Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including loss, materialism and the ethical limits of modern science. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 50-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Kazuo Ishiguro
• Presentation of Never Let Me Go
• Summary of Never Let Me Go
• Character study
  • Kathy
  • Ruth
  • Tommy
  • Miss Emily
  • Madame
  • Miss Lucy
• Analysis of Never Let Me Go
  • Humanity
  • Materialism
  • Memories and style

About Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go was first published in 2005 and reflects contemporary anxieties about the repercussion of scientific developments. This dystopian novel is set in a parallel version of England in the 1990s and follows a group of human clones who have been created for the sole purpose of providing organs for donations, after which they will die. In the meantime, they must navigate friendships and love, and grapple with the meaning of their tragically short existences.

Never Let Me Go was named Time magazine’s best novel of the year in 2005; it was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. The novel was adapted into a film starring Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield in 2010.

About Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro is a contemporary Japanese-born British author. He is best-known for his novels Never Let Me Go, The Remains of the Day and The Buried Giant, and typically uses his writing to explore the themes of memory, nostalgia and human failings. Ishiguro’s work has met with both popular enthusiasm and critical acclaim: he won the Man Booker Prize in 1989 and has made the award’s shortlist other occasions, and in 2017 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, garnering praise from the jury for the “great emotional force” of his novels.