Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
May. 1st, 2006 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienOh dear. (Okay, I was warned, and read it mostly to see what the fuss was about, going in somewhat pre-spoiled, so I can't pronounce on how competent the incluing was.)
Either I'm a shallow reader, or this is a very shallow, unrealistic book, not so much based on bad science as riffing uninformedly on the old headline chestnut of human beings cloned and raised to adulthood so their organs can be harvested. Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that's a bad, dangerous idea anyway? What's more, the way the donations are managed, with the unfortunate donors put through repeated surgeries, then nursed mostly back to health before the next round, makes no medical or ethical sense to me; why on earth not just take all the organs and get it over with? The strain can't be good for their remaining organs, quite apart from the needless suffering that only serves to prop up the plot.
That's probably not the real point, but it's enough of a collection of stumbling blocks to stop me enjoying or immersing myself in the story. Then there's the vast gaping holes in ... everything. Surely there should be some donors who rebel, fall in love with outsiders, try to escape, sabotage themselves with drugs or tobacco or simply suicide; some carers who quietly euthanize their charges rather than watch them suffer. But no; they meekly accept their fate, and only just dare to dream of being granted a few extra years; they lead shallow, empty lives and cling to the memories of petty childhood incidents. Even Tommy's rages never harm anyone but himself, and that not seriously. There are other things we never see, too; the recipients of the donations; the normal people who brush up against the donors and carers going about their business.
I found myself slightly reminded of John Wyndham, but without, at least for me, any real menace.
Either I'm a shallow reader, or this is a very shallow, unrealistic book, not so much based on bad science as riffing uninformedly on the old headline chestnut of human beings cloned and raised to adulthood so their organs can be harvested. Is there anyone out there who doesn't think that's a bad, dangerous idea anyway? What's more, the way the donations are managed, with the unfortunate donors put through repeated surgeries, then nursed mostly back to health before the next round, makes no medical or ethical sense to me; why on earth not just take all the organs and get it over with? The strain can't be good for their remaining organs, quite apart from the needless suffering that only serves to prop up the plot.
That's probably not the real point, but it's enough of a collection of stumbling blocks to stop me enjoying or immersing myself in the story. Then there's the vast gaping holes in ... everything. Surely there should be some donors who rebel, fall in love with outsiders, try to escape, sabotage themselves with drugs or tobacco or simply suicide; some carers who quietly euthanize their charges rather than watch them suffer. But no; they meekly accept their fate, and only just dare to dream of being granted a few extra years; they lead shallow, empty lives and cling to the memories of petty childhood incidents. Even Tommy's rages never harm anyone but himself, and that not seriously. There are other things we never see, too; the recipients of the donations; the normal people who brush up against the donors and carers going about their business.
I found myself slightly reminded of John Wyndham, but without, at least for me, any real menace.