Never Let Me Go: The Dark Underbelly of Science

Book Review of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go

My mother-in-law recently recommended Never Let Me Go to me, and although I had read and enjoyed Ishiguro before, I was saving this well-known Ishiguro novel for later in life. But she recommended it so highly that I decided to go ahead and read it. She had told me that the beginning was confusing, and sure enough when I got into it, I could see why. Ishiguro's style is to trust that his readers are smart enough to read between the lines, and he only shares information in the most subtle, ingenious of ways. For that reason and many others, I am glad that I read this novel, but it left a hole in my belly because of its raw reality. The book is technically science fiction, but everything within is entirely plausible, and that terrified me. 

The following contains spoilers. The novel focuses on three main characters; Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy. The three are friends, but the relationship between the three of them is tensed by the fact that they are essentially clones of existing humans. They are made and raised gradually learning that their life will be given wholly for the "real" humans. It is alluded to that they serve as medical organ donors. That’s all I will say regarding the plot. It really is an interesting read, and it's more fast-paced than some of Ishiguro's others. More than anything, it is a novel that really questions what it means to be human and who is deserving of what humanity has to offer. 

Never Let Me Go is a novel that really questions what it means to be human and who is deserving of what humanity has to offer.

I definitely recommend this book. In fact, if you only read one Ishiguro novel, make it this one. Why do I recommend it so highly? Well, because Ishiguro taps into a fallacy of humanity in this novel: in his contemplations of a society that clones people, he explores the humanistic drive to constantly improve, or at least believe that we are doing so. And before you think, "bah! Cloning like that won't ever happen," hold on, the science of cloning for profit or aid is not improbable, not by a long shot. The possibility of medical clones has already been well researched, and has actually been used for profit in countries like South Korea. This was a topic I delved deep into when I taught as an English Professor because one of our textbook chapters focused on the science of cloning. As I taught the lessons, I shared this video with students; it's a video about the dog cloning industry in South Korea. Give it a watch if you're interested.

The science of cloning, though still not perfect, is definitely well-researched and has the potential to shape human lives in a big way within the next few generations. And it could be used to help people! It could give arms to those born without, legs to those who lost them in war, lungs to those who lost them in a long battle with cancer. But it is absolutely vital, as Ishiguro proves, that we move forward with cloning in a way that takes a deep consideration of any ethical or moral repercussions. It is deeply troubling to me that many of those who are pushing cloning research are those with business motives.

As stated earlier, this novel exposes the dark underbelly of science and the inherent human need to constantly improve, constantly re-assess, constantly advance. This is what we think, right? That “We are so much better than those in the 1900s, 1800s, 1600s,  100s. We are so much more technologically advanced, so much more civil.” And all our accomplishments, all our skyscrapers, all our medical advances, all our wires, all our buzzing screens, validate this belief. But are these things really better? In some ways, yes. In other ways, maybe not. There's a reason so many people today are aching for days long past in which technology was not so prominent. In history, there is a great debate: Is humanity linear (constantly improving) or cyclical (constantly improving, then regressing). I think about this a lot. I especially considered this debate as I read Never Let Me Go. What is the point of improving as a society, if it means compromising our moral beliefs and hurting those we create in the process?

We’ve come to a point in our society, where science and medicine can do things that people in ancient times would have insisted was magic. We’re there. But is that necessarily good? How long before advances in technology lead to a place like Ishiguro’s novel - where humans are made just to be harvested, just to keep the "real humans" alive and well? It terrifies me. This urge to accept science as good without considering the moral questions. Why can’t we stay at a softer place? A place where kids wake up to Saturday morning cartoons, but turn the TV off once the news rolls in? A place where dinners are still eaten around a table with laughing, arguing, communicating families? A place where kids are accepted by other kids, rather than by chatgpt?

Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go shows that There's an urge to accept science as good without considering all of the moral and ethical questions.

I guess I am showing my old lady side. I always long for a time when kids still rode bikes around the neighborhood, when they didn’t stare at screens for fun. I miss the days when there was enough technology to communicate with family across the country, but phones were still attached to the wall. Technology is great, but if history is cyclical, will technology eventually be our downfall? These were my thoughts as I read Ishiguro's masterful novel. This book will make you think. That’s for certain. If you've read or watched the movie, what did you think?