GUSTIN FADILIYANTI

16111093
NEVER LET ME GO
KAZUO ISHIGURO
A BOOK REVIEW

BOOK INFO
Never Let Me Go is a 2005 dystopian science fiction novel by British author Kazuo Ishiguro.
It was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize (an award Ishiguro had previously won in 1989
for The Remains of the Day), for the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award and for the 2005 National
Book Critics Circle Award. Timemagazine named it the best novel of 2005 and included the
novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

Book information:
Title : Never let me go
Author : Kazuo Ishiguro
Language : English
Genre : dystopian, science fiction, speculative fiction
Page : 288
Publication date : 2005
Publisher : faber and faber
Media Type : Print (hardback & paperback)

BIOGRAPHY

Kazuo Ishiguro, born November 8, 1954, Nagasaki, Japan , Japanese-born British novelist
known for his lyrical tales of regret fused with subtle optimism. Kazuo Ishiguro is an English
novelist, screenwriter, and short-story writer. Ishiguro is considered one of the most
celebrated contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world, having received
four Man Booker Prizenominations, and having won the award in 1989 for his novel The
Remains of the Day. Ishiguro's 2005 novel, Never Let Me Go, was named by Time as the
best novel of the year, and was included in the magazine's list of the 100 best English-
language novels published between 1923 and 2005. Growing up in a Japanese family in the
UK was crucial to his writing, as it enabled him, he says, to see things from a different
perspective to that of many of his English peers. In 1960 Ishiguro’s family immigrated to
Great Britain, where he attended the universities of Kent (B.A., 1978) and East Anglia (M.A.,
1980). Upon graduation he worked at a homeless charity and began to write in his spare time.

He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia where he met Angela Carter,
who became an early mentor. He has been writing full-time since 1982. In 1983, shortly after
the publication of his first novel, Ishiguro was nominated by Grantamagazine as one of the 20
'Best of Young British Writers'. He was also included in the same promotion when it was
repeated in 1993.
Ishiguro lives in London with his wife and daughter. His latest novel is Never Let Me
Go (2005), and he collaborated with George Toles and Guy Maddin on the screenplay
for The Saddest Music in the World, a melodrama set in the 1930s, starring Isabella
Rossellini. In 2009, his first short story collection, Noctures: Five Stories of Music and
Nightfall, was published and shortlisted for the 2010 James Tait Back Memorial Prize (for
fiction).

SUMMARY

Never Let Me Go is the story of Kathy and Tommy and Ruth, and of the love-triangle they
begin at Hailsham. Ruth is the controlling one, Tommy is the one who used to find it hard to
keep his temper: they hope that love will save them. They've heard that love - or art, or both -
will get you a deferral. Kathy - well, Kathy is a carer by nature as well as profession: she
watches her friends break themselves against the inevitable, but never lets them go. After
Hailsham, they grow from puzzled children to confused young adults. They live in a
prolonged limbo, waiting for the call to donate. They're free to wander. They write essays,
continue with their artwork, learn to drive, roam Britain looking for their "possibles" - the
real human beings they might have been cloned from. Never Let Me Go takes place in a
dystopian version of late 1990s England, where the lives of ordinary citizens are prolonged
through a state-sanctioned program of human cloning. The clones, referred to as students,
grow up in special institutions away from the outside world. As young adults, they begin to
donate their vital organs. All “donors” receive care from designated “carers,” clones who
have not yet begun the donation process. The clones continue to donate organs until they
“complete,” which is a euphemism for death after the donation of three or four organs.

Now a young woman, Kathy reflects on her life as a child and as a teen at Hailsham, the
exclusive English boarding school she attended. She recalls the intimate relationships she
forged with Ruth, whose lies tested their friendship, and Tommy, a troubled and sensitive
outcast. Over time, the three central characters uncover the truth about their guardians, their
fate, and what they mean to each other. In Part One, Kathy remembers her childhood at
Hailsham. She describes her friendship with Ruth, whose temperamental personality contrasts
with her own quiet demeanor. At Hailsham, Ruth often annoys Kathy by pretending to have
special knowledge and privileges. Kathy also describes Tommy, a student known for
throwing violent temper tantrums. Tommy is initially an outcast among his peers because he
lacks artistic ability, which the Hailsham staff (part teacher, part parent figures known as
“guardians”), and its students value highly. Kathy sympathizes with Tommy, and tries to
calm him down during one of his tantrums. Tommy later learns to control his temper after a
guardian named Miss Lucy assures him that it is not necessary for him to be creative.
Although the students learn vaguely about the donation program, their guardians shield them
from a full understanding of their future. Miss Lucy disagrees with this indirect approach, and
often exhibits strange behavior in front of the students as a result, in one instance telling them
explicitly about their futures. After Miss Lucy speaks with Tommy about his artwork, he and
Kathy theorize that creativity may be connected to donations.
In Part Two, Kathy moves with Ruth and Tommy to a transitional housing facility known as
the Cottages. They adjust to their new lives, becoming acquainted with the “veteran” students
living there already. Ruth often ignores Tommy and Kathy in her efforts to blend in with the
veterans, who are not from Hailsham. Kathy notices that the veterans regard the Hailsham
students with awe. One couple, Chrissie and Rodney, are especially interested in Hailsham.
They convince Ruth to go with them to Norfolk, where Rodney claims to have seen Ruth’s
“possible” in an open-plan office (a “possible” is a human that resembles a specific clone and
from whom that clone's DNA may have been copied). Kathy is skeptical of Rodney’s story,
especially since it features Ruth’s “dream future” of working in an open-plan office. In the
end, Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, Rodney, and Chrissie all drive to Norfolk.

