Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro, K. (2005). Never Let Me Go. (Unabridged, 8 discs). Random House Audio.
ISBN: 0739317989

Classification: audio book, fiction

Genre: science fiction

Age Level: 11th-12th grade

Subjects: adult crossover, audiobook, cloning, coming of age, current events, death, distopia, fiction, friends, identity, love story, scifi

Reader's Annotation: Kathy H. is a Carer looking back over her life as a clone raised only to be an eventual organ donor.

Summary: Kathy H. is 31 years old and finishing up her allotted time as a Carer. Knowing that she will soon be called upon to donate organs she needs for survival, she is reviewing her life and her upbringing. As a child, she lived in an exclusive boarding school called Hailsham that was set aside for clones. She had a good education and made many friends. Her entire childhood and teen years, she was well looked after and cared for. She and her friends knew they were all different, and as they grew older they were given to understand what their role in this society was. Kathy and her friends don't question their fate, and Ishiguro's work causes us to question what sort of society could create these sorts of circumstances.

Reviews / Awards:

Slate Review by Margaret Atwood

Author Info:
Kazuo Ishiguro's biography on Contemporary Writers.

Potential Hotspots:

teen sex, cloning, oppression

Readalikes:

• The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
  
• Uglies Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld
  

Why it belongs in a YA collection: This is a book for teens who like mysteries and for teens who like to wrestle with tough issues. Cloning and stem cells are hot topics in the news and teens can use this book to think about how science can both help and destroy a society.

Other:

I found this story to be very slow paced, which only increased the creepiness when I finally came to understand what was happening in the book. I'm a fast reader, so listening to this one as an audiobook made it even slower, and thus, even more creepy.

Evaluation:

4 stars