Because I do not want to give away too many spoilers, those not reading this tale carefully can easily miss the subtlety Ishiguro uses when presenting these dystopian themes. The book also addresses ideas on authority and rebellion as well as loneliness without delving into excessive sentimentality. And despite the novel’s sci-fi leanings, he laces the narrative with realism, balancing these tropes nicely.

My impression of this book is based only upon one reading, and like all of Ishiguro’s novels, it probably deserves a second reading in order to fully dissect what is going on. Aesthetically I did not find this book as pleasing as his earlier books and so if readers are interested in tackling some of Ishiguro’s books I would recommend The Remains of the Day or An Artist of the Floating World first since I believe those two to be his best works.
And just to give readers a sense of an “Ishiguro moment” the book ends with Kathy getting out of her car and standing off by herself in an empty field. She stands before a fence where there are piles of rubbish and trash buried within the wire and in her mind she “imagined this was the spot where everything I’d ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it."

Anyone who has read either The Remains of the Day or An Artist of the Floating World knows that in those two books both characters end the tale by sitting alone on a bench, contemplating their own loneliness. And in a similar way, Kathy is doing the same. Yet, this moment does not have the impact of the others, leaning more towards trite than insight. Unfortunately, it feels like Ishiguro is echoing himself.

Never Let Me Go is definitely an unusual novel - one that challenges many ideas on multiple levels. I am glad to now have read all of Ishiguro’s works and have an idea of where I rank each them. I suppose if being a merely good novel is the worst that a writer can do, that his chances of being read a hundred years from now don’t look so bleak after all. Ishiguro is a must read for any lover of literature yet I would wait on this one - read the others first, then you’ll see for yourself what I mean.