Sorrrry I took longer than I intended in doing the second part of 'Part 3'! Since then I've seen the film as well so I might talk about that a bit too.
Ok so we left it where Ruth had told Kathy and Tommy that they should finally be together. Now it takes Kathy about a year to finally admit that there is any point in being with Tommy after such a long time, and this seemed a bit strange seeing as she knows how much she felt for him, but I think that maybe it's more of the fact that she'd acceoted years before that she would never be with him, and it's hard for her to think that after all this time it's hard to imagine what it would be like to actually be together. I completely understand this: the whole liking someone for ages and not expecting anything to come from it, then when it's a possibility you wonder if you really want it, or if you're happy to just keep it to yourself. It must be a scary thing.
So anyway, Ruth dies (or "completes") and Kathy becomes Tommy's carer. They get on perfectly well, and slowly they become a couple. It was great to read this, to know that they get time together, but it was bittersweet (I think that word is thrown around a lot, but I can't think of a word that describes it better). Tommy is seriously weak, and it's obvious that if he does another donation he will die. It becomes increasingly important to go and visit the mysterious 'Madame', but they certainly take their time in doing so.
They finally go to find her, and whilst I had some hope at the beginning it was completely dashed by the end of the Chapter. Kathy and Tommy went to her house and were invited in - it was mentioned how she tried to walk past them without touching them again - and she is forced to reveal the truth: the rumour was just that: a rumour with no truth to it. There is no way that Kathy and Tommy - or indeed the various other couples who came to her - could buy more time. The fact is that 'normal' people simply don't see them as humans. They are clones, unentitled (is that a word?) to any rights, and made to serve their purpose. This strightforward acknowledgment was pretty harsh. What happens if you're told that the point of your life is to do die (Harry Potter again... ;] )?
But then a person comes out of the shadows and it turns out to be Miss Emily (their headmistress at Hailsham) who goes deeper into it and shows how their world is not dissimilar to ours. Hailsham, which has recently been closed down, was the first humane place to raise these children. Before, and still now, the 'schools' were more like prisons or hospitals - maybe even farms - that were used just to keep the children until they were old enough to donate. The idea of this is just horrific, but you can see how soemthing like that would happen. Obviously I relate to the characters in the book, but how would I feel if we really had clones who healed diseases like cancer? The honest answer is that I don't know. I'd like to think that I wouldn't be repulsed by them, that I would treat them the same, because they are still human... but then if it was me who had cancer would I really refuse life-saving treatment just to help these people?
That leads on to the main question that Miss Emily and Madame have been trying to prove right: do the clones have souls? I have absolutely no idea what I think, because they were technically man-made and I can't see how men and women could make souls... and yet I've read about these characters and they're no different to humans with their thoughts, emotions, feelings etc, which seems to prove that they do. Maybe souls are not 'physical' things but essensces, something within you that nothing and no one can make or change. Wow I'm getting into existentialism here, all very deep stuff!
So anyway remember what Tommy said about the Gallery where all their art went being used to determine if two people were in love? Well he was semi-right. The Gallery is in fact used to attempt to prove the children have souls. Miss Emily argues that they cannot have produced such personal things, such as poetry and meaningful art, if they didn't have souls. However they failed to make people believe, and owing to circumstances I won't get into, people became unwilling to accept the presence of the clones and refused to listen to these arguments. Hailsham was closed down, and Miss Emily and Madame had fallen back to square one. Here I expected there to be some sort of miraculous loophole that would let these two off, but there was nothing. Kathy and Tommy had to leave.
And it was so hard to accept that Tommy was going to die - and that Kathy would too. I suppose I just didn't think it would end that way. The bit that realy got me (and I think it was done really well in the film) was on their drive back to the hospital, and Tommy got out of the car, walked into a field and just shouted. No words, just a piercing shriek of pain and anguish. This was so much more effective than any words, and when Kathy ran to him and they clung on to each other it was so desperately sad. I have to admit I was in floods by this point. So they go back to the hospital with this clock ticking over their heads and Tommy is given notice for his next donation. We know this is it, he's not going to survive another one, and as we prepare for the inevitable he tells Kathy that he doesn't want her to be his carer anymore. It's not because he doesn't love her, but just because he can't bear to put her through the agony of seeing him in so much pain, without being able to help. I suppose this was a good thing to do, but it just brought their separation closer and OH MY GOSH I'M NEARLY CRYING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.
