Never Let Me Go
written by Kazuo Ishiguro
https://www.ink2quill.com/

”Never Let Me Go” is a subtle, dystopian, sci-fi novel that takes place in a parallel world of present day England. It is also what we call speculative fiction and was nominated for the Booker Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It was written by the Japanese born, British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro who also wrote ”The Remains Of The Day” (which won the Man Booker Prize Award). It was made into a fairly good Movie too but I highly recommend Reading the book.

Some websites are:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/neverletmego/

http://inprinthouston.org/event/kazuo-ishiguro/

”Never Let Me Go” is a subtle and powerful story of a group of people living in a society where they will eventually be harvested for their organs. The protagonist, Kathy, grows up to be a carer who keeps track of her fellow clones. The story is her thinking back to her childhood in the private boarding school known as Hailsham. Kathy, Tom and Ruth are the main characters who grew up together at Hailsham.

The title comes from the song of a music cassette Kathy found at a type of yard sale. It was called ”baby, never let me go”and she is seen by a woman the children call ”Madame” dancing to the music while holding a bundle as if it were a child. The cassette disappears after that because clones are made sterile and can never have children. Their purpose in life is to provide body parts to the other members of society.

The interesting thing about the character of Madame is that the children do not really like her because she comes across as too stiff. The truth of her character is that she was fighting for the children´s rights all along. She organized the art shows to show people that they had souls, that they were people, but as in most cases where vulnerable people are being preyed upon, profit dictates outcomes and the disgusting cloning program continued. It´s important to say that these clones are human beings.

Another interesting part of the story is what the chidren call their ”possibles”. Most of the children think they were cloned from the dregs of society, the criminals, addicts, prostitutes and so forth. In spite of this belief they all want to meet the person they were cloned from, their ”possible”. It´s alot like an orphan wanting to meet their true parents. They all hope to one day see their possibles living a normal life because that is something they will never have.

The worst part of this cloning industry is however where it is headed. We learn that Hailsham was a pilot program and that the newer insitutions for raising clones were like battery farms where the clones were mistreated and the companies that ran these places cut corners to save money. Hailsham was really a one of a kind place were the children had a fairly decent childhood but it was closed down. So the upcoming clones would never be treated like human beings again.

This is an excellent book that is so relevant today. I really feel that it be required reading in all high schools and universities and should be translated so people in all countries can read it. This story is full of so many warnings of the terrifying consequences of misusing our technological advances and creating cannibalistic societies. Consider that several leading sociologists have predicted that our society will probably end up first cloning animals for food then other people for parts like in this story. We should never forget that life is sacred.

(Commentary by www.ink2quill.com )
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