Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go starts off at Hailsham boarding school - this is obviously not a normal one as the children are not taught life skills, but rather various forms of art and poetry, where the best ones are being picked by Madame. It is not a normal school as the teachers keep on reminding their students to stay healthy, and also the surroundings of the school is somewhat isolated from the rest of the outside world. The three main characters - Tommy, Ruth and Kathy are three close friends; Tommy being an isolated boy, Ruth being and extrovert while Kathy being more of a passive observer. It is shown that both Tommy and Ruth have reciprocate feelings for each other, but they both refuse to pursue each other. Tommy and Ruth then pair off into a relationship during their adolescent years,(despite the bond between Tommy and Kathy) and this relationship continues to blossom through the second part of the novel when they all grow up and enter adulthood, moving into the 'Cottages', allowing them to begin contact with the external world. Tensions start to rise between the three friends as they struggle to accept the reality outside Hailsham and to understand each other.

In the third section on the novel, both Tommy and Ruth become donors while Kathy becomes a carer. After about 10 years apart from each other, Kathy then visits a hospital to discover that it's where Ruth has been staying. She has done her second donation, and her health has deteriorated terribly. She suggests that they go for a trip, and Kathy picks up Tommy who has become extremely fragile. During the trip, Ruth expresses remorse towards Tommy and Kathy for coming in between their relationship, revealing that she was afraid of being alone. She urges them to go into a relationship and hands them Madame's address, telling Tommy to seek for a deferral (?). Ruth gives her last donation and dies.

Kathy takes care of Tommy, and to fulfill Ruth's last wishes, they pay a visit to Madame, showing her Tommy's artwork. They then learnt that the artworks were a failure to prove to society that clones (like them) had souls. They then learnt that the whole point of Hailsham was to make use of their organs by donating them to the needy. Tommy is horrified by his epiphany, whilst Kathy remains humble as if she has accepted her fate. The story ends when Tommy gives his last donor and becomes 'completed', whilst Kathy eventually does so and dies as well.

This book has absolutely been the best one I've ever seen. It's such a tragic novel that I've cried ever so much after finishing it. It's extremely intriguing and enthralling and although at times a bit contrived and too scary, I've really really loved this book so much. There are however some parts that I didn't understand, such as the deferral (and the word by itself) but I've generally been pleased with the novel.

PS: The film's an excellent one too!