So Kathy leaves. And we both know it's the last time she'll ever see him. She gets notice a little later that he has died, and then we seem to join the narrator Kathy in her real time, rather than being stuck in her path. I don't think I mentioned that when they were children they had this idea that everything you lost somehow ends up in Norfolk, and we leave Kathy at the side of a road in Norfolk, staring out over a field. She says the most poignant, heartbreaking thing in the entire book. She stands there and imagines that all the things she lost when she was younger are in this field, and then that if she waits long enough, she'll see Tommy walk towards her over the horizon. She doesn't let herself imagine anything else, but feels that if he were ever to come back that's where he'd be.
Kathy tells us that she's recieved her notice for her first donation, and we know that soon she will die too. It's strange, as I couldn't tell if I was glad or not. She's the last of her friends left, and if she dies she can hopefully be reunited with Tommy; but she's such a good person that she doesn't deserve to die.
The book ends in this poignant note, and left me feeling really strange - sad and not sad at the same time. The story really made me think (which I think is important for any story) about humanity, how humans treat each other, but also about relationships between different people and in a way what it is to love.
Ok so the next book I'll be doing is The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and I've just started it, so should do the next post in a few days hopefully :)
Showing posts with label Never Let Me Go. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Never Let Me Go. Show all posts
Friday, 8 April 2011
Friday, 1 April 2011
Never Let Me Go - Part 3 - Ruth Reformed
I'm not really sure what to write for this one. The end of this book was just so sad that I think it stands out, overshadowing the rest of the story. I can hardly remember how Part 3 starts, and nothing seems as significant as the final few chapters.
I suppose I should start by saying what happens to Kathy after she leaves the Cottages. She becomes a carer, and the life seems very solitary, so lonely: she drives around from place to place, sleeping in bedsits and looking after donors. She talks about how it feels when one "completes" (they don't call it dying, which makes them sound subhuman: as though they're merely machines built for a task that they must complete), how you feel guilty and yet relieved that their suffering is over.
Ishiguro lets us aclimatise to this new way of life, and in a way new narrative style, as Kathy doesn't talk directly to us as she did before, and the tone is a lot more subdued and quiet than during Parts 1 and 2. A few years after she left she meets Ruth who has just done her second donation and is not doing so well for it. This is the bit where I started to warm to her. She still had a little of the stubborness that used to annoy me, but she - like the narrative - was very subdued, very meek. The two seem to have got over their differences that distanced them at the Cottages, and they reminisce about their years together. They decide to take a trip to a boat that had appeared in the middle of a field (yeah I found that weird too) and of course, Tommy just happens to be situated near there too.
The trip they take, and their meeting with Tommy really highlights how things have changed - or rather not - between the three of them. Maybe it's because of Ruth's new, quiet, almost submissive manner, but now it seems that she, rather than Tommy and Kathy, is the odd one out. Those two have some kind of easy relationship that instantly brings them together again, whereas she struggles to participate and becomes almost a 'third wheel'. On the way back though, she shows exactly why she has been so quiet. She begs Kathy to forgive her. I initially thought it would just be for her being domineering, but then she reveals that it should have been Kathy and Tommy together from the start (I KNEW IT!!), that those two made more sense than she and Tommy ever did, and that she deliberately tried to keep them apart. Ouch. That was spiteful. Anyway, she begs them to try now, even though she knows it's nearly too late (Tommy's had his third donation, and people don't often last much mre than four), but she believes that if they apply for a deferral, like those rumours said, they will get to stay together for longer.
