already know from the movie previews, so here it is: she's recalling growing up at a privileged boarding school for...well...clones. They're all clones, created for the sole purpose of donating their organs as adults. That's the sci-fi part of the book. But we find out about the kids' purpose very slowly, as Kath remembers with excruciating, painful detail every emotion that she and her two best friends experienced at different stages of their childhood and adolescence. She focuses on scenes in which they are figuring out what it means to be who they are. Since Kath is looking back, we also learn what her adult life is like and what happens to the two best friends.

Suffice it to say, this is not a happy ending book, so it does not rank high on my list of favorites. And the clones-destined-to-die-so-another-can-live philosophical question is obviously the part we're supposed to dwell on and be concerned about--I mean, could our world really come to that? But another reason it was disturbing to me is the severity of the introspection. Ishiguro writes about the pains and thrills of different stages of life with such honesty that it made me relive some of my more painful moments of adolescence and shed an interesting light on parts of my college experience (made all the more real by the fact that my college roommate was visiting). It's a masterpiece of writing, really. But not very...comfortable. I suppose the upside is that I also did a little current introspection about why I'm feeling a certain way about a friend's situation and realize I'm jealous and I owe her an apology for not being very supportive.  That's probably something every author would wish for--making an impact in someone's life.