The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 14 May 2007
by Kazuo Ishiguro
The experience of this somber but stunning novel may depend a bit on the reader's preconceptions of what will be found here. This reader knew, already, about the subtle secret that became perfectly clear only about a third of the way through the book, but that knowledge never affected the beauty of how it is revealed in Ishiguro's writing. Of course, this work was translated into a somber 2010 film of the same name. It is difficult to write about the story without exposing what it chooses to reveal in a very deliberate way.
Kathy H. is a carer. We learn that on page one, but the details unfold slowly and with a kind of grim realization that the characters in this book serve somehow a special role in society. In the meantime, Kathy reflects on her youth and her two best friends at Hailsham, the British boarding school they attend together. Ruth and Tommy are two strong personalities, and the three of them proceed in their peculiar lives together, forming and dissolving alliances and trying to understand their lives. Ishiguro beautifully captures the minefield of emotions of kids pre-teen and into their twenties. That these kids, and everyone at the school, have a special status in society only enhances the strangeness of their relationships. The trio forms a nearly claustrophobic core to the novel, as most other characters and the wide world beyond Hailsham are very distant. Yet, what unfolds is sensitive and affecting. Ishiguro pulls in many contemporary ethical questions. The only uneven note in this fascinating novel is the somewhat saturated denouement that explicates many of these ethical issues. But Ishiguro has attempted a dramatic and significant work. And the Booker prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day largely succeeds. The book could ultimately be read as a dramatic cautionary tale. Will it change the way mankind navigates some murky ethical waters? If history is any guide, that's not very likely. In the meantime, with this book, we can pause to reflect on grand questions, as well as on the private inquiry into the meaning of life.
(Ishiguro was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature.)
Also by Ishiguro: [The Buried Giant]