I read Never Let Me Go
a few years ago when it was first published. I was reminded of the book when I recently saw the trailer for the upcoming movie (featuring Keira Knightley and the lovely Carey Mulligan). I never read Remains of the Day
, Ishiguro's most famous novel, but I was impressed by the books' understated style. The book takes place in a dystopian Britain and revolves around the boarding school Hailsham, where the students are all taught they are special and not like other children. Slowly, the reader is given clues regarding the children's role in society, gradually unfolding until the deeply unsettling end.
Ishiguro's prose has a simplicity I have always admired in writers. Every word and every sentence is a choice, and those choices are made with great care. Ishiguro manages to create an eerie distance between the reader and the characters, never fully stating what is happening, but all the while managing to mimic the half-lives they are forced to live for the good of society.
