Never let me go di Kazuo Ishiguro: summary

Never Let Me Go is dystopian science fiction novel by Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro first published in 2005 by Faber and Faber Limited. It was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker Prize, for the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award and for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award. TIME magazine named it the best novel of 2005 and included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. It was made into a film directed by Mark Romanek in 2010.

The novel is divided in three parts, which correspond to the three phases of the protagonists’ lives: “Part One”- Childhood, “Part Two” – Adult and “Part three”- Donor. The novel's title comes from a song on a fictional American cassette tape called Songs After Dark by singer Judy Bridgewater. Kathy used to sing to and dance to the words: "Baby, never let me go."

The plot. The first section takes place in the late 20th century, at the fictional school-type institution of Hailsham, located in the English countryside, where the protagonists, Kath, Tommy and Ruth find themselves to live: they have no parents and no relatives. The only adult figures who live there are the “guardians” which are basically teachers who provide education and care to the children. Inch by inch it is revealed to the reader and to the students that they are clones created to provide vital organs for normal people once they will have achieved adulthood. Once the children have reached maturity, they have to leave their school-type community and begin a seemingly adult life, in which they are given limited access to the normal world while they wait their time to make the first "donation”.

The Remains of the Day di Kazuo Ishiguro: riassunto

The students aren’t taught any life skills, but the teachers always encourage them to create various kinds of art and poetry. The best works are chosen by a woman known as "Madame," who takes them away and apparently has the duty to bring them to a special “gallery”, even if nobody ever talks about it openly. Kathy and her classmates are taught to think of themselves as extremely lucky for having gone to Hailsham. “It was the best, the most privileged of schools”. During the childhood, Ruth, Tommy and Kathy develop a close friendship. Despite their different personalities, they’ll  begin a love-triangle relationship at Hailsham that will last ‘till the end of the book.