Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Image form Goodreads

I have picked up this book for about three times during my book store visits and ended up putting them back on the shelves in lieu of other titles. My wariness stems from a few things. One, I have not had success with a book by a Japanese author. Second, anything Man Booker related seems to be too much for my brain. But, I've read glowing reviews on it and technically Ishiguro is raised in England most of his life and I'm pretty sure that would influence his work and I love most books by British authors. It also helped that NBS had a sale going on as well. So I finally got a copy and was fairly surprised by it.

Summary from Goodreads:

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. 

Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

I thought I would be having difficulty  going through the book but I kept turning the page one after the other. Tina from One More Page nailed the best description for this book: "a quite page turner". There are no explosions, or magic, or any running and chasing going on but it made me kept on reading at a faster rate than I expected. For fear of dropping spoilers here so I may have to keep things vague in this review. First off, I think its because the book although it tackles a serious topic, the story mostly goes on with the  characters as young adults. It speaks of life in school, getting on with the lessons and homework, the teachers, fellow students and their cliques, favourite spots in school etc.  Although these children and the school is quite different form your normal school, they, more or less, goes through the same experiences as any school girl/boy would undergo. I found myself smiling at some common experiences I've had in my school life. Ishiguro's writing seems so unadorned. It's simple and fluid and clear, with Kathy H. As the narrator. The story is haunting, harrowing, and gripping. At times I would just sit and stare blankly into space trying to think of the rationality or the psychology, or the philosophy of it all.  I wish I could tell you more about the story but like I said, I might slip and let loose some spoilers. So, just go out and get the book and read it!