Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

I'm really wishing we hadn't just watched a certain recent bad sci-fi movie that happened to have a similar theme.

I find myself thinking, "God, hasn't this been done to death already?" I also found myself getting annoyed by the first-person narrator and her fast-forward/rewind storytelling: "I remember this one time when blah, blah, blah...but that wouldn't have mattered so much if it weren't for what happened next...(blah, blah, blah...)" kind of stuff. That kind of little conceit gets used over and over, and it gets old.

Other than that, I was fascinated by how Kathy, the narrator, is very clued in to what people really mean, as opposed to what they say -- she notes tone of voice, attitude, non-verbal/physical stuff, and manages to figure out what's going on with people as they communicate, sometimes to the point where she knows how they really feel about something even if they aren't aware of it on a conscious level. On the other hand, she doesn't seem to have that level of awareness about her own feelings -- she doesn't even realize
that she is in love with Tommy, and has been for years. There's a total disconnect between her feelings and that analytical part of her mind that figures out how people tick. Probably why she's good at her job. On balance I enjoyed the book even though the narrative style bugged me.


Also recently finished The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete. What can I say, I do want a dog... Interesting after reading Pack of Two to find many of Caroline Knapps observations echoed by Maurice Sendak, of all people (he got a puppy from the monks, and they visit him and talk to him about his relationship with his dog at the end of the book).