NEVER LET ME GO

I know I am quite late in picking up this book.I usually keep away from reading dystopian fiction but somehow even before I realised what I was getting into,I found myself being swept in the flow and then there was no turning back.I hadnt read the book blurb but dont regret it.This book managed to change the way I think about dystopian fiction forever.I finished reading it last night.

This is a fictional story about three class-mates,Kathy,Tommy and Ruth living in a boarding school type of institution called Hailsham.Even though they seem to be having an ordinary childhood on the surface of it,there are mysterious rules and teachers constantly reminding them of how special they are and urging them to make art as if their life depended on it.Now years later,Kathy is a young woman,recounting the memories that made up her childhood at Hailsham.Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life and as she looks back at their shared past,she eventually comes to terms with the meaning of life and their shared fates.

My Views:
This story just blew me away.Kazuo Ishiguro is a brilliant story-teller with master-strokes up his sleeve.When I began reading this book,I was surprised at the pace it set,it just slows you down completely because it is narrated by Kathy in a very matter-of-fact way.I was aching with curiosity and kept wondering about what would really happen next.This went on for the first two parts and when I reached the last fifty or so pages of the last part,everything just began to fall in place and it hit me point blank in such a way that all the withheld emotions just came to the fore.Can you understand what I am talking about?This is powerful writing.Very Evocative.

The story is told by Kathy in a very strange manner.She tells you what happens first and then goes on to explain how it got to that point.This was how almost the entire story is narrated and you are reminded of events unfolding and you realise the significance of these events only later and begin to piece it together.I have come across people talking that way,they tell you an incident and later talk about something totally unconnected and then when you have almost forgotten about the incident they come back to it and say, 'Oh so that is where the incident fits in place'.So you realise that what actually takes place is much larger than that little detail which fits perfectly.I guess I am rambling but I cant think of a better way to say this.

So she talks about their days at Hailsham and how they were allowed to do normal things like playing and even encouraged to make art and listen to music and buy stuff using tokens.However you realise soon enough that somethings amiss and then comes the big reveal that this story is about a group of genetically engineerd or cloned children that are being exclusively bred as 'donors'.Their lives are set out for them,they become adults and then start donating vital organs.This is the only purpose of their lives.Everything is told in such a resigned way,that you want to walk up to Kathy and shake her and scream at her to do something about it.She keeps saying --'I dont know what it was like where you were' and you feel so helpless and so drawn to these children.

Can one imagine life like this.With not a shred of hope.Just living on with no real future,knowing the course our lives will take and knowing that whatever we are doing now is all going to be futile in the end.It is eerie if you think about it,makes me wonder if Ishiguro is implying that we as humans are perhaps also living by the rules set for us(societal norms)without questioning,just being pawns in someone else's game.Maybe we are living in a bigger version of Hailsham and are clueless about it and death is the only thing that binds us together.

The friendship between Kathy,Tommy and Ruth is beautiful.How Kathy connects them all together and holds on till the end ,tethered only to their shared fates will make you desperately wish for a happy ending.It talks about the meaning of art,love,bonding,betrayal.How art proves that you have a soul.How love has a proper time,a time that may be lost or missed.How nothing you do later can bring back what it once was.

Of course there were some things which were a little questionable like which organs they were donating because they spoke about four donations and nothing about cross-matching was ever mentioned.But then I think that even though the scientific basis is not a strong point of this novel,it is more about the emotional and personal world of the clones.

This story has moved me in ways I cannot really explain.I loved this book.I rate it a 4 and a half out of 5.