I am late to the discussion as I have been away from home over the weekend. I shall be able to listen to the audio when I get home tomorrow - thanks for that,
latepaul.
I didn’t read this book in any way as Science Fiction, but more as an allegory of the way we consider “the other” as less than ourselves, whether that is a fellow human who is a refugee for example, or a non-human creature which we consider to be there for our use and convenience, unworthy of consideration.
Quote:
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You were less than human, so it didn’t matter.
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darryl I liked your comparison of the Hailsham students as being like free range hens as opposed to the less fortunate students being like birds in a battery farm. At least their lives were happy during their childhood, but the same fate awaits them all.
One thing in the book which I noticed particularly was the emptiness of the parts of England through which Kathy travels, especially emphasised by the bleak setting of the end of the book. It was almost as if all the vibrancy of life was closed off from the path each of these so-called donors had to travel, down “the way to dusty death”.
I found the very simplicity of the telling of the story only made its implications the more chilling.
I have more to add, but will leave it until I get home tomorrow.