Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

Evan’s ESS = 8 out of 10

Erin’s ESS = out of 10

Content = PG-14 (Adult Content, Mild Language, Violence, Completion…)

Why: Probably our favorite dystopian novel of all time (please note the utilization of the noncommittal “probably”).  Definitely, Never Let Me Go is our favorite of its kind to take place in a fictional boarding school in Britain.  Kazuo Ishiguro does a masterful job holding back critical information as he takes the reader deep within the plot before exposing the horrors of the world he’s created.  For that reason we will unceremoniously reveal the hook.  The students at Hailsham are in fact…. just kidding.

Never Let Me Go was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker prize and made it onto TIME’s 100 best list.  It’s been translated into over 20 languages and just recently hit the big screen, where the screenplay was written by Alex Garland (The Beach).  As a final precaution, make sure you’re in the right mood.  Like most dystopian fiction, don’t expect a plot filled with rainbows, cotton candy, and circus clowns.  Instead, if you’re looking for something thought provoking and a little creepy, Ishiguro’s novel will deliver.