Never Let Me Go - Plot summary
Never Let Me Go is a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. It was published in 2005 but is set in the 1990s. However, Ishiguro’s version of 1990s society is not one that readers will recognise. A dystopiaA society which is different, often with frightening belief systems or extremely harsh rules. exists where many individuals are cloneA genetic copy of another human, scientifically made in a laboratory. from other people in order to be used as organ donorAn individual who donates their vital organs such as the liver or kidneys to other people.. The narrator Kathy H is an adult who is looking back at events that occurred when she was a pupil at Hailsham school. Her narration often leaps from the past to the present. Kathy and her friends, Ruth and Tommy, along with all the other pupils at Hailsham, are among those who have been cloned for the purpose of organ donation. Completion, (or death) usually occurs after the fourth organ donation.
As the novel progresses it becomes clear that initially Kathy and her friends have not fully comprehendTo understand. what the future has in store for them. It is not until Miss Lucy, one of their guardians The teachers who look after the students at Hailsham., explains clearly that there is no point in Hailsham pupils planning future careers, that they begin to face the reality of their situation. The novel follows Kathy, Ruth and Tommy as they leave Hailsham and begin their lives as adults. Kathy becomes a carer The carers look after the people who have begun the donation process., looking after those who have already donated until it’s time for her too to become a donor.