I was torn between great happiness for Kathy and Tommy, who I've been rooting for since the beginning, and sadness, because Ruth (even though I don't like her) is obviously full of regret and pain at what she did. She's dying slowly and painfully and this is her one last chance of righting the wrongs she did throughout their relationship. I also thought it was interesting reading Kathy's reaction. Before now we are never told by Kathy her feelings towards Tommy: almost as though they're irrelevant. I've said before that in many ways she distances herself from us, and this is evidence. We only know for certain now that she has felt this way for years. Maybe she didn't know herself, maybe she only just understands now, but the point is that although she seems to draw us into her confidence, we don't really know her deepest feelings until near the end.
Ok so there is so much to talk about in the next section that I've decided to do it as a separate post, because otherwise this one will be insanely long, and I've already talked enough today. So I'll probs do it tomorrow, but until then byyyyyyye!
I suppose I should start by saying what happens to Kathy after she leaves the Cottages. She becomes a carer, and the life seems very solitary, so lonely: she drives around from place to place, sleeping in bedsits and looking after donors. She talks about how it feels when one "completes" (they don't call it dying, which makes them sound subhuman: as though they're merely machines built for a task that they must complete), how you feel guilty and yet relieved that their suffering is over.
Ishiguro lets us aclimatise to this new way of life, and in a way new narrative style, as Kathy doesn't talk directly to us as she did before, and the tone is a lot more subdued and quiet than during Parts 1 and 2. A few years after she left she meets Ruth who has just done her second donation and is not doing so well for it. This is the bit where I started to warm to her. She still had a little of the stubborness that used to annoy me, but she - like the narrative - was very subdued, very meek. The two seem to have got over their differences that distanced them at the Cottages, and they reminisce about their years together. They decide to take a trip to a boat that had appeared in the middle of a field (yeah I found that weird too) and of course, Tommy just happens to be situated near there too.
The trip they take, and their meeting with Tommy really highlights how things have changed - or rather not - between the three of them. Maybe it's because of Ruth's new, quiet, almost submissive manner, but now it seems that she, rather than Tommy and Kathy, is the odd one out. Those two have some kind of easy relationship that instantly brings them together again, whereas she struggles to participate and becomes almost a 'third wheel'. On the way back though, she shows exactly why she has been so quiet. She begs Kathy to forgive her. I initially thought it would just be for her being domineering, but then she reveals that it should have been Kathy and Tommy together from the start (I KNEW IT!!), that those two made more sense than she and Tommy ever did, and that she deliberately tried to keep them apart. Ouch. That was spiteful. Anyway, she begs them to try now, even though she knows it's nearly too late (Tommy's had his third donation, and people don't often last much mre than four), but she believes that if they apply for a deferral, like those rumours said, they will get to stay together for longer.
I was torn between great happiness for Kathy and Tommy, who I've been rooting for since the beginning, and sadness, because Ruth (even though I don't like her) is obviously full of regret and pain at what she did. She's dying slowly and painfully and this is her one last chance of righting the wrongs she did throughout their relationship. I also thought it was interesting reading Kathy's reaction. Before now we are never told by Kathy her feelings towards Tommy: almost as though they're irrelevant. I've said before that in many ways she distances herself from us, and this is evidence. We only know for certain now that she has felt this way for years. Maybe she didn't know herself, maybe she only just understands now, but the point is that although she seems to draw us into her confidence, we don't really know her deepest feelings until near the end.
Ok so there is so much to talk about in the next section that I've decided to do it as a separate post, because otherwise this one will be insanely long, and I've already talked enough today. So I'll probs do it tomorrow, but until then byyyyyyye!
Monday, 21 March 2011
Nevr Let Me Go - Part 2 - Revelation and Realisation
I've decided that as the book is split into parts I might as well do the reviews in the same parts as well... that and the fact that I DON'T WANT TO READ THIS ANY SLOWER!! I am really enjoying this book, and I really want to see the film now!
