Oh man. I stumbled upon some super sad edits in the early tumblr days of 2011~. GIFs from the movie that looked beautiful and sad with poignant quotes in the caption. I decided to watch the movie on a whim and IT. DESTROYED. ME. To this day it is the saddest movie I have ever watched. I sobbed for days and days and pledged to never read the book. That didn't stop me from adding the Never Let Me Go song to my blue ipod nano and listening to it whenever I needed a fully body sob sesh. To this day I'll occasionally get this thought like "It is time to listen to Never Let Me Go on repeat and sob." When I saw this newsletter in my inbox my reaction was visceral. But, I read the whole post and I have to admit....I kind of want to read the book now?????? I'm gonna do it.
I will say that the movie destroyed me emotionally more than the book did! And that was with me KNOWING what would happen, because I'd read the book! I was thinking about this just the other day, how movies get to me more than anything else and that's part of why I have to be in a certain mood to watch a movie I KNOW will wreck me. Whereas I read sad books and listen to sad music all the time.
What a fantastic, thoughtful analysis of the two versions of Never Let Me Go! Now I want to reread the book since I rewatched the movie a couple of years ago to introduce the story to my husband. This book was my first by Ishiguro, and I've since read The Remains of the Day and Klara and the Sun, but it's my favorite and still lingers 15 (!) years after I first read it.
"Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading."
I would read a whole book of your literary commentary! My book like this is "The English Patient." I read it on the screened in lanai in my Florida condo, and I read it over and over again for years. I even tried Herodotus because of it!
damn now THAT is commitment! also one of those books where I've *only* seen the movie without having read the book, so I'd be interested in all the changes that were made in the adaptation there!
Oooooooh, you must read the book. Today when you get your library card fixed :) SPOILERS It's much less about the romance between the patient and the woman he was with before the crash and more about the friendship he ruined with the affair.
Okay, I got my copy off the shelf yesterday and remembered that there is this whole riff on Kipling and because of it I read "Kim." Now I know where years of my life went.
How have I never heard of this book or movie until right now?! You always do such a masterful job of both summary and commentary, I love when you do newsletters on books I've never read.
Thank you!! I'm a little shocked you hadn't heard of the book or movie but then, that was *basically* me five years ago so I can't say I haven't been there! (I had heard of both, technically, but didn't know much about them at all.)
I know this book was big, but this is the first time I've ever heard anyone TALK about it, and it was very satisfying to relive this weird, profoundly sad book today. I think you really nailed it by describing it as the way kids know but don't know things--that is the feeling these kids had in the book, but also the one the reader has, and it's so ominous and amazing how the truth of their situation comes through in hazy impressions and blips of reactions.
Yes, on a sheer writing level that's one of the things that impresses me the most about this book! The way he feeds you this information in bits and pieces, it all feels so natural, and yet it takes a while for you to fully get what's going on.
Oh, wow. I'd never read NEVER LET ME GO but have heard a lot about it in bookish spaces but this is the first content I've read/seen/heard about it that ignited in me the desire to read the book. Even knowing the ending. I feel it would destroy me in the best of ways.
Oh man. I stumbled upon some super sad edits in the early tumblr days of 2011~. GIFs from the movie that looked beautiful and sad with poignant quotes in the caption. I decided to watch the movie on a whim and IT. DESTROYED. ME. To this day it is the saddest movie I have ever watched. I sobbed for days and days and pledged to never read the book. That didn't stop me from adding the Never Let Me Go song to my blue ipod nano and listening to it whenever I needed a fully body sob sesh. To this day I'll occasionally get this thought like "It is time to listen to Never Let Me Go on repeat and sob." When I saw this newsletter in my inbox my reaction was visceral. But, I read the whole post and I have to admit....I kind of want to read the book now?????? I'm gonna do it.
I will say that the movie destroyed me emotionally more than the book did! And that was with me KNOWING what would happen, because I'd read the book! I was thinking about this just the other day, how movies get to me more than anything else and that's part of why I have to be in a certain mood to watch a movie I KNOW will wreck me. Whereas I read sad books and listen to sad music all the time.
one of my fave books and now one of my fave substack posts!!!
thank you for reading!! and I have definitely formalized in my mind that this is one of my top 5 favorite books of all time
What a fantastic, thoughtful analysis of the two versions of Never Let Me Go! Now I want to reread the book since I rewatched the movie a couple of years ago to introduce the story to my husband. This book was my first by Ishiguro, and I've since read The Remains of the Day and Klara and the Sun, but it's my favorite and still lingers 15 (!) years after I first read it.
"Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don’t go along with that. The memories I value most, I don’t ever see them fading."
I agree that this is my favorite Ishiguro, although I do just love his writing style so much. I think it's a book that only improves on reread!
I would read a whole book of your literary commentary! My book like this is "The English Patient." I read it on the screened in lanai in my Florida condo, and I read it over and over again for years. I even tried Herodotus because of it!
damn now THAT is commitment! also one of those books where I've *only* seen the movie without having read the book, so I'd be interested in all the changes that were made in the adaptation there!
Oooooooh, you must read the book. Today when you get your library card fixed :) SPOILERS It's much less about the romance between the patient and the woman he was with before the crash and more about the friendship he ruined with the affair.
Okay, I got my copy off the shelf yesterday and remembered that there is this whole riff on Kipling and because of it I read "Kim." Now I know where years of my life went.
How have I never heard of this book or movie until right now?! You always do such a masterful job of both summary and commentary, I love when you do newsletters on books I've never read.
Thank you!! I'm a little shocked you hadn't heard of the book or movie but then, that was *basically* me five years ago so I can't say I haven't been there! (I had heard of both, technically, but didn't know much about them at all.)
This happens to me sometimes; I have a few pop culture dead spots in my history for various life reasons.
I know this book was big, but this is the first time I've ever heard anyone TALK about it, and it was very satisfying to relive this weird, profoundly sad book today. I think you really nailed it by describing it as the way kids know but don't know things--that is the feeling these kids had in the book, but also the one the reader has, and it's so ominous and amazing how the truth of their situation comes through in hazy impressions and blips of reactions.
Yes, on a sheer writing level that's one of the things that impresses me the most about this book! The way he feeds you this information in bits and pieces, it all feels so natural, and yet it takes a while for you to fully get what's going on.
Oh, wow. I'd never read NEVER LET ME GO but have heard a lot about it in bookish spaces but this is the first content I've read/seen/heard about it that ignited in me the desire to read the book. Even knowing the ending. I feel it would destroy me in the best of ways.