Soooo I just finished Never Let Me Go and I’m really not sure how to feel. I mean, I guess it’s a good story over all, but I really don’t think I liked it. I mean for one I actually did not like or care for any of the characters aside from poor Tommy. Ruth especially was just so toxic.
Secondly, the sci-fi element is a complete after thought, which I get is intentional but still. Not what I expected.
Lastly, I just lost my focus. It was always “let me tell you about a time this happened, but before that, I must go back even more when this thing happened to the thing. Let me explain the thing and its importance to the other thing etc…..”.
I see what the book was supposed to be about, but I felt like it just didn’t go anywhere. I’d say if you were expecting a mysterious sci-fi mixed with a dramatic story, look elsewhere. I feel like I was just sold on a false summary of the book. Anyone else just not get into this one?
ETA: I’m was not looking for an exciting adventurous action packed sci-fi with a happy ending. As I stated in a comment below, I was expecting something like a Black Mirror type story, San Junipero, being an example.
by Holmes221bBSt
48 Comments
I mostly agree. I thought the idea of the book was interesting but it didn’t grab me emotionally.
I don’t think it’s sold as mysterious sci fi. It’s sold as a Kazuo Ishiguro novel, which you can expect what he usually delivers; subtlety, devastating reality, the importance of memory and the passage of time. For what it’s worth, I liked it, it’s not my favourite of his but I think he’s an excellent writer.
I can understand why you had the reaction you did but maybe that was due to your initial expectations.
I love this book.
This is my favorite kind of sci-fi, because it’s not about the technology. It’s about the people who have to live with the technology. To me that’s always more interesting. And the technology here is really just a stand-in for social class.
Ruth is indeed toxic, but she’s just as much a victim as the rest of them. It was impossible for me to hate Ruth too much after the episode where they go looking for her possible.
The fact that it doesn’t really go anywhere is pretty central. They have lives that don’t really go anywhere, by design. They live lives that are almost entirely for the benefit of other people. That is the tragedy.
Was easily a 5/5 read for me. First off the prose is incredibly beautiful. The characters feel so real and tangible. And The message of the book has stuck with me long after reading it. But it’s very literary and the whole story doesn’t really come together until the very last moment so I can understand being frustrated.
>!The whole twist is that.. there is no twist. You watch people steadily maintain the machine that leads to their doom and make no attempt to stop it. Once you finish the book it immediately brings up parallels of real life. For example how capitalism is destroying the world and making it impossible for so many people to live.. but we wake up everyday and keep fueling the machine. I found it incredibly profound.!<
I don’t think you can blame expectations or a summary leading you astray. I honestly hate how normalized it is to plaster a summary all over the place that fully spoils the whole book.
I liked it but didn’t love it, although afterwards I felt a bit of an ache in my soul for a week or two.
To me it’s an allegory of how we treat poor people or any other “undesirables.”
We count on the low wage labor of people who “flip burgers ” or bag groceries, but we’d rather pretend they don’t exist, particularly when they say they need something.
I didn’t really know what to expect from this book. I had read Klara and the Sun which I LOVED, so I picked up Never Let Me Go…and yeah idk. I still don’t really know how I feel about it and I read it months ago. I think Ishiguro’s writing style just worked better for me in Klara and the Sun. I liked Klara more than any of the characters in Never Let Me Go, and the relationships just felt more fleshed out?
There was something about Never Let Me Go that felt like someone else recounting a dream. I’ll listen and be vaguely intrigued but never fully connected
Maybe I missed it while reading, but I really wanted more insight on how their lives and indoctrination works. Like there were so many chances for them and their previous generations to sneakily leave the country or intentionally mess up their health. But I dont really understand why it was never tried?
I liked it, and I also liked the futility of it, but for some reason it never felt realistic to me cuz no one tried to get out.
I wasn’t crazy about *Never Let Me Go* either. It just didn’t resonate with me. I think part of the problem was that it just didn’t come across as something that would ever really happen. The idea that clones would be created and then treated so cruelly is something I just can’t fathom.