Ok so Part 2 details the couple of years spent after Hailsham. The students leave at the age of 17 and are shipped off in small groups to sort of private accommodation. Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, along with a few other people from their year, are sent off to a place called The Cottages. It was quite strange reading this, as I could really relate to their situation, having just started University last September. I can really empathise with their strange feeling of independence and dislocation. In their case, they don't come to learn or anything, but they do have to just fend for themsleves. It seemed a bit pointless really, as they literally weren't doing anything: they had nothing they had to accomplish, no job, nothing. By now we know that their lives aren't going to last long once they leave The Cottages, so maybe it's just a way for them to relax or come to terms with the future. Maybe it's something worse: maybe it's just waiting for their bodies to become fully developed so they can start donating.
Kathy describes how the group from Hailsham are viewed as being luckier than others, but in a way that they don't quite understand. It's not until later that we find out why, and I'll get to that in a bit. There is a large mix of people at The Cottages, the older ones called The Veterans (which I thought was kind of strange, as they're only like 19), and Kathy tells us how Ruth is like enamoured of them: she copies their gestures, sucks up to them, laughs at their jokes etc. You know how I feel about Ruth, so this just got me even more annoyed - especially when she would laugh at Tommy in front them. In fact I've noticed that she's actually quite mean to him - and Kathy for that matter - WHY DO THEY STAY FRIENDS WITH HER?? She seems to be a leader, she's very authoritative, and I suppose when she's nice it must be great to be around her. But is she really worth it? Maybe it's simply because they've known each other all their lives that they feel they can't ditch her.
Anyway Ruth is being all sychophantic and getting very annoying, but the most important thing that comes in Part 2 is the introduction of the "possibles". It is here that we find out that these students are in fact clones. They've known this for years, which is another example of the narrative style: Kathy assumes we know so doesn't feel the need to tell us. So these "possibles" are basically the people who could have given DNA or whatever to make the donors. They should look like them and, I thought this was intensely sad, the students seem to think that if they can find their possible they will see what their life could be like if they try. They always seem to cling onto hope, even when they know that there's no way they will be able to live normally.
Two other characters Chrissie and Rodney saw this possible for Ruth in Norfolk, and them, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy take a road trip there. Before they find the possible though, they bring up something which explains why the Veterans think Hailsham students so lucky. There's a rumour that if two donors are completely in love, they can apply to Hailsham for a deferral of their donations. If they can prove that they're truly in love, they can have a few more years together. Excuse me while I curl up in my sock drawer and cry. Seriously that is so sad. I mean, I know that it's good they can get a few more years, but for one thing how do you prove that you're in love, and for another, there'd always be a reminder, hanging over you that this wouldn't last. SOB :((. Anyway, R, K and T have never heard this rumour (which did surprise me, as there were so many flying about when they were at Hailsham) and the matter is kind of forgotten when they find Ruth's possible. It turns out that it really isn't 'Ruth', and I have to admit, I did feel really sorry for her. Her dejection afterwards suggests she thought something monumental might happen, maybe that she would be accepted as a kind of daughter, I don't know. But her upset was evident.
Everything after this seems shadow of these revelations about possibles and the rumour, however we do find something out: the possibles are not normally 'normal' people, but tramps, prostitutes, that kind of thing, and it really affected Kathy when she's confronted with this fact. Maybe it's because they've all been made from "the gutter" (I think that's what it says in the book, not 100% sure) that she feels she's not considered equal to the 'normal' people.
Anyway things carry on and Ruth's being horrible again and then Tommy reveals something that I never picked up on. When they were at Hailsham they were encouraged to do Art. Like seriously encouraged. Tommy wasn't very good and stopped, but later one guardian told him that it was incredibly important to keep it up. So he starts again at the Cottages, and reveals to Kathy that he believes this is how they decide if you're in love or not. By looking at your Artwork and comparing each persons they can see if they're compatible or not. I quite like this idea, however I'm not completely convinced that it would work. I mean, can you really tell what someone's like from their art? Yeah ok, maybe you can, but can you tell if two people are in love because of it? I don't know, but Tommy and Kathy seem to agree, and I'll admit it's certainly possible.
