I know it's been a while since I last posted anything... and that I haven't done any more about The Aeneid - I ran out of time to read it so haven't really read much more of it, but that's no great loss! I HAVE been reading Never Let Me Go (hense the title to this post) by Kazuo Ishiguro in my spare time though, and I'm really enjoying it. I don't have any connections with other books for this one, just my general thoughts for the book and the little things I enjoyed.
So if you don't know already, this book is set in a sort of alternate world and, although we don't know that much about it yet, some of the characters (including the narrator, Kathy) seem to have been 'made' for a specific purpose. It mentions something about "donations", so I think that maybe they'll have to donate blood/body parts or something like that when they're older. They don't seem to have any parents, suggesting that they are all test-tube babies, and they're all brought up together in a type of boarding school run by 'guardians' (basically teachers). Nothing's really clear yet: i'm guessing more will be revealed...
I think the strongest point so far is the narrative style: it's written from the point of view of Kathy, one of these 'special' people who is currently working as a carer (I assume to the people who are donating) and who reminisces about her days at Hailsham (her school). The way it's written, as though she's speaking directly to you is especially effective, as it includes and yet also excludes us. I'll try to explain better, that doesn't really make sense does it? She says things straight to us like, "I don't know what it was like for you, but for me..." therefore including us in her story, relating to us and almost showing an interest in us. We're obviously expected to be the same as her, sharing similar experiences. However because of this we are in a way excluded from the key information of what she is exactly and what is going to happen to her: she assumes we know, as we are like her. This is particularly intriguing as we feel attached to Kathy because she 'talks' to us, but then we don't actually know the most important thing about her. I think this style of witholding information is very clever and definitelt makes me want to read more.
Another thing that I think Ishiguro does effectively is describe the feelings of children. Kathy recounts her school days frequently and there are stories she tells that I feel I can relate to when I think back to being that age. Allowing the audience to relate to Kathy in this way shows that she and the people like her are still human and pretty much the same as us: something that a lot of people in the novel seem not to understand. So here are some of the things that Kathy mentions that I particularly relate to. There's a bit where a girl asks one of the guardians an awkward question about something they're not really supposed to talk about, and the rest of the class seem to squirm with embarrassment. I remember when people asked personal questions to teachers I would feel so embarrassed for both of them and I couldn't even help it even though it had nothing to do with me. Another bit was when her friend Ruth (who it seems will come to be more important in the rest of the story) lied about where she got a pencil case to make her seem better, hinting that one of the guardians had given it to her as a present. Kathy, who is used to Ruth doing things like this, decides to challenge her about it because she's fed up with the lies. Ok what I was reminded of isn't exactly the same, but it spurred the same feeling of disgust and annoyance in me. When I was in secondary school there was a girl who used to lie all the time - not always about anything major, sometimes just to get out of PE - and everyone knew she lied but no one ever challenged her about it. One day she announced that she was going to the Premiere for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire that night. Ok, you know how I feel about Harry Potter and I just couldn't let this one slide. So I calmly pointed out to her that the premiere had been 2 days ago and she obviously wasn't going. She got all flustered and said that she was going to one in another city, and when I told her that the whole point was that there was only one premiere I think I became her worst enemy. She never forgave me. Ruth's reaction wasn't at all as violent as this, but I was just reminded of that awful person by reading this bit.
Wow, so this has been an incredibly long review! Well it feels long. I will continue with reading NLMG and maybe read some more of The Aeneid if I really have to... Thrilling!
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