From what I remember, it’s filled with a kind of low-key, quiet despair, which I think turns off a lot of people. If you like drama, this ain’t for you. Personally, I loved it.
DEVASTATED! The only answer is DEVASTATED!
It’s one of my favorite (and most haunting) books of all time, but it’s more literary fiction with a sci-fi twist. The person who told you it was “mysterious sci-fi” giving the impression that is would be action-packed traditional sci-fi set your expectations wrong.
I loved the pacing and low level mystery in this book. I like this type of sci-fi, specifically focusing on the people and their interactions with the implications of scientific advancement. For anyone’s who enjoys this book, do you have a recommendation for something to read next? Just getting back into reading and choosing a next read usually ends in paralysis
I love the book, and I love the movie even more.
In the movie, the last scene with Ruth is utterly heartbreaking.
I was a little underwhelmed with Never Let Go. I was expecting more of an emotional rollercoaster like I had with Klara and The Sun but I just never connected with any of the characters in Never Let Me Go.
Really big fan of this book. I read it about a year ago, and I think initially I gave it a mental review if about 3 stars. Like, good not great. But it just never left my brain, and as I sat with it I liked it more and more.
I think Ruth being so toxic and kind of a bully is fundamental to the story telling because of how human it makes her. It’s such a relatable experience people have, and humanizing her as flawed I found really powerful. And as for her looking for her possible…I think that was just showing someone looking for any kind of meaning or hope in their situation, but couldn’t find anything more than sort of a glimmer.
And finally, when it comes to the perils of technology and progress, I think the monolog at the end sums it up really well (I don’t remember the exact wording, so I’m paraphrasing), but essentially that society had become so reliant and intertwined with the clones, that even when they realized they were deeply human, if they “saved” them, all the other people who relied on them would suffer, and society wouldn’t accept that.
The way Ishiguro so perfectly captures human complexity against the inhuman nature of technology, and how this isn’t a future problem, but a problem we’ve always faced I find really powerful.
I now love this book, but it did take some time of sitting with it to get there.
I threw this book on the ground upon finishing. Upon further reflection, I realized it’s just not a book that’s for me. I like a lot of plot and this didn’t hit for me
Your review basically comes down to “not what I expected,” which doesn’t mean a novel is good or bad in any way.
I actually really, really hated it 😬
This book rocked me to my core. I still get sad when I think about it.
I found it to be well-written, thought-provoking, etc… But I ultimately did not feel satisfied by the ending or feel like I can say I “enjoyed” the book. I don’t regret reading it but I wouldn’t reread it.
I remember feeling wistful and a little sad. I never looked at it as sci-fi (I actually didn’t know what it was about, just picked it up after reading Remains of the Day)
I did not enjoy that book in any capacity. I found the characters near insufferable. The writing was just kind of average. And the most interesting aspect of the plot was never explored in any depth and instead just monologue dumped into a brief speech towards the very end like it was supposed to be a twist even though I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t have figured it all out by then. I’m still mad at that book like a year after reading it.
I always thought of it as a Hand Maids Tale type scifi. Not really a mystery more a look at humanity and where we might be headed.
I just finished it last night! I feel like it was a well-written, thoughtful, haunting book with a really unique way of surfacing its themes… that I didn’t really enjoy the experience of reading. So I guess I’m with you in not knowing how to feel about that. I appreciated it but it’s not what I generally seek in my reading experiences.
Genre-wise or thematically I feel like it fits in with the Giver or Flowers for Algernon. I would call it morally ambiguous sci-fi.
Klara in the Sun has a similar vibe as well for me- an exploration of where humanity begins and ends as technology advances.
Personally I liked it but I also went in cold with no expectations.
The questions it brought to me while reading:
Do we at some point respect the technology as an equal to the creator or do the needs of the creator always outweigh the creation?
Does the benefit to human life justify the suffering of other beings, and where do we draw the line?
What basic rights are extended to not-quite-traditionally humans, if any?
What is the motivation to clone humans or generate AI and is the end result ethical if they do not have autonomy?