Eventually, after a huge argument with Ruth, Kathy decides she's finally ready to leave the Cottages and become a Carer. This is someone who looks after the donors, it's what the present Kathy, the one narrating, is still doing. Part 2 ends with Kathy's life at the Cottages, and this section seemed to be a big one for revelation and realising that what they were told at Hailsham wasn't the entire truth.
Ok I realise this was an insanely long entry - hopefully the next one will be a bit shorter! I'll do that in a few days, so ttfn :]
Ok so Part 2 details the couple of years spent after Hailsham. The students leave at the age of 17 and are shipped off in small groups to sort of private accommodation. Ruth, Kathy and Tommy, along with a few other people from their year, are sent off to a place called The Cottages. It was quite strange reading this, as I could really relate to their situation, having just started University last September. I can really empathise with their strange feeling of independence and dislocation. In their case, they don't come to learn or anything, but they do have to just fend for themsleves. It seemed a bit pointless really, as they literally weren't doing anything: they had nothing they had to accomplish, no job, nothing. By now we know that their lives aren't going to last long once they leave The Cottages, so maybe it's just a way for them to relax or come to terms with the future. Maybe it's something worse: maybe it's just waiting for their bodies to become fully developed so they can start donating.
Kathy describes how the group from Hailsham are viewed as being luckier than others, but in a way that they don't quite understand. It's not until later that we find out why, and I'll get to that in a bit. There is a large mix of people at The Cottages, the older ones called The Veterans (which I thought was kind of strange, as they're only like 19), and Kathy tells us how Ruth is like enamoured of them: she copies their gestures, sucks up to them, laughs at their jokes etc. You know how I feel about Ruth, so this just got me even more annoyed - especially when she would laugh at Tommy in front them. In fact I've noticed that she's actually quite mean to him - and Kathy for that matter - WHY DO THEY STAY FRIENDS WITH HER?? She seems to be a leader, she's very authoritative, and I suppose when she's nice it must be great to be around her. But is she really worth it? Maybe it's simply because they've known each other all their lives that they feel they can't ditch her.
Anyway Ruth is being all sychophantic and getting very annoying, but the most important thing that comes in Part 2 is the introduction of the "possibles". It is here that we find out that these students are in fact clones. They've known this for years, which is another example of the narrative style: Kathy assumes we know so doesn't feel the need to tell us. So these "possibles" are basically the people who could have given DNA or whatever to make the donors. They should look like them and, I thought this was intensely sad, the students seem to think that if they can find their possible they will see what their life could be like if they try. They always seem to cling onto hope, even when they know that there's no way they will be able to live normally.
Two other characters Chrissie and Rodney saw this possible for Ruth in Norfolk, and them, Ruth, Kathy and Tommy take a road trip there. Before they find the possible though, they bring up something which explains why the Veterans think Hailsham students so lucky. There's a rumour that if two donors are completely in love, they can apply to Hailsham for a deferral of their donations. If they can prove that they're truly in love, they can have a few more years together. Excuse me while I curl up in my sock drawer and cry. Seriously that is so sad. I mean, I know that it's good they can get a few more years, but for one thing how do you prove that you're in love, and for another, there'd always be a reminder, hanging over you that this wouldn't last. SOB :((. Anyway, R, K and T have never heard this rumour (which did surprise me, as there were so many flying about when they were at Hailsham) and the matter is kind of forgotten when they find Ruth's possible. It turns out that it really isn't 'Ruth', and I have to admit, I did feel really sorry for her. Her dejection afterwards suggests she thought something monumental might happen, maybe that she would be accepted as a kind of daughter, I don't know. But her upset was evident.
Everything after this seems shadow of these revelations about possibles and the rumour, however we do find something out: the possibles are not normally 'normal' people, but tramps, prostitutes, that kind of thing, and it really affected Kathy when she's confronted with this fact. Maybe it's because they've all been made from "the gutter" (I think that's what it says in the book, not 100% sure) that she feels she's not considered equal to the 'normal' people.
