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Originally Posted by darryl
@Bookworm_Girl. This is the only book by Ishiguro I have read, and quite possibly the only one I ever will read. Personally I didn't see memory as a major theme. To me, memory was the device used to tell the "story", such as it was, but not a major theme in itself. Perhaps I would see things differently had I read some of his other works? But if this work is intended as a stand-alone novel yet a major theme is not apparent from the novel alone, then has the novel failed to at least some extent? Or is memory a major theme of the authors work as opposed to any particular book?
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Tonight is the first chance I've had to respond to your questions. Memory is Ishiguro's big subject matter that is prevalent in his works. Because of his awards and decades-long career, there are numerous interviews and videos available to browse. He is very open and so much is out there in "his own words" about the meanings behind his works. I can't "unread" the other books of his (or the interviews that I read in the past) so that influenced how I read
Never Let Me Go for sure.
This book was published in the middle of the other books that I have read, which makes it interesting to compare the progression of memory as a subject matter. His earlier works were elderly narrators looking back on their lives with a self-deception and regret about what led them to where they are (unreliable narrators).
I think this book is interesting because it opens with a young women (30-ish) reflecting on school and early adult memories. When you start reading the book, you know that she is transitioning from being a carer, but you don't know all the details. As you discover the details that have been concealed, you realize that although she is young she is reflecting on her memories as she is facing the transition from carer to donor and completion (death). Rather than being remorseful like Ishiguro's other novels, Kathy's memories as she is facing mortality (and the end of her life span) are more comforting. She is reliving her memories of the people closest to her who have left this world before her. Looking at her hanging on to these memories from this perspective gives another meaning to the title "Never Let Me Go." While the clones are outsiders to the rest of their normal world, they do have feelings of friendship and love for each other, even if they have also hurt each other in the past. That's the nature of relationships that there will be positive and negative feelings at times.
In his most recent book,
The Buried Giant Ishiguro again focused on an elderly couple. However in this book, he addressed the collective memories of an entire nation and how they may bury the past. As a result, this book switched from first-person to third-person narration.