Saturday, August 2, 2008

Never Let Me Go

I recently finished reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and it is an amazing read. I’m lucky that the past 4 books I’ve read were pretty good. These were Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Scott Turow’s Ordinary Heroes, Ian McEwan’s Saturday, and Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. One bad book would be a complete waste of time since juggling that hobby with my work, watching movies and TV shows on DVD, tennis, and going to the gym allow me to finish a novel within 2-3 months.

Never Let Me Go is narrated by Kathy who at the start of the novel introduces herself as a carer. She tells her story and that of her two closest friends, Ruth and Tommy, as they grew up together at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. She narrates their life when they leave Hailsham, what drove the three of them apart, and how by fate they each reenter each other’s lives.

This is a great novel by Ishiguro, one of the best I’ve read thus far. He uses the meaning of “carer”, “donor”, and “completed” in a completely different level. While I was reading the book, I was constantly guessing what these characters were and as I read along my guesses were correct, but not quite. Ishiguro exposes part of the plot or truths, whatever you may call it, in installments throughout the book until the last chapter. Entertainment Weekly was spot on when they described the book as “superbly unsettling, impeccably controlled… The book’s irresistible power comes from Ishiguro’s matchless ability to expose its dark heart in careful increments”.

Here’s hoping the next book I’m going to read will be as good as Never Let Me Go. I’m still deciding whether to go horror and read Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box or go dark again and select Ian McEwan’s Atonement.

3 comments:

Panaderos said...

Ishiguro's book sounds like it is an interesting read and quite deep. I'll add it to my list of books to consider buying. Thanks for sharing.

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escape said...

horror! horror! horror! hehehe... syempre fan ako ng mga horror movies. pero parang ok din ang atonement.

The Scud said...

dong, atonement won. it's a good read. planning to finish the book within the week or sa long weekend.