Never Let Me Go. [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Sachlich und emotionslos berichtet uns die einunddreißigjährige Erzählerin des Romans Kathy H. von ihrer scheinbar idyllischen Kindheit in Hailsham, einer Art Internat. Doch ganz langsam wird dem Leser bewusst, dass sich hinter der Beschreibung einer sorglosen Kindheit ein grausames Geheimnis verbirgt, welches charakteristisch für eine schöne, neue Welt ist, die wir hoffentlich nie erleben werden.

Schon früh wird der Leser mit Begriffen wie "carer", "donor", und "completed" konfrontiert. Doch offensichtlich scheint dieses Vokabular so selbstverständlich zu sein, dass Kathy dieses in ihrem Bericht nicht erklärt. Sie konzentriert sich auf die Darstellung ihrer langen und innigen Freundschaft mit Tommy und Ruth auf Hailsham und in den Jahren danach. Durch die genaue Beschreibung dieser Beziehung zwischen den drei Personen schockiert das grausige Ende, dessen sich alle von Anfang an bewusst sind und es voll und ganz akzeptiert haben, um so mehr.

Auch wenn es wie eine billige Floskel klingt; in "Never let me go" geht es um nichts anderes als die Frage, was uns Menschen eigentlich zu Menschen macht. Mehr kann hier nicht verraten werden, da sonst zu viel von der Geschichte vorweggenommen werden würde. Unbedingt lesen!! Ein Meisterwerk, was wohl noch in Jahren faszinieren wird, wenn es bis dahin nicht von der Realität eingeholt worden ist.

This isn't a book about moral principles or about whether or not we should have such principles.
It is rather about how we are losing or may well have lost already the ability to self determine our lives. Is the escape from an unpleasant status quo of one's life for us as beyond of all imaginable options as it is for Kathy, Ruth and Tommy?
Can we manage to maintain a human, independent and critical way of thinking and reflecting our actions? Do we have a chance to continue deciding for ourselves what is right and what is wrong by using our intelligence instead of following unquestioned rules established by the ones who only seek to increase their power?
"Never let me go" brings back these questions to the readers mind through an overwhelming story of love, friendship, youth, courage, fragility and helplessness.

Aims to make us question the ethics of science even though the author never directly raises the topic. The narrator of Never Let Me Go is Kathy H., a woman who introduces herself as a "carer" mere months away from becoming a "donor," as though we should know what these terms mean. This nearness to ending one stage of her life to entering another causes her to reminisce about Hailsham, the school in the English countryside where she grew up with her two closest friends, Tommy D. and Ruth. The three form an unlikely trio: Ruth is headstrong and imaginative; Tommy has an uncontrollable temper; and Kathy is steady and observant in the subtleties of human behavior. It is this last quality belonging to Kathy H. that sets the tone of the novel. Everything is precisely told in an even, matter-of-fact voice that never questions the strange terminology and conversations that alert the reader to something more grave lurking under what seems, on the surface, to be an ordinary story about three childhood friends. As the three grow up, they begin to face moments more important than the minor disagreements of childhood.

Ishiguro's richly textured description of the relationship among the three supplies all the details without confronting the larger issues. As Kathy tells us, the guardians at Hailsham both tell and not tell the students the truth about Hailsham and their lives--exactly what Ishiguro does to the reader. The truth is doled out in increments, over the course of the entire novel, requiring the reader to understand what is implied as much as what is told. The frightening side to all this is that the characters never question the course of their lives. No one runs, or questions why they are the ones to make the ultimate sacrifice. One of the most poignant moments comes near the end when Kathy says, "Why should we not have souls?" By this point, it has been apparent to the reader that Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are human in every sense of the word, with talents and intelligence and foibles and complex emotions, and yet are regarded as both freaks and disposables by the "normals." For the reader, these characters are anything but expendable.

Ishiguro's literary style of examining small moments might disappoint readers who expect a strong plot. Although the premise may belong to science fiction, this novel is more concerned with characterization and theme. Also try Giorgio Kostantinos-The Quest, you'll be immediately swept into this alternate world where the past is also the future. Dank