"Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (263 pages, 2005, Faber and Faber)

Never Let Me Go is the first novel I have read by Kazuo Ishiguro.   Ishiguro is of Japanese descent.   He and his family moved to England when he was six (so his father could work in the oil fields of in the North Sea).   The  Times placed Ishiguro on their list of fifty best British Writers since 1945.  

Never Let Me Go was short listed for the Booker Price and the Arthur C Clarke Prize (best Science Fiction book) .   It is a dystopic novel set in England in the 1990s.     To reveal much of anything of the plot line would be a spoiler.   It is largely set in a very special kind of a boarding school.   It centers around the lives of three of the students and is narrated by one of the students, Kathy.   Ishiguro spends a lot of time building up suspense in the book.    When we do find out what is behind the special school it is interesting enough a revelation but hardly seems worth the long build up.   Maybe part of the point of the book is that the characters lead very bland boring lives but we are not made to care about them and their fate.  I accept that perhaps this is part of the point of the novel that no one cares about the children in the special school but if the reader does not care about the characters it some times is a bit of a push to enjoy the novel.

I found the prose to be a bit  bland and near boring.   One can write about people with bland boring lives without being bland and boring.   I admit maybe the very lush and gorgeous prose I have read in the last six weeks in the works of Jean Rhys, Charlotte Bronte, and Salman Rushdie  has affected by views on the prose style of Ishiguro.  It is easy to read, lots of people love it and I am glad I read it as it does provide an interesting alternative vision of England in the 1990s.    I think it would make a good book to read on a long plane trip.   I think in fairness my negative attitude toward this book may somehow be caused by the extreme high quality of the other books I have read so far this year.   Of the 18 novels I have read so far this year, I would rank it maybe 15th best.   This does not mean it is not worth reading.   I took a quick look at the Goodreads.com ratings of this book and most readers gave it four stars.   I gave it three.   Most reviewers liked it more than I did.    I do think my take on him is influenced by the very great books I have recently read.    Some would think this makes my comments on him unfair.   Latter on I will give him a second read.   I did not really dislike this book and my ttaste does run to lush prose.   I was curious about Ishiguro as I see his works in the book stores here in Manila and now my curosity is satisfied.

I got this book in a book trade with a fellow Manila based book blogger.   If anyone wants to work out a book trade please contact me.

I am including this book in my reading for these challenges

POC Challenge
New Authors Challenge (means new to the reader)
Fantasy Challenge
Speculative Fiction Challenge