Part Three focuses on Kathy’s time as carer. While Kathy is good at her job, the work is both
difficult and lonely. She unexpectedly runs into a Hailsham friend named Laura, who is also
a carer. They talk about Ruth, who had a bad first donation. They also talk about Hailsham,
which has closed. Kathy becomes Ruth’s carer, but their relationship is strained and guarded.
One day, Ruth expresses a desire to visit a beached fishing boat near Tommy’s recovery
center. They pick up Tommy on the way to the boat, which they find bleached and crumbling
in a marsh. The marsh reminds both Tommy and Ruth of Hailsham. They also discuss
Chrissie, who completed on her second donation. On the return trip, Ruth apologizes for
keeping Tommy and Kathy apart. She encourages them to pursue a deferral, revealing that
she has discovered Madame’s home address. In the weeks that follow, Kathy and Ruth
reminisce peacefully about Hailsham and the Cottages. Ruth also encourages Kathy to
become Tommy’s carer. Ruth completes after her second donation. Tommy gives his third
donation, and Kathy becomes his carer. They spend their days reading and talking at his
recovery center. Eventually, they also begin to have sex. Hoping to pursue a deferral, they go
to visit Madame at the address Ruth provided. Madame invites them inside and listens to their
request, after which Miss Emily appears from the next room. Miss Emily says that deferrals
do not exist. She explains that Hailsham was part of a progressive movement committed to
raising clones more humanely. Madame used to exhibit the students’ artwork to show the
outside world that clones had souls. Although the movement once had many supporters,
changing public opinion eventually forced Hailsham to close. On the drive back to his
recovery center, Tommy asks Kathy to pull over. He walks into the woods and begins
screaming. Kathy goes to Tommy and holds him. Soon after, Tommy gives his fourth
donation and completes. Kathy drives to a field in Norfolk, where she allows herself to
imagine Tommy on the horizon. Then she drives away.

PRO AND CONS

-pro

Kazuo Ishiguro knows how to build a painful story of friendship in this novel. Through this
novel readers can know many things such as dystopian, or terms related to scientific terms.
But, actually through the Never Let Me Go novel written by Kazuo Ishiguro is a work that
has a complex and detailed story structure.
-contra

Never Let Me Go as a potential work but appear with tasteless execution. because, in this
book represent the plot can make the reader confused, kazuo tells the novel with flashback
and forward plot. Readers needs more concretation to read this book in order to understand
the story well.Then, I think this book just ends. There isn't any resolution.

CRITICAL REVIEW

In my opinion through his novel, the readers are kept on very much the same footing as the
central characters; the readers include me experience the same kind of suspense as the dark,
disturbing reality they face unfolds, and it's gripping. Meanwhile, Ishiguro's careful,
understated narration focuses on the way young people make a life out of whatever is on
offer.By this novel, Ishiguro frequently builds up the tension. The writing is so elegant, so
magical, He convey the narative in the story with perfect. The plot, if summarized, would
seem horrible or perhaps off-putting. but, I think this things makes some reader wonder with
this story. The story is intriguing. It could be considered somewhat a tale of science fiction.

The power of Ishiguro’s story-telling lies in the fact that he tackles an essentially gut-
wrenching theme--parentless children destined for an inescapable end that is nigh--with little
to no mawkish descriptions, dramatic scenes, or tirades. Instead, he draws the reader close to
the characters by portraying them as children in their artless innocence, moving into teens
during which they develop a complex relationship with hope and the way they bond with
each other. The reader sees through their efforts and feels sorry for them, hopes with them
and wants them to break down whatever system that confines their lives, but is always left
with a feeling of darkness and melancholy that runs throughout. Actually, this book has
simple, sweet, somehow delicate, and simultaneously brutal and relentless in its imagery. The
narrator is so authentic and fully realized - so maddeningly accepting in the face of horror,
and yet her responses and actions are perfectly reasonable in the context of her narrative. She
gets caught up in such little, mundane things that fill all our lives.

CONCLUSION

Overall, this novel is interesting to read. Never Let Me Go is set in a highly disturbing sci-fi
reality in which young people try to make sense of their relationships and an increasingly
hopeless world. The author introduces a host of invented, unnatural roles: students, guardians,
careers, and donors, and slowly reveals what these labels mean. Furthermore, Kazuo Ishiguro
as the author of this novel shows his ability to convey a moral message to the readers. He
takes the conflicting issues that can attract the readers to read this book. Maybe, this novel is
a bit heavy and confusing for some people but if the reader has more concreation I think the
reader will know the interesting point of this story.Actually, Ishiguro is primarily a poet.
Accuracy of social observation, dialogue and even characterisation is not his aim. In this
deceptively sad novel, he simply uses a science-fiction framework to throw light on ordinary
human life, the human soul, human sexuality, love, creativity and childhood innocence.
However, most of the interpersonal situations that crop up are fairly believable, typical
adolescent scenarios, and tween and teen readers may identify with the central characters.
Never Let Me Go is a recommended novel to read by readers who love fiction novels. Beside,
this novel build imaginantion about human clone this novel provide thought about the issue
of organt donation through human clone in which there are people who want to have a long
life.

REFERENCE

Never Let Me Go. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 2005

Currie, Mark. “Controlling Time: Never Let Me Go.” Kazuo Ishiguro: Contemporary
Critical Perspectives. Ed. Sean Matthews, and Sebastian Groes. London: Continuum,
2009. 91-103.

bookbrowse.com/biographies/kazuoishiguro

Boschetti,F.( 2017) Memories in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go : A clone humanity. To

be decided volume 2.1-18