The book explores the case where there are no rights- just a slow roll to despair and a people that have accepted it and are okay with it. They focus in on their own world with no knowledge of anything better.
I couldn’t get into it. I know the “twist” I guess, which gave me a “so what?” take while reading the first half. It’s one of those kinds of sci-fi where the sci-fi part is so out there and void of any relevance to real life that any emotions it elicits are basically fake.
We already treat low wage overseas workers like subhumans. What would be the point of clones?
I hated it. One of the most pointless books I’ve ever read.
No plot, boring characters and no character development. All the while there was a great sci-fi story in the background that I kept waiting to have some kind of impact. And it just never did
“not sure how to feel” is an appropriate response
I had to try three times before I actually read the book; something about the pace and tone – detached but with a feeling of foreboding – put me off and was boring so I didn’t get beyond 30 pages or so. But then the mood struck and I read it almost in one sitting. Many years later it’s one of the few books I cannot get out of my mind. So powerful.
I was utterly unmoved by this book. World building was terrible, characters unlikable, and the story very unengaging. Don’t feel like you have to like the book because of who the author is or what other people say about it. If you didn’t like it, you didn’t like it; end of story.
You’re not alone. I did not like it, and I think u/JoyousDiversion nailed it. It’s not really sci fi, as there are more well-thought world-building that occurs in quite a number science fiction works. It’s an Ishiguro novel. I’ve read his other works and I characterise them as ‘slow burn sentimentality’.
Anyone reading Ishiguro for a strong treatment of genre tropes will generally be disappointed. He always chooses character emotion and sentimentality over the full extent of the ‘what if?’ scenario presented. Same thing with A Pale View of Hills, a novel with a horror trope that isn’t really horror. Except I think horror can sometimes get away with being atmospheric, whereas what is extremely important (to me) about science fiction is the plausibility of the science and the way human ingenuity deals with problems posed by science…and Never Let Me Go went in the opposite direction of what I prefer to read in science fiction.
You came in with the wrong genre expectations. It’s a fictionalized British school memoir with a heart wrenching twist that so happens to be scifi. In general, that approach can be found throughout Ishiguro’s work, with them spanning multiple different well known genres while simultaneously largely being memoir-like and centered on the nature of memory and dying. While I don’t think it’s possible to unring the misread by rereading, it might be useful to watch the film adaptation to get a better sense of what it was going for (it’s a fairly faithful and well-acted adaptation).
Never Let Me Go is of the best books I have ever read, but you have to know what you are getting into. It’s not a sci-fi thriller. It doesn’t have heroic, relatable characters. It doesn’t follow any of the mainstream plot tropes. It’s not a page turner. It’s not a feel good story.
It has a sci-fi/speculative fiction setting but ultimately is the kind of book that is talked about in literary circles and dissected in grad school classes and wins pretentious-sounding awards. If you are not into that kind of stuff then you won’t like this either.
A lot of people said how tragic this book was and how it hit them in the feels, so I picked it up to find out what all the fuss was about. I thought I’d have the same reaction but… nah. It felt very dry to me. I didn’t get my heart broken at the end. Or at any point.
I literally thought there was something wrong with me for a while because I didn’t feel emotions reading it. Like I was unable to have feelings all of a sudden.
I’m with you. I thought it was well written but overall I just didn’t like it and wished there were more substance. I would have loved to see more exploration of the ethics or politics of >!cloning for organ harvesting!<. I had no idea there was a sci-fi element, but guessed the “twist” before the reveal.
Ishiguro is one of the best contemporary writers. The book provided you with much more than fleeting entertainment.
I particularly think it is a wonderful piece of art.
It’s been a bit since I read it, but I remember feeling that it was the most inert book I’d ever read. I kept waiting for something to happen and for characters to grow and challenge the world and they never did.
Every day someone on this sub posts about a book they didn’t like a book because it didn’t turn out to be what they expected; instead of trying to understand the book.
