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My very first Kazuo Ishiguro's work. Certainly not the last.

This book aggressively provoked emotions in me without ever being that emotional at all. It didn't whine; didn't scream at me, just smoothly narrated the story to me, very matter-of-factly, even at times in a detaching way. And yet, the sadness I felt after finishing it, and even before that, was so disproprotionate, it took me wholly by surprise.

It wasn't a love at first sight by any means, I needed a whole month to finish it. The first time I got stuck in the middle of the first half and put it aside for months. *gasp*

So even with my 5 stars rating, I understand it's far from perfect and is certainly not a book for everybody.

A few reviewers mentioned that it depends on your personal experiences how much you can appreciate this book. And by god truer words have never been said. Yes! I'm positive that I would not have loved it as much if I read it prior to 2009 / when I still had my 'good health'. I would even venture to say I'd probably have hated this book when I was still one of the normal healthy population. But as it happens, I met Never Let Me Go in 2013 and that fact directly impacted how I conceive the premise and the characters' thought process.

The thing was I get Kathy.

I get why she was so passive. I get why she resisted believing there was a 'way out' for them. Because to lose that kind of hope, that staunch a believe could be extremely devastating. And I understand why Kathy wanted to avoid that kind of heartbreak. I think, in a way, it sort of became her defense mechanism to not be passionate, about anything. To avoid all the disappointments.

I felt so sorry for her. So sorry for them all. For their 'fate', for their ruined friendships, for everything.

It's hard for me just writing about this book and these 'cursed' characters...
It just hit me like a brick to the chest. That is all I can say...