Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go Chosen as ’15-’16 Honors Read
After cutting 28 nominees to 8 and a semester of deliberation, the Honors Read class decided on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go to be next Honors Read. As per annual tradition, the Honors Read is read by every incoming first year student and will form the basis for the first week’s discussions and lectures.
Never Let Me Go was published in 2005. It is a dystopian science fiction novel grounded in a coming of age story about children in an English boarding school called Hailsham, a school that holds a terrible secret about the origins of its students and for the state of humanity. Told from the chilling perspective of Kathy, the story follows her, Ruth, Tommy, and a number of interesting characters as they grow up in the mysteriously isolated and twisted community of Hailsham and out as they explore the limitations of their future after graduation.
The book contains a multitude of commentaries on scientific progress, the nature of humanity and community, love and youth, mortality, and the meaning of art. Beyond its themes, the novel is simultaneously moving and thought provoking, important to read and engaging enough to draw you to the very end.
Thank you to Allison Stewlow, Ciera Lamontagne, Dan Perriello, Katie Lees, Mitchell Benoit, Rowan Wallace, and Stephen Achorn for their hard work in deciding on this book. We look forward to sending it to our students and discussing it with them.