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Never let me go

Shelf life: Looking at secular books

NEVER LET ME GO
By Kazuo Ishiguro
Faber & Faber. £7.99
ISBN 0 571 22413 X

Science fiction is a genre I would normally associate with outlandish goings on, strange beings and lots of technology; definitely not my cup of tea. But in some ways you would have to put Never Let Me Go in a science fiction category, because it deals with an alternative vision of Britain, a present day in which science has travelled down a different route and allowed the production of human clones.

Ishiguro places this unreal scenario in a very real world. The Britain described here is our Britain, with office lunches, rhubarb patches and motorway services, while the technology which supports cloning remains extremely hazy. Never Let Me Go was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, a well deserved accolade for it is thoughtful and readable;. I raced through it in under 48 hours!

Not as things seem

Never Let Me Go is narrated by Kathy, 31, who tells the story of her growing up at boarding school, and particularly the friendships she makes there which endure into adult life. Little by little the reader becomes aware of things seeming not quite normal in this otherwise idyllic environment. Children buy their only personal belongings from second hand sales, and the best artwork is taken away at intervals to some mysterious destination.

Ishiguro masterfully keeps his readers guessing, and drip feeds revelations of what is actually happening to these children. We find ourselves alongside Kathy and her friends, puzzling with them about what their teachers mean and what the secrets of the school are. With them we receive answers only towards the end of the book.

The very prosaic narration of Kathy I found extremely poignant and engaging. Kathy’s voice is almost inexpressive; love and distress are not spoken of, although many events are actually full of pathos. Without parents and the possibility of having children, the characters are adrift, their best memories those of school friendships. I was left wondering whether Ishiguro saw his characters as repressed, not taught how to express feelings, or even not able to feel.

Life and death

Ishiguro does not enter into a debate about the ethics of cloning, instead he faces much broader questions about the inevitability of death and the value of life. Kathy and her fellow clones are just waiting to die, but have no language to discuss it.

I felt great empathy for these characters, but was reminded that they are a stripped down version of many today whose spiritual landscape is so limited; people who see themselves as a collection of genes, with no intrinsic worth and who have no spiritual vocabulary. How do we talk about death, judgement, real love and meaning in life to this generation?

Let’s pray for wisdom, and present to them Jesus. We surely must!

Sarah Allen