Never let me Go - Ishiguro

Submitted by bunnyju194 t3_119lgfp in books

Just finished reading it, and it’s absolutely beautiful… incredibly well written and planned. The twist at the end comes as unexpectedly expected and yet it is still so heartbreaking to confront it. What an analogy to describe the loss of childhood… The clone analogy with the “possible” ones, the idea of role models, the “organ donations”, the lost items, and the ending. Turned growing up into a literary tragedy in the most beautiful astonishing yet simplest of ways

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soysaucesausage t1_j9nsp6o wrote

This book has the most perfect control of voice I have ever read. It's so exquisitely real that they are obsessed with all these random schoolyard anecdotes while the heinous evil being done to them is just completely accepted as a presupposition of their existence.

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FunPark0 t1_j9okm7n wrote

This is just Ishiguro in general. He is the absolute master of restraint.

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woke_pug t1_j9pek2j wrote

Yes!! At first I was like "How can she spend all her time worrying about her friendships when she lives in a dystopia?" and then I was like holy shit that is me and everyone else...whoaa...

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friend-cat67 t1_j9nb084 wrote

I was assigned this book in grad school. I started reading it and initially thought it was so boring. Once they started looking for Ruth’s possible, I WAS HOOKED! I devoured this book in one night, and cried my eyes out.

I didn’t realize the “twist” until AFTER reading it. Great read! I’m dying to read Klara and the Sun Next

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KnightToC6 t1_j9p3tas wrote

Do it now! Klara and the Sun is incredible. One of my all time favorites.

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IntraspaceAlien t1_j9t2b0h wrote

I liked Klara and the Sun a lot but it’s very similar in a lot of ways to Never Let Me Go, which isn’t a bad thing but keep in mind he does have a lot more range than just doing that type of sci-fi

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Andjhostet t1_j9vvk3o wrote

Wait what is the twist? Did I miss something?

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chrisrevere2 t1_j9n83uf wrote

This was my first Ishiguro novel - one of my roommates pushed it on me (OMG - you have to read this!). I then proceeded to read pretty much everything else he wrote. If you liked this one I recommend the Remains of the Day and Klara and the Sun.

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ConsentireVideor t1_j9o7jo8 wrote

I love how it captures the way people think and remember stuff, sometimes going in circles, sometimes focusing on seemingly minor details. The whole novel has this incredibly calm and restrained voice, yet it's so utterly captivating.

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Gawdam_lush t1_j9rxn55 wrote

Read Klara and the sun. It describes my personal way of taking in the moment in fractions, though I don’t know if everyone else does this or if it’s a neurodivergent thing, as I believe that Klara’s AI is a metaphor for autistism. So such a good book.

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Snoo57923 t1_j9myq0f wrote

I just finished it last night. What was the twist? I assumed that they were organ donors in the first chapter and they said they were clones towards when they went looking Ruth's possible. I thought the best part of the ending was if clones had souls. The symbolism of things lost at the end was very good.

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action_lawyer_comics t1_j9njyf5 wrote

First off, it was all a slow burn. It was all implied, but with that British "Stiff upper lip" where they never acknowledged how fucked their situation was. It was all right there from the start, but easy to forget during all their chats about art and pencil cases and boys.

But to me the real twist was that these kids were the exceptions, ones allowed to lead idyllic if short lives up to the point where they went in for donations. Maybe 10% of all clones were like the and the rest were in factory farm conditions closer to the horror of cloned organ "donations" that would be the "norm." For everyone who had a chance to be a model for a gentler way of getting cloned organs, there were hundreds in unspeakable conditions, harvested at the first point where they would be viable doners. That was the part that kicked my ass emotionally.

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Champlainmeri t1_j9nr7ac wrote

Man, that is a major plot development I never knew.

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action_lawyer_comics t1_j9nsyqv wrote

It gets mentioned when they meet up with the people from the school. They mention that Hailsham was an experiment to try a gentler way but that the country had moved on and went with a “different approach.” I don’t think they came right out and described the horrors of it (because like everything in that book it was just alluded to in gentle language), but my imagination had no trouble putting a disturbing picture together.

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bbhlcd t1_j9r9tu0 wrote

One of the main reasons why art was pushed so hard at their school was that the founders were trying to prove they have souls, proving that they should be treated like humans rather than like livestock.

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Lsedd t1_j9px2nn wrote

That's not really a twist, just plot development.

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action_lawyer_comics t1_j9pznsh wrote

Fair point. But I think this book is kinda tricky in that regard, since pretty much every big reveal is given away but with its importance downplayed. Strictly speaking, there aren't any huge twists in the style of Fight Club or The Prestige, but nevertheless the book manages a couple really good surprise kicks in the teeth.

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thriveth t1_j9qgzcu wrote

Technically true but the delivery is just such that it has the same effect in practice of completely switching the perspective.

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Lsedd t1_j9qzdcv wrote

Its a reveal. You know something's up, you just don't know what it is, it's eventually...revealed. A twist is when you have no idea that anything is up and the reveal comes out of nowhere and changes everything.

