Never Let Me Go

  4 Reviews

As a child, Kathy H attends Hailsham, a boarding school in the secluded English countryside. It is a place of rigid and mysterious rules. Now, at thirty-one, Kathy has assumed the position for which she was trained so long ago, and she has put the memories of her Hailsham days out of her mind. When she is thrown together with two of her old school friends, she begins to relive experiences, and her memories reveal that the ostensibly pastoral and pleasant Hailsham harboured dark and mysterious secrets.

Comments from Groups

Great book! We had an in-depth discussion, and most of us enjoyed it. Different, disturbing and fascinating. Nelson 039

It was an uncomfortable read but we all enjoyed it, and the ethical discussion that followed. The book led to a lively discussion of the ethics of organ donation by live donors. We thought the fact that it was set in the present contributed to the unsettling effect - and the book was all the better for it. We found the characters unsettling and multi-dimensional. It was a very interesting and complex novel which we thoroughly recommend. Aucland 105

Kazuo Ishiguro raises such an interesting topic in this novel - certainly one that makes you think. However, most members wished this book had had a climax, and felt disappointed that we never really got any 'answers'. This book left us wanting more.... Auckland 319

Some of us liked this book, but most of us thought the subject matter was the stuff of nightmares. Auckland 056

An outstanding novel, provocative and yet moving. What rests beneath the more obvious theme of cloning is challenging. The writing is superb, especially in the 'voice' of Cathy. Palmerston North 008

Reviews

DUNED 117

11-08-2023

All agreed that this was our favourite so far, as it was so unique - exactly what we want in a book club book! It brought to the fore many interesting discussions on humanity, sacrifice, tolerance and conditioning. Fascinating read and concept.

PIOPIO 001

25-11-2022

An uncomfortable read and not really enjoyed by the group. Made for interesting discussion especially around ethics and dilemmas facing the human race in the future as science advances and the impossible becomes increasingly possible.

FEILD 004

30-09-2022

Some of the group didn't finish the book. We appreciated the author's good writing. A difficult subject which created some interesting discussion. Once again there was learning to be taken from exploring this topic.

WHANG 023

17-10-2019

Well, this is an interesting one. Human clones raised purely to supply organs for "real people". An analogy for many things where one race regards another as sub-human. The main characters are followed from their early lives through to their "donations" to their ultimate deaths once their own lives are no longer viable. Their growing consciousness of themselves as people is challenged by their status as "less than". While we were reading this there was an "immigration crisis" and the parallels between the clones and how people were treating and talking about them was remarkably close.