Book Review: Never Let Me Go

Last week I read the book Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, which was considered by Time Magazine to be the best book of 2005, as well as being short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. I've always found it a little funny that I keep coming across titles like these - books that have all sorts of critical acclaim and are in one of my favourite genres (the book is a Science Fiction novel), and it is only years after the fact I even hear about them.

The novel itself follows a woman named Kathy H. as she looks back over her childhood at a boarding school called Hailsham, a school for special children, and especially her friends Ruth and Tommy.

Without going into too many spoilers (which again, is kind of funny, considering I'm talking about a five-year-old book), I love how the book manages to introduce a feeling of anxiety and dread for the reader, while at the same time, slowly letting us know exactly what the students at Hailsham knew all along.

It's very rare I come across a Science Fiction book that fills me with a sense of incredible sadness like this book did, but don't get me wrong - I really liked it. It's kind of a gateway book, wherein fans of award winning literature may take a look at SF and fans of SF may start branching into books that win the Pullizer or the the Booker Prize.

A quick note: I'll be off camping on Wednesday, so I won't have another post up until Friday, but as it will be my 150th post, I'll try to do something special.