Archive for the ‘Kazuo Ishiguro’ Category

Movie Review: The Island


07 Aug

I expected The Island to be a sci-fi version of The Lottery. It was, but more like a version of The Lottery mixed with Never Let Me Go. And if you know the short story and the novel, well, there are no twists left in the movie for you, so I’m sorry if I spoiled it for you.

It was a mostly enjoyable movie. I adore Ewan McGregor and Scarlet Johansson wasn’t bad. Sean Bean was the villain. I love him, and I know he plays a great bad guy, but I do wish he’d get more good guy roles.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (3)


01 Oct

The heart break of Never Let Me Go is the delusions the children carry with them into adulthood. They never get to enter the real world. They go from boarding school to a few brief years of freedom living with others like them, but they never get to really interact with the real world.

They believe the rumor that if two of them are truly in love, they can defer their donations, put off “completion” and live a happy life. When they are finally forced to confront the truth, the experiment that was their childhood, death is the only conclusion.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2)


30 Sep

One of the secondary concepts expressed in Never Let Me Go that I find most interesting is the idea of using the ability to create art of any sort as a measure of someone’s soul. The children are encouraged to create- paintings, poetry, anything. The children put a lot of store in it because the adults around them do, to the extent that they ridicule a child who doesn’t create.

The children, of course, don’t realize why the teachers and administrators want them to create art. The overheard conversations that speak volumes to the reader float over the narrator’s head.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (1)


28 Sep

I read reviews of Never Let Me Go when it first came out and thought it sounded fascinating, though I’ve never been a fan of “literary” fiction. Still the concepts behind the story interested me.

If you’ve never read the book, don’t read the rest of this post. The story is about children who are clones created for medical purposes. Their sole reason for existence is to serve as organ donors for “real” people once they reach adulthood. The children know this from the beginning and are raised to believe that being a donor is the highest calling in life.

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