Blurb on back cover says...

"In one of the most acclaimed and original novels of recent years, Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go hauntingly dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School, and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life."

The New York Times says...

"A gothic tour de force (and) and oblique and elegiac meditation on mortality and lost innocence."

This is a deeply moving book that is an easy read until you really start to think deeply about what it is actually saying. The questions it raises and the thoughts it provokes makes me think that it deserves all the praise heaped upon it. This book is deceptive - it looks innocent yet has a powerful message one that will leave you debating with not only yourself but others aswell.

Am sending to ebonystar as I think she will appreciate the topics and debates that arise from this book. (Posted 21st June 2006)

thanks again jinglefish :D

i think this is a book i will be glad i got around to reading...

i agree with jinglefish, this is a subtle book, at first seeming to be only a standard story, but it is the descriptions of life which are most important, the interplay and interactions between the people... its so true to life, so real that i don't think i've ever read a book like it. its not telling a story, but describing life through fiction.
probably i've not described that too well, but i enjoyed it, anyway :D
i'm going to look up more of ishiguro's work, and will release this copy- thanks for giving me the chance to read it :)

This arrived this morning - thanks ebonystar! I really really want to read it, but I haven't got time before the NSSHS deadline - grrrr! Lol, nevermind, I'll pick up a copy sometime and I'm sure the recipient will enjoy it as it's on their wishlist!


Edit: 16/10/06
Posted today! Hope you enjoy it....

Yay! I've been wanting to read this for ages so was really pleased to get it as my NSSHS book.

Loz, when I've finished it you're welcome to read it too. :)

Thanks!

This was a haunting and thought-provoking read. I felt the author did a wonderful job of maintaining the narrator's voice while creating a novel that is well structured, well paced and keeps you hooked from page to page. Kathy H is not a "good writer" in any conventional sense, and her style is very believable as that of an ordinary woman with no particular literary skill - and yet I was in no doubt that Never Let Me Go is a fantastic work of literature. The genius is in the detailed nuances of the relationships between the characters, as well as the implications raised by the novel's frightening background.

My one quibble with this book was that I couldn't understand how four donations would be possible (I won't say any more than this so that I don't give the plot away!) But it is a work of science fiction and I think we are supposed to suspend our idea of reality to some extent. Until I paused to figure out the details, the world the novel creates seemed entirely real and believable.

I'm reserving this for AardvarkSue to read before I release it.