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Never Let Me Go; The Friendship
Oct. 28th, 2007 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanguinity15. Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go.
I read Remains of the Day long ago, and from the beginning through nearly the end, I would have characterized it as quietly interesting but nothing all that special-- right until the climax blindsided me.
Never Let Me Go had much of the same feel as Remains -- quiet, psychological, told by an unreliable narrator who is actively trying to avoid coming to the point. I read along contentedly, waiting for Ishiguro to blindside me. When I finished the book, I was still waiting.
(It didn't much help that about where the climax should have been, Ishiguro gave us a heavy-handed denouement that had all the gracelessness of, "Before I kill you, Mr. Bond--")
So, eh. Not a waste of my time -- there's plenty to discuss in there, and I wouldn't mind an evening's discussion of it. However, it's not especially recommended, either.
16. Mildred D. Taylor, The Friendship
OMG.
Nearing the climax, I suddenly realized what the title of this book was, and immediately felt like an idiot for not remembering Taylor's explicit statements about friendship in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Which is as close as I'm going to go to giving a plot summary or a review. Well, except this: highly recommended.
I read Remains of the Day long ago, and from the beginning through nearly the end, I would have characterized it as quietly interesting but nothing all that special-- right until the climax blindsided me.
Never Let Me Go had much of the same feel as Remains -- quiet, psychological, told by an unreliable narrator who is actively trying to avoid coming to the point. I read along contentedly, waiting for Ishiguro to blindside me. When I finished the book, I was still waiting.
(It didn't much help that about where the climax should have been, Ishiguro gave us a heavy-handed denouement that had all the gracelessness of, "Before I kill you, Mr. Bond--")
So, eh. Not a waste of my time -- there's plenty to discuss in there, and I wouldn't mind an evening's discussion of it. However, it's not especially recommended, either.
16. Mildred D. Taylor, The Friendship
OMG.
Nearing the climax, I suddenly realized what the title of this book was, and immediately felt like an idiot for not remembering Taylor's explicit statements about friendship in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Which is as close as I'm going to go to giving a plot summary or a review. Well, except this: highly recommended.
