(SPOILERS) Scariest part of Never Let me Go

[jw_sisyphus97]

I read Ishiguro's NLMG last year and it's still messing with my head. It's easily one of my favorite books now, even if calling a book this completely bleak a favorite feels depressing.

Everyone always talks about the slow burn and brutal reveal of what their reality actually is. But for me the true horror of the book was how completely passive Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are. I mean... they never even try to fight back or run away?? They just accept that they're literal spare parts for society.

It feels less like a standard dystopian plot and way more like a direct call-out of how we live our own lives. We just accept the messed up systems we're born into because we're conditioned to. We become complicit in our own consumption. Its terrifying because they aren't even capable of imaging what freedom looks like.

If anybody read this book - curious how you all interpreted their passivity. Was it a realistic take on childhood indoctrination, or did it just drive you crazy that they didn't try to fight it all? Because their quiet resignation is so hard to swallow but it also feels way too close to reality.

 

[Life's not a comedy]

Saw that movie way too long ago to remember but I think I was shocked so that I'm sure is why. I recently saw 'the Island' which is the same concept that you might be interested in. It was made before Never Let Me Go. It's more visual focused than fulfilling character development which was annoying cause it could've been a decent movie. Also thought of 'the Menu' which has similar themes but not related to cloning. These things are here now. Tom Brady cloned his dog I recently read and something about China's governmental issue of harvesting persecuted prisoners or something. Billion dollar organ trafficking trade, you'd have to look it up cause I wasn't paying attention to what I heard. But conforming and being complicit is all the rage for half the country. It's too much work to care and speak out now. Then again the other half of the country is trying to do just that. Both crowds are so loud now and we're at the point where if you don't outwardly oppose the idea then you're for it; so yes, complicity. When your environment is limited and oppressed, you lose access to your options and add extra weight to an already burdensome situation. These conditionings are at every turn too. Scary.

 

[jw_sisyphus97]

You're right - The Menu is a good companion to Never Let Me Go. THe way the guests just sit there and accept their end because they feel like they belong in that system is a similar, but different kind of passivity. Ishiguro's book is more like biological conditioning, The Menu is more total exhaustion. I understood the head chef character. He realized that the art he loved had been turned into a product for people who do not actually care about it. It makes me think about how we treat history or philosophy in academia sometimes. We often turn deep, painful human experiences into data points or talking points for a seminar. In that process, the actual meaning gets lots. It was definitely more theatrical than the movies i usually go for, but the focus on how people become complicit in their own destruction felt very relevant. Same idea of being unable to imagine a world outside of the one that is currently consuming you. ANyway, thanks for the movie recs, I've been meaning to revisit some darker dramas lately!