Title: Never Let Me Go
Author: Kazuo Ishiguro
Type: Fiction
Page Count: 294
Rating: 4.5/5
I’d heard a lot of good things about this book, and in fact that’s why I picked it up when I saw it in a charity shop. Even then, something kept me from reading it and so it was a while before I picked it up. To be honest, I’m not sure why. It turned out to be fricken excellent.
Part of the reason for that is the fact that it’s so beautifully written. You could flip to pretty much any random page and read it out and I think there’d be something there to make you smile. At the same time, it’s incredibly dark, and while it’s true that it’s pretty slow-paced, it does a phenomenal job of world-building and that alone was enough to keep me reading.
But I think it’s just the nature of the story, too. It’s exactly the kind of thing that I like. It reminded me of The Handmaid’s Tale in some ways, but with its own delicious twist. It also did some great stuff with the whole boarding school trope, which I feel has been done to death of late. This, though, brought something fresh to the party.
And then there’s all the stuff about carers and donors, which is what gave it its darker feel and dystopian vibe. I don’t want to say any more than that because I don’t want to spoil it, and indeed I’m glad I went in blind and would recommend doing the same thing, if you can. But I can confirm that it was excellent and definitely worth reading, and I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for more Ishiguro.