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[deleted] t1_j9ndx82 wrote

This was my second Ishiguro novel and I loved it. The way information is drip fed for you to piece together is masterfully done.

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ticklebunnytummy t1_j9np5hj wrote

I think the main deal was like Tommy said - they should have been told the situation, instead of kept in the dark, bc that kept them from fighting for their rights for personhood before Tommy completed.

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BaldOrBread t1_j9o9t8b wrote

Man, I guess I really need to give this book a second chance. I thought it was well and good, but certain aspects of his writing bothered me and took me out of the story (I seem to remember several chapters ending with “and that reminds me of the time …..”). However, anytime I voice any criticism I get absolutely SLAMMED on Reddit, so it must be me that is wrong.

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jakobjaderbo t1_j9oc4im wrote

Oh, the backwards storytelling through asides annoyed me at times too. I still liked the book overall and think it may have been necessary at times for the delivery of the story and perspective. But yes, sometimes I wanted to tell the narrator to get to the point!

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lawprimus24 t1_j9qyv9q wrote

In my opinion, the book reads like a soap opera with some light sci fi elements. I really disliked it and don’t get what people see in it.

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sarahxharas t1_j9oga1c wrote

No judgement here. This book became one of my favourites but I thought similar at first. Think I picked it up twice over a few months then it clicked one day and I devoured the rest.

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thriveth t1_j9qh8j2 wrote

I don't wanna slam you and I was initially slightly disappointed with it too but I just find that it sits in me still after months and my mind keeps returning to it. I definitely think it's worth it but I was also initially a bit underwhelmed.

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ShoutingTurtle t1_j9nfk8x wrote

This one is on my To Read list for the year. Ishiguro has a way of making me feel sympathy for his characters from the books I have read; The Remains of the Day and Nocturnes.

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harmfulwhenswallowed t1_j9mzf59 wrote

Extremely powerful and well written. But this book was too much for me. stopped me reading for a year.

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ange7327 t1_j9o91cr wrote

This is a beautifully written book with well crafted characters that slowly but surely rips your heart out. I think in the current world climate it is a good reminder set of what humanity should mean.

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grynch43 t1_j9q9xz9 wrote

Remains of the Day is one of my all time favorite novels but I haven’t read this one yet. The book description just didn’t sound like something that would interest me. Is it fantasy/sci-fi? I’ve heard so many good things that I guess I should just read it.

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oclemensopia t1_j9rmids wrote

It's not typical scifi, moreso in the background as a matter of fact. The day to day stuff doesn't have anything that different than our world today so it feels very grounded.

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antisarcastics t1_j9vwmg6 wrote

I bought this before I saw that it was tagged as 'sci-fi' (which also doesn't really appeal to me). It's really not fantasy/sci-fi at all - it just takes place in a dystopian version of the real world. The focus is very much on the characters and their relationships. It's a brilliant read.

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taegrane t1_j9p62cp wrote

I read this book around 2013, at back then as a high school student, I remember I was so confused and I had many questions about the plot. I felt like something was definitely lacking and I could't figure out what. Reading comments under this entry made me think maybe I didn't understand the analogy because I was like 15-14 years old. Maybe I should give it another shot and read again :)

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LJRGUserName t1_j9rnm83 wrote

The movie was very well made too.

Also like Kenzaburo Oe for his similar writing style.

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imitationsasquatch t1_j9rvo9y wrote

It's a good dystopia, I think like many literary dystopias, it has a huge influence from Brave New World. The ending is a kind of parady of Mufasa Mond in the ending of BNW, where actually nothing much is explained, and the protagonists are ignored.

I think it somewhat suffers from its simplicity of its worldbuilding and the rather tired setting of the British boarding school. The characters are excellent. Their relationships are believable and well drawn.

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fr_horn t1_j9xhvpj wrote

One of the few books to make me cry. Absolutely fantastic read!

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brwendel t1_j9o5cw3 wrote

Liked this book a lot!

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estheredna t1_j9ohak8 wrote

That one scene in this book made me cry so hard. I read It maybe 15 years ago and I remember the emotional experience of reading it vividly. There is a film version which I barely remember but I did enjoy… it was made a fan of Andrew Garfield. I. will always associate him with making me cry all over again.

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PleaseHurryIHave2Pee t1_j9ovxbb wrote

I read this a couple weeks ago and didn't really like it. The characters just felt so wooden and lifeless, and the reveal at the end just ended up being a massive two-chapter-long exposition dump.

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Ineffable7980x t1_j9qfp83 wrote

I was floored by this book, especially since I had read the author's The Buried Giant years ago and had been underwhelmed. This book is so subtle. It reminded me a lot of Hemingway in that not much appeared to be happening on the surface, but so so much was going on underneath.

As for the "twist", I figured it out about halfway through the book, but it didn't undermine my enjoyment of the work as a whole.

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Gawdam_lush t1_j9rxcg4 wrote

I started reading it and halfway through I realized that everyone had already ruined the ending… I thought it was the premise, and when I realized it was the plot twist I had to stop reading.

I will never forgive the booktuber who spoiled the fuck out if this books because I loved Klara and the sun, but sadly I’ll never love never let me go

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