I started Never Let Me Go without knowing what it was about. I soon cottoned on that I wasn't reading about society as we're familiar with it, that it was alternative society. 1990s I guessed. One of the first things that struck me when I learned the characters were clones, is that they don't have surnames - names suggest bloodlines, family history, identity (ok not everyone is proud of their heritage, but you get my gist!).

This isn't a sci-fi novel set in a futuristic Britain either. It's set in the world we're already part of and familiar with, where cloning practices are the norm. That makes the idea more scary, that it could be in the here and now, not some future we can easily detach ourselves from. The author ensures we're involved with the characters by making us part of their world. Kathy talks to us, often as if we're also clones. I found this clever: Ishiguro didn't use a detached narrator who provided all the scientific facts. He assumes we already know about such cloning practices so doesn't need to explain all the details. But as a result, we DO want to know and it keeps us reading, in the hope some of the mystery will be unravelled. (I love first person narrators who are often unreliable. Leaves loads of loose ends to discuss!).

The story's also told from a very human perspective - these clones being farmed are humans with feelings after all - so you can't help empathising with the characters, their emotions etc. It made me compare my existence to theirs. Placing the book in a wider context, whilst I appreciate we have free will, we will all die too, so our lives could be seen as predetermined too. Almost like a reminder that we die - maybe not all as prematurely as the clones. Memento Mori.

Then I started thinking whilst it's shocking to imagine a world where clones are the norm, there are millions of people in the world who live worse lives. People in third world countries for e.g. often as a result of our (western society's) greed. Yet we seem to accept this. (I know the novel hints that clones in less privileged institutions than Hailsham lived in awful conditions, but still it could be argued they never had money worries and had a roof over their heads).

I wondered why the characters in the novel didn't try to escape, but it soon became obvious they wouldn't know how to. They're not taught how their world works, let alone be fully integrated into 'normal' society. So they cling to one another, to what they know, to where they belong, where they feel safe. They've been brainwashed after all and deprived of tons of knowledge during their upbringing at Hailsham. I could imagine they felt beneath ordinary people, so daren't try to cause any fuss about their fates. It was as if they were resigned to their futures. I thought Sparky made an interesting point - that they probably weren't educated about people such as MLK so maybe didn't know you could overthrow a system.

Still I wondered if their lives were so awful to them, did any commit suicide, or have suicidal thoughts, or know that they could??! Did any try to befriend ordinary humans? Did any run away or go awol? Ishiguro didn't imply this so I imagine not. There's no hope in the novel. They're so used to being controlled, they don't know any other way than to follow like cattle to the slaughter. maybe that's not entirely true as Kathy and Tommy did try to defer, but you could sense they knew their efforts were futile.

A very thought-provoking book. Easy to read the natural conversational style and tone. I felt claustraphobic at the end when you knew that Tommy and Kathy had no future. They may be clones, but they have souls, spirits - and being treated like this was so sad. The word 'complete' was cold too.

Just had a thought - maybe they didn't try to escape their fates because, if it is a tale about the human condition, then they couldn't - in the same way we can't escape our own deaths. Imagine the story as a warped mirror image of our own world.

I've waffled on enough. No doubt will be back when I've remembered something else about the novel!

i still think it was very similar to teaching animals to read and write -educating them so that they have some knowledge that they are going to end up eventually on someones plate!!this is the most poignant book i have read for a while and cant imagine wanting to get rid of it-it really touched an interesting part of my soul and has left me with so many ethical and moral questions about the way i and our modern society live our lives....and the way our future is going....

You know when Kathy has a go at Ruth in the cottages for mimicking gestures from TV sitcoms and saying that's not how people operate in the real world? Thought this was ironic cos haven't we all done it at some point in our lives? Much of popular culture is learned through the media. An example being Waaaaasssssuuup - I remember loads of kids & adults using that one

I switched from enjoying the 1st person writing style, to finding it quite irritating at times. Some times when we'd get to a "before I carry on with this thread, let me tell you about something that happened 2 weeks ago...." section I was thinking "here we go again". It made me wish he'd written it in chronological order!!

The use of language was great. The idea of "donations" even though they were complusory. The word "complete" was so final, it didn't need the word "die" to go with it. It was such a clinical way for the donors to think about the end.

It was clear to me that Kathy, Tommy, Ruth and all the others were more than just robots. They had feelings and emotions throughout the book. However when it came to sex it always seemed so functional. Especially so for Kathy (and later when Ruth admitted to sleeping with other boys at the Cottage behind Tommy's back). Kathy had such a lonely life. She didn't appear to expect much else, but I felt desperately sorry for her. What sort of society would we be if we cloned people for a purpose and then gave them half a life, but not everything that we take for granted. It was almost a "look but don't touch" attitude for the students once they left the sheltered life of Hailsham.

This did raise disturbing issues about cloning; i.e the rights of people who have been created for a specific purpose. However throughout the novel this wasn't at the forefront of my mind, I just enjoyed the story. I wanted to know if Kathy and Tommy were able to get a deferral or not, and what sort of note it would end on.