Skip to main content

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro



“Don’t you wonder sometimes, what might have happened if you tried?”

“She always wanted to believe in things.”

“All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.”

“You say you’re sure? Sure that you’re in love? How can you know it? You think love is so simple? ”

“The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.”

“I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel, world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go.”

"I could make out in the mid-distance, near where the field began to fall away, Tommy's figure, raging, shouting, flinging his fists and kicking out. I caught a glimpse of his face in the moonlight, caked in mud and distorted with fury, then I reached for his failing arms and held on tight. He tried to shake me off, but I kept holding on, until he stopped shouting and I felt the fight go out of him. Then I realised he too had his arms around me. And so we stood together like that, at the top of the field, for what seemed like ages, not saying anything, just holding each other, while the wind kept blowing and blowing at us, tugging our clothes, and for a moment, it seemed like we were holding onto each other because that was the only way to stop us being swept away into the night.”

“Even the solitude, I've actually grown to quite like... I do like the feeling of getting into my little car, knowing for the next couple of hours I'll have only the roads, the big gray sky and my daydreams for company.”

“We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.

Some lines from Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, one of my favorite books.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Books I Read in June 2025— Arundhati Roy, BR Ambedkar and More

 Today is the last day of June, and I feel compelled to jot down the books I read this month to reflect on my experience and learnings. These are the books: ~The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen ~My Seditious Heart by Arundhati Roy ~Annihilation of Caste by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar ~History of Modern Manipur by Lal Dena Just four. It's okay, really. There is no compulsion to read 6/7 books every month. Reading fewer books doesn't mean I'm learning less. In fact, I learned more deeply. The books this month have been impactful in different ways. Clearly, there is a shift in my choices, and I feel this was meant to be. Meaning, I'm leaning more into nonfiction now. I guess I've always been angry and frustrated deep inside. Angry about the climate crisis, social injustice, discrimination, violence, war, exploitation, etc., etc. I was just deluding myself, living in the comforting world of fiction, escaping all these thoughts. As I read more nonfiction, I get angrier, but I k...

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

So I recently watched the 2017 Russian adaptation of Anna Karenina , an eight-part series by Mosfilm (one of the largest and oldest film studios in the Russian Federation and in Europe, according to Wikipedia). This one takes a unique narrative approach, presenting the story from Vronsky’s perspective.  Let me tell you—I was absolutely enthralled. From the acting to the costumes, the sets to the overall production quality, I liked almost everything about this adaptation, except for a few scenes and bits here and there. The performances felt authentic and moving, capturing the essence of the novel’s characters with remarkable fidelity. So satisfying was this adaptation that I’m not eager to seek out others. Somehow, I feel that no other version could match the artistry of this one. I’d like to explore more films and series by this studio, and I most certainly will. And I don't know why it's got such low ratings: 6.3/10 on IMDb and 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. It DESERVES much higher!...

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

"A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles begins with a map of Moscow, 1922, showing the Metropol Hotel and an epigraph, the poem "Where Is It Now?" by Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, 1913.  Published : 2016 Author : Amor Towles  Genres : Historical Fiction, Urban fiction, Political fiction Pages : 462 My rating : 3.5/5 The novel is divided into five parts and presents a unique premise: a gentleman under house arrest in a luxury hotel in Moscow. At first glance, this premise does not seem particularly compelling for a full-length novel (at least for me), but Towles manages to craft an engaging and elegant narrative. One of the novel's highlights is its prose, sophisticated and beautiful. Towles' admiration for Russian literature is evident throughout the book, and I couldn't relate more. I found the conversations between the protagonist, Count Rostov, and his friends—Mishka, Osip, Anna, and Nina—particularly enjoyable. It shows the author's talent for di...