Never Let Me Go: Home

"Loss, memory, regret. Writer Kazuo Ishiguro explores these issues beautifully in all six of his novels. The most famous, "The Remains of the Day," is set in England just before the Second World War. His most recent work, "Never Let Me Go," is set in contemporary England with a disturbing twist. Kazuo Ishiguro spoke to DAY TO DAY's Karen Grigsby Bates for our Wednesday Book Report ... "

"At its core Never Let Me Go is a love story. Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel traces the twists and turns of romance between Kathy H. and Tommy D. from our first encounter with them at Hailsham, a well-manicured boarding school lost in the English countryside, to their final goodbye outside a dilapidated hospital, more than two decades later ... "

" ... Looking at Ishiguro's oeuvre, a series of clear and coherent themes emerge. Barry Lewis of Sunderland University has written a critical study of Ishiguro's work and notes that "notions of identity and how an individual sustains a sense of self as historical circumstances cast a new light on events is something he returns to time and again. It links to the sense of how memory might be used as a tool to keep your dignity and maintain a sense of self." Ishiguro's latest novel, Never Let Me Go, is published next month and again reflects some of these preoccupations ... "

"This is a sad, complex, haunting novel which raises huge questions about family, memory, exploitation and ‘othering’ ... "