Never let me go - Kazuo Ishiguro

The primary reason I picked up "Never let me go" was because of KI's earlier work that I enjoyed - "Remains of the day". ROTD had an unique style of first person narration that hinted at, rather than explain the actions and emotions of Stevens, a reticent butler. There was also an undercurrent of melancholy humour - largely because of the absurdly stiff Victorian sensibilities of Stevens - to ROTD which was what I hoped to find again in "Never let me go".

"Social Sci-Fi" seems to be an apt categorisation of Never let me go. Based around a science-fiction'y idea of clones for organ harvesting (no, this isn't a spoiler), the book mostly focuses on the personal lives of the clones as move from their public school type environs into adulthood to complete their duties.

Since I've been reading this on the kindle and was closely monitoring the completion percentage, even at the four-fiths mark, the central idea remains a backdrop for the host of interpersonal issues that take centre stage.

As with his other works, the author excels at creating a sense stifling stillness across time and space. This, coupled with a sparseness of characters seems to be the author's signature style. Unlike ROTD's narrator though, here,  Kathy - the central character, is deeply self-aware and never misses an opportunity to analyse her and other people's behaviour. However - this is the garden variety of analysis and not the Doesteyevkian style of extended neurotic dark introspection.

Now that I have completed it, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. All we are allowed is a myopic glimpse into the progression of society almost all of this through one particularly dialogue exchange. So - why have it at all? There are enough afflictions in the world that could have served just as well without having to bring in the science fiction angle.

I still enjoyed the uncomplicated gentle prose of Kazuo Ishiguro, but am struggling to describe the sense of tangible "nullness" in which the characters live. It's as if the author took all the ingredients for a fiery curry and still somehow managed to produce a bland meat and stew. It's a technical achievement, but I'm left asking - What's the point?