Review: NEVER LET ME GO

By Srijani Jana

2nd year, BA Psychology Honours

Edited by Nandana

Never Let Me Go is a beautiful dystopic novel that haunts you till the end. It's the kind that makes you think about the plot all the time until you've finished reading. It keeps you guessing till the end. Though it's metaphorical, it also has a hint of suspense in every chapter. But my readers, this is a tragic one.

The story is both intimate and unsettling. The main objective of the plot is to address ethics in scientific progress, which is presented through a dystopic society. Initially, the plot looks very normal where they introduce Hailsham (where all the students live and it's also a school for them). The characters are introduced very normally. The protagonist Kathy H. along with her friends Tommy and Ruth. But the more you turn the pages, the more unsettling and disturbing it gets. You get to know that all of them are…. CLONES. Yes, and not humans. They are not born; they are created and for what? Well, to donate their organs to the elites and upper class and “complete”. This is a term used a lot in the book. Instead of saying you die, they say you complete after donating all your organs. As if, their sole purpose is to donate after a certain age and die. Even if they are clones, they should be given a chance to live. Here, the main focus is on memories. And this novel is rich in the recollection of the past times of the characters.

Memory becomes both their refuge and their curse, but that's the only thing they can hold on to. Through this, Ishiguro asks whether memory can give meaning to a life destined for loss. This is not just a novel, it controls your emotions as well. There won't be a single moment where you'll be devoid of emotions. Either it is nostalgia, happiness or sadness. In other words, it is an emotional rollercoaster along with the hint of horror and thrill. At last, Never Let Me Go is less about cloning and more about the way we give meaning to our lives, even if it's short. Life is not measured by its length, but by its depth. And, Ishiguro asks us to believe and feel the same.