I can understand your frustration when you came for a different kind of book. But let me try to give my thoughts regarding the one you ended up reading because I’m not sure you understand it.
So many books wholly in the category of sci-fi and fantasy are heavily plot-driven stories that show big events to move the story forward. It more or less has an endpoint the characters are striving to meet. To that end, they often have knowledge and ways to affect their lives and that of others in a substantive way. The story is about the brave knight off to fight the dragon.
I can’t remember when I watched it, but Ishiguro stated in an interview that he wrote stories from the perspective of someone who has little or no power and has very little information about their circumstances. He writes about characters–their inner lives. To aid in this, he only gives us as much information as the characters do. The story is about the farm tenant whose sheep, and sole form of income, are being eaten by a dragon. He doesn’t know about the knight, or even what the dragon is.
***spoilers*** In this instance, the people lacking control and info are clones whose organs are being harvested until they die. They were told they were lucky because unlike other clones they were in a nice school instead of god only knows what living situation. The reality was that the school was an attempt to prove the clones had souls and therefore should not be made a type of cattle for slaughter. Remember all the art they were making and submitting? After school ended, the clones knew that the next stage would be the surgeries and shortly thereafter death. Imagine knowing your entire short life that you are nothing, you don’t have a soul, and frequently you’ll be held down, drugged, and your organs cut from your body. Devastating. We’re watching them try to have lives and love despite this. The trauma inevitably leads to fucked up people. ***spoilers***
It’s a story that I, like you, didn’t understand on my first reading but that I’ve come to love and have read often. As I age and with every rereading my love changes for different reasons or in deeper ways. I come through and think about how tomorrow I’ll wake up in my own bed and can more or less choose the life I have. I have information and resources available to change my situation if I so choose. I can love, break up, love again, move, move again, age, grieve, experience joy, and everything that makes us human. I don’t have to make art to prove I have a soul. I can share my soul with others through art.
There’s something about the way Ishiguro writes about relationships I find devastating. Characters have incredibly brief moments of connection, before inevitably being dragged back into their own isolated internal worlds. He describes the gaps between peoples’ understanding of each other so beautifully. Please elaborate on this if you can put it better than I have, I’ve been trying to find a way of explaining this for years!
Never Let Me Go is my favorite book. I wasn’t expecting a standard SF novel, so I didn’t get disappointed. Ishiguro won the Nobel for his ability to convey emotion, and that’s what Never Let Me Go delivers.
It was pretty underwhelming for me too. I agree Ruth is toxic and I found her insufferable, even though I understand why she was like that.
But I watched the movie few months back and it hit me emotionally in a ways that the book missed. So I greatly recommend it.
Horrified but sort of numb yet horrified and also chilled to the soul.
Never Let Me Go was my third Ishiguro after Pale View of Hills and Remains of the Day, and was the one that firmly converted me into a fan. However, this is both my absolute favourite book personally and also the one I recommend least.
In the beginning, I lent my copy to a number of friends, and almost everyone had the same reaction as you – that nothing really happens, the characters seem dull, and there’s no payoff.
On nothing but a surface superficial level that’s probably true – but then the hallmark of Ishiguro’s writing has always been the slow dawning in the reader of the visceral horror that forms the backbone of the entire story, without ever coming out and openly confirming it.
I felt the same way, don’t worry. His writing style just doesn’t work for me.
Read this in my college Brit Lit course and really… couldn’t enjoy it, story wise, to say the least.
But the story it told was very humanizing. It is beautifully written, but not a preference when it comes to a novel.
If you want a black mirror type story try Ted chiangs short story collections. Exhalation gave me strong black mirror vibes but a lot less bleak
I didn’t like it either.
I’m so relieved I’m not the only one. I’ve seen so many people talk about this book and how they still think about it all the time, how it made the cry so hard, ect.ect. and I was reading it, and all I could think was, “I hate these people.”
I don’t even think it was bad. I just flat out didn’t like it. But I was pretty angry because it was the third book in a row of reddit book recommendations that I flat out didn’t like, so I probably dislike it more than it deserves.