WO121 Bilingual books: Never Let Me Go (Auprès de moi toujours) by Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro’s reflective Never Let Me Go uses science-fiction to frame themes of human life, memory, love and childhood innocence.  Published in 2005, Ishiguro uses his trademark technique of understated narration to tackle the wider issue of the role of the individual and the relentless passage of time.

‘At times uncomfortably, for a work that aims to give us a distilled and persevering human essence, we can sense the controlling care with which Ishiguro invents and organizes (Kathy’s) memories. Yet if the novel feels a bit too distant to move us to outright heartbreak, it delivers images of odd beauty and a mounting existential distress that hangs around long after we read it.’ New York Times.