Anyway things carry on and Ruth's being horrible again and then Tommy reveals something that I never picked up on. When they were at Hailsham they were encouraged to do Art. Like seriously encouraged. Tommy wasn't very good and stopped, but later one guardian told him that it was incredibly important to keep it up. So he starts again at the Cottages, and reveals to Kathy that he believes this is how they decide if you're in love or not. By looking at your Artwork and comparing each persons they can see if they're compatible or not. I quite like this idea, however I'm not completely convinced that it would work. I mean, can you really tell what someone's like from their art? Yeah ok, maybe you can, but can you tell if two people are in love because of it? I don't know, but Tommy and Kathy seem to agree, and I'll admit it's certainly possible.
Eventually, after a huge argument with Ruth, Kathy decides she's finally ready to leave the Cottages and become a Carer. This is someone who looks after the donors, it's what the present Kathy, the one narrating, is still doing. Part 2 ends with Kathy's life at the Cottages, and this section seemed to be a big one for revelation and realising that what they were told at Hailsham wasn't the entire truth.
Ok I realise this was an insanely long entry - hopefully the next one will be a bit shorter! I'll do that in a few days, so ttfn :]
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro - Chapters 7-9 Awful revelations
I didn't mean to go this long without another blog post! I really need to do it more often, I forget how much I enjoy writing it! Ok so this 'review' is of chapters seven to nine - I have read further than that, but the book is split into parts, so chapter ten was a good place to stop this post, as the next chapter is in part 2.
You know I said last time how we didn't really know exactly what these people were? Well the beginning of Chapter Seven explains all. The explanation comes in the form of Miss Lucy: a guardian who seems passionate about treating these children properly, especially when 'normal' people seem to feel a great aversion to them. We find out through her something really awful: these children were made especially to be donors for other people when they're older. This means that whenever 'normal' people like us need an operation/transplant or something, a perfect match can be found in one of these people. Their aim in life is to die. Not only did this get me thinking about Harry Potter again (I'll get bakc to that in a bit), but it reminded me of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. That book (which I loved) was about a girl who was born to be the perfect match for her sister, so that she could help give the blood/kidney etc to keep the other alive. This doesn't seem exactly ethical and I'm undecided about how I feel towards it, however doing it on this scale, 'creating' masses of children just so they can die seems really horrible.
Bringing Harry Potter into it, there's been this huge debate since the last book came out, and we discovered what Harry had to do in order to truly defeat Voldemort, about whether Dumbledore raised Harry as 'a pig for slaughter': whether he knew all along that he was going to die (if you want more depthful discussions I'd suggest listening to MuggleCast, an awesome podcast). To do that to one person is bad enough but to that many? Miss Lucy tells them that they will never grow up properly, won't be able to get jobs, travel, have families or anything because their only point is to give their bodies to others. Just that thought is pretty grim: to know that your life is only going to be about 30 years long and that you can't do what you want with it must be awful.
Despite this terrible truth hanging over them, the students of Hailsham don't seem to think about it much. These chapters detail the characters between the ages of 15 and 17, and I find it strange how Kathy, our narrator and personal connection with this strange world, reveals less and less about herself. It's not like she's being secretive, more that the focus of her story is on other people: namely Ruth and Tommy. She of course tells us things about her, but not many of her feelings. For example, Ruth and Tommy get together as a couple (which, by the way, I was surprised at, I thought it would be Kathy and Tommy) and Kathy tells us all about their relationship, but very little about her actual feelings towards it. Also, she suggests that she has a thing with one of the other boys in her year, but we don't here mentin of it except for a couple of lines. This is a bit like The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, in which we don't find out the narrator's name until very far on in the book, despite the fact that it's written from her perspective, and when he gets married it's literally a couple of lines: the whole story is focused on her cousin Linda instead of her.
