Nov 22
First off, I’ll say that this book is impossible to review without explaining one major part of the plot, a part that I’ve kept under wraps in my previous posts about Never Let Me Go.
So if you want to read the book, and you want to go in totally blind like I did, then you may want to skip this review. That said, I don’t plan on spoiling the ending or sharing any groundbreaking stuff. I will simply explain what the book is about.
So what’s Never Let Me Go about?
Clichés are a writer’s sworn enemy.
They take up unneeded space, offer no originality and very little insight. But they’ve become clichés because everyone uses them, which makes it difficult for a writer to get out of that habit.
When it comes to clichés, I’m guilty as sin (Did you see what just happened there? The irony!) But I would expect more experienced, award-winning novelists to avoid clichés like the plague (Oh no. It happened again.)
Why is the title of this novel so bad, so cheesy?
I’m halfway into Never Let Me Go. As I told you on Tuesday, I’m really enjoying the book to this point. The premise of the novel is eery and uncomfortable, but that’s what makes it so intriguing. However, I still can’t get over this title.
In my preview, I said the title sounded like a cheesy Britney Spears lyric. Come to find out, “Never Let Me Go” is actually a lyric from a song in the book. I guess I was almost right.
You guys already know about my admitted dislike of the title of the current novel I’m reading, Never Let Me Go. I mentioned that in my preview last week.
And I’ve got to say that for the first 70-80 pages, I wasn’t impressed with this novel. The plot seemed to develop slowly, the young characters didn’t seem that interesting to me. In the back of my mind, I had already decided I probably wouldn’t like this book, even though many of you recommended it.
But, then, I came to this passage on page 81:
Right away, I’ve got a problem with this novel.
The title. That title sounds like a cheesy lyric from a Britney Spears song. Or maybe Enrique Iglesias. Or maybe the name of a Lifetime movie. Either way, the title doesn’t jump out and say, “Please read me!”
That aside, I don’t have much to say about Never Let Me Go, other than the fact that it’s an extremely popular book that’s received a lot of recognition. You guys also seemed to like it a lot, since it was one of the five novels you voted for me to read next. So I’m taking your word.
Here are a few quick facts:
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