Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

This book has been called a "haunting story of friendship and love".  That, along with all the rave reviews this book has received, built up such an anticipation in me.  I couldn't wait to read this book!  Unfortunately, Never Let Me Go did not live up to my expectations.  Maybe I wasn't thinking critically enough, maybe I'm not intelligent enough to get to the deeper meaning...whatever.  I just didn't enjoy it.

Never Let Me Go is told by Kathy, a 31-year-old who is recounting her childhood days spent at Hailsham, a private school in the English countryside.  It was at Hailsham that she met Ruth and Tommy, who would become her two best friends.  At Hailsham, the students were brought up to believe that they were special.  They were content, until the remarks of one of Hailsham's teachers forced them to see the truth about who they were and what their future would hold.

I don't want to spoil anything here, so I won't say what the big secret is.  I'd already known to a degree what the secret was before reading the book, so I wasn't as surprised as I could have been.  But I don't think I would have enjoyed the book more had I not known beforehand.  The story was so slow, and things were alluded to and then not explained until further on in the book.  I felt like I was going in circles.  And when Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy discover what the big secret is, it seemed to me like they didn't do a whole heck of a lot to change their fates.  They kind of just accepted everything, and that bothered me.

I don't know.  Maybe I'm not making any sense.  And maybe I haven't thought enough about this book.  Let me just say that I didn't care for it, and that's okay with me.

2/5