Anyway, life goes on, and Kathy retains this personal relationship with us - I wonder if this is deliberate: her job is to be a carer, in which she talks a lot to her patients to comfort them, and maybe she is so in the habit of it that she does it for us too. Ruth and Tommy split up, and she mentions how people expected her to be the "natural successor" but never tells us her feelings about it. Again that's another example of her not focusing on herself.
I don't understand how Kathy puts up with Ruth - she's so controlling, stubborn and manipulative I wouldn't be able to stand her! She seems to take their friendship for granted - I might be proved wrong later but that's what it seems like to me. Something strange also happens: Miss Lucy tells Tommy that the art they do at Hailsham (there's a hige focus on art) is incerdibly important, much more so than they could imagine. I'm not sure of the significance of this yet, but I'm sure we'll find out more about it...
You know I said last time how we didn't really know exactly what these people were? Well the beginning of Chapter Seven explains all. The explanation comes in the form of Miss Lucy: a guardian who seems passionate about treating these children properly, especially when 'normal' people seem to feel a great aversion to them. We find out through her something really awful: these children were made especially to be donors for other people when they're older. This means that whenever 'normal' people like us need an operation/transplant or something, a perfect match can be found in one of these people. Their aim in life is to die. Not only did this get me thinking about Harry Potter again (I'll get bakc to that in a bit), but it reminded me of My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. That book (which I loved) was about a girl who was born to be the perfect match for her sister, so that she could help give the blood/kidney etc to keep the other alive. This doesn't seem exactly ethical and I'm undecided about how I feel towards it, however doing it on this scale, 'creating' masses of children just so they can die seems really horrible.
Bringing Harry Potter into it, there's been this huge debate since the last book came out, and we discovered what Harry had to do in order to truly defeat Voldemort, about whether Dumbledore raised Harry as 'a pig for slaughter': whether he knew all along that he was going to die (if you want more depthful discussions I'd suggest listening to MuggleCast, an awesome podcast). To do that to one person is bad enough but to that many? Miss Lucy tells them that they will never grow up properly, won't be able to get jobs, travel, have families or anything because their only point is to give their bodies to others. Just that thought is pretty grim: to know that your life is only going to be about 30 years long and that you can't do what you want with it must be awful.
Despite this terrible truth hanging over them, the students of Hailsham don't seem to think about it much. These chapters detail the characters between the ages of 15 and 17, and I find it strange how Kathy, our narrator and personal connection with this strange world, reveals less and less about herself. It's not like she's being secretive, more that the focus of her story is on other people: namely Ruth and Tommy. She of course tells us things about her, but not many of her feelings. For example, Ruth and Tommy get together as a couple (which, by the way, I was surprised at, I thought it would be Kathy and Tommy) and Kathy tells us all about their relationship, but very little about her actual feelings towards it. Also, she suggests that she has a thing with one of the other boys in her year, but we don't here mentin of it except for a couple of lines. This is a bit like The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, in which we don't find out the narrator's name until very far on in the book, despite the fact that it's written from her perspective, and when he gets married it's literally a couple of lines: the whole story is focused on her cousin Linda instead of her.
Anyway, life goes on, and Kathy retains this personal relationship with us - I wonder if this is deliberate: her job is to be a carer, in which she talks a lot to her patients to comfort them, and maybe she is so in the habit of it that she does it for us too. Ruth and Tommy split up, and she mentions how people expected her to be the "natural successor" but never tells us her feelings about it. Again that's another example of her not focusing on herself.
I don't understand how Kathy puts up with Ruth - she's so controlling, stubborn and manipulative I wouldn't be able to stand her! She seems to take their friendship for granted - I might be proved wrong later but that's what it seems like to me. Something strange also happens: Miss Lucy tells Tommy that the art they do at Hailsham (there's a hige focus on art) is incerdibly important, much more so than they could imagine. I'm not sure of the significance of this yet, but I'm sure we'll find out more about it...
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro - Chapters 1-6 Reliving Childhood
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!
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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