Just how lucky we'd been

I picked up Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go because it was described as a dystopian story. The events take place in 1990s England, but it's not quite the place and time that I remember. Kathy narrates the tale. She tells us about her relationship with Tommy and Ruth, her friends at a school called Hailsham. Ishiguro's descriptions of childhood and teenage relationships, told through Kathy's memory really capture what it's like to be different (Tommy), popular (Ruth), and not quite one of the in-crowd (Kathy). We get to know the teachers, which ones were favourites, their peculiarities, but you're constantly aware while reading that Kathy is telling the story because she has learned something recently, something that is revealed in the last pages.

I watched the 2010 film after finishing the book, but thought it lacking. This is nearly always the case with trying to fit a novel into a couple of hours. I don't want to reveal any spoilers, and so this review is necessarily short. If you want to know more, there's a 2006 Guardian interview with Kazuo Ishiguro that explains everything.