Book of the Month Dec.: Never Let Me Go.

I saw this trailer for "Never Let Me Go" back in September and was intrigued. I never go to the movies though so I figured I had the time to read the book before the movie came out on video; right now it's saved on my Netflix for when it comes out.

Kazuo Ishiguro wasn't an author I was familiar with and I'm not sure what drew me to the book or the movie. For one I'm not a big fan of Kiera Knightly; however, I do love Atonement, but not because of Miss Knightly.

I got the book for my birthday. I actually stopped into Borders months ago to pick up the novel, ready to use a 40% off coupon I had from my BordersRewards emails. But when I walked in, there was an adorable man doing a book signing. He was just so sweet, and when he described his book it sounded good, so I bought it and had him sign it for me. It wasn't very good, and I didn't get very far, but I still feel good about supporting a first time novelist. Hopefully I will be one someday.

I didn't start it right away because I'm always reading several books at a time, but once I got into it, I felt a promise for the rest of the book. What drew me to the book though wasn't particularly great writing, plot, or characters. It made me feel not like I was in the book, but that I had been there at some point in my life. If this is confuising, I'm sorry, but the feeling sends me for a loop too. I've never been to England, I never lived in a boarding school, and I was not cloned to harvest organs from, but it somehow tapped into memories that I don't even really remember. It was sort of a de ja vu of pure emotion.

The problem with this sort of opinion on the book is that I can't reccomend the book based on my response. The same book that gave me that response won't give it to someone else. I do reccomend the book, however. I could relate to the coming of age story, and the book's mostly simplistic writing allowed the story and characters to emerge on their own rather than the author trying to bring them to life.

The book also holds a controversial morality question of cloning. I liked that this part of the book developed through a story instead of being to philosophical from the very beginning. The plot actually strings the reader along for a good portion of the book before the issue is even addressed. The author uses the character of one of the teachers in the boarding school to express his philosphy on what it would be like to create humans merely for cloning and how if there ever was such a thing, clones should have the right to experiencing life, art, and love. However, he saves it for the end and keeps it short. I don't like it when authors use a novel just to house their opinions without letting the opinions come out in the story.

I'm excited for the movie and I really want to like it in the movie form; I think I will.