📖Never Let Me Go: 🍸the carer

Why this book?

Like Atonement, I saw the movie adaptation of Never Let Me Go before reading the book. The movie is really good at capturing the emotional depth of the book. But, if you haven’t read the novel yet, you must! Ishiguro’s craft and storytelling are excellent.

There’s not a lot I can say about this dystopian sci-fi story without spoiling it. It begins at a special school for children. Nothing about this place initially seems too out of the ordinary, but once you uncover the shocking truth that underpins Cathy, Tommy, and Ruth’s lives, you won’t want to let this book go until the last page.

In a way, the world that Ishiguro builds is not so different from ours, which makes it even more unsettling. The story explores themes around our own complicity in systems of social hierarchies. What does it mean to be “human”? Whose lives are most valuable? Are our fates predetermined by the circumstances we’re born into? And can the benefits of scientific advancement justify how we answer these questions?

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Why this drink?

I made a Painkiller cocktail for this book because there’s a lot of pain in this novel — both physical and existential. The characters spend some time on a beach, though it’s not a tropical one to match this tropical drink. This story destroys me every time, so at least this beachy drink helps me pretend I’m in a brighter, happier place.

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Another round, please! 🥂
You might also like:
Ian McEwan’s Atonement (2001)

Let’s discuss!

Finished the book? What did you think about it? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!