Never Let Me Go

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. New York: Random House, 2005.

Do you remember Dolly, the first cloned sheep?  Imagine that cloning had been wildly successful and that human cloning was sanctioned by law.  In this scenario, clones could be created and used as organ donors, growing up away from a family (since they didn't really have parents) and sheltered and cared for until their organs were needed.  These clones would likely become close to each other, but those caring for them would necessarily need a sort of detachment so that they would not grow to love someone who would face an early death ...

This world you have just imagined is the one described in Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. This novel chronicles the life of Kathy, a clone who has become a carer, a person who cares for other clones after their donation surgeries.  She will be a carer until she is assigned a donation, and then she will donate until she "completes." Several of her classmates have already donated, and some have even completed.  Kathy describes the world of the boarding school where she grew up and shares memories of herself and two of her closest friends as she reminisces about days gone by.

This story is mildly interesting.  The cloning idea intrigued me, but there was little in the way of a plot in this story, and the temporal jumps from memory to memory became awkward.  Apparently there is now a movie of this book as well.  I would recommend checking this book out of the library if you're interested, but it's probably not a good one to add to your bookshelves at home.