Tommy Deserved Better

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Contained within these pages is perhaps one of the greatest, if not most tragic love stories to exist. I did not go into this book looking for a romance, but as I read, it soon became all I was interested in. It consumed me and tore at me while it wrestled out on the page. After all, isn’t love that one thing that truly makes us human, besides thinking? The ability to consciously love someone despite all their faults?

The guardians at Hailsham agree— Kathy and Tommy are different then the other couples that get together on the school’s grounds. People say the school is pronounced Hail-shum, but I don’t think that’s accurate. After all, it’s Hail! to the sham. The illusion of safety. The illusion that perhaps there is a way out of the donations. The illusion that perhaps love can save you. It’s enough, isn’t it?

I will be disturbed by this novel for the rest of my life, most likely. I don’t think the message of this story really sinks in until you have watched the movie (which I recommend, though be wary because it is difficult to watch due to the intense emotions). Why do some get to live on past century while others are bred— there is no other term for it—to die as their vital organs are taken out one by one before they even reach 4 decades? And why is their life—and their love—any less real?