Still Holding On: NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro is 20 Years Old!

It’s time to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, one of the best books of the 21st century! It seems impossible, but 2005 was two decades ago now. It’s when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast of the US, the first video was uploaded to YouTube, “We Belong Together” by Mariah Carey topped the music charts, and much-lauded author Kazuo Ishiguro released his sixth novel, Never Let Me Go, a work of dystopian beauty and sadness.

Whether you are a huge fan of the book or have never read it before, read on to learn more! There are no spoilers, I promise.

The Book

As I said, I don’t want to spoil the novel for you, because it’s got a BIG spoiler that is central to the story. And telling you what it is would ruin some of its magic. So here are the bare bones of the plot: It centers around three students at Hailsham, an English boarding school, Ruth C, Tommy D, and Kathy H. The novel follows them first at the school and then again later when they are reunited as adults, as they try to make sense of events and their places in the world. I know, that doesn’t really tell you a lot, but it’s worth going into the book knowing very little, I promise.

It is the epitome of a haunting novel, one about friendship, love, and what it means to be human. Twenty years later, it is more relevant than ever, as the subjugation and repression of groups of people to improve the lives of other people continues to be perpetrated all over the world.

Its author, Kazuo Ishiguro, was already well-loved, having released five previous novels to great acclaim, including The Remains of the Day, which won the 1989 Booker Prize. In 2017, Ishiguro was given the Nobel Prize in Literature, which is bestowed on an author for their body of work. He has won or been nominated for dozens of awards, including an Academy Award nomination in 2023 for Best Adapted Screenplay. He has also been given many national honors, including being appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Knight Bachelor, and Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, all for services to literature

Never Let Me Go was named Time’s Book of the Year in 2005. It was also nominated for the 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award, the 2006 Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the 2005 Man Booker Prize. (The other shortlisted Booker nominees that year? Arthur & George by Julian Barnes, A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry, The Accidental by Ali Smith, On Beauty by Zadie Smith, and the winner, The Sea by John Banville.)

You can hear Kazuo Ishiguro’s thoughts on the novel for its anniversary (with mild spoilers) here!

The Movie

In 2010, a film adaptation of the novel was released. It was directed by Mark Romanek and the screenplay was written by Alex Garland. It stars Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, and Carey Mulligan in excellent performances from early in their careers. The three actors now have received tons of awards and nominations, including eight Academy Award nominations between them! The movie itself did well with critics and was nominated for several awards, with most of the spotlight on the performances by Garfield and Mulligan.

Books to Read If You Love NEVER LET ME GO

MEM by Bethany C. Morrow

A living representation of a memory stored in a vault begins to form her own memories and is released into the world to make a life for herself, and then is just as quickly recalled back to the vault.

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa, Stephen Snyder (translator) 

On an unnamed island, the government has started removing objects and citizens’ memories of those objects. And the people who still retain the memories of these things are hunted by the Memory Police.

For more on Never Let Me Go and Kazuo Ishiguro, be sure to check out Your Guide to Kazuo Ishiguro’s Books and Okay, NYT Got It Right With This Best of the 21st Century Book Pick. (Both are by Emily Martin, who really likes Kazuo Ishiguro.)

Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the Book Riot podcast All the Books! and on Bluesky and  Instagram.

The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.

This week, we’re highlighting a post that celebrates the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby! Revisit F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic (and emblem of assigned reading) and get a crash course on the book’s history, including challenges encountered by its readers and adapters. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.

January 16, 2025, marked the 100th anniversary of the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. The New York Public Library celebrated with a party, following a special performance of the Broadway musical adaptation of the novel. Simon and Schuster recently released a new audiobook with an introduction by Jesmyn Ward.

The novel’s theme of reinventing oneself is timeless. The ideas of living a lie by reinventing yourself and wealth making people callous are equally resonant today. How did this novel become so influential, especially on other American novels, and a fixture on high school syllabi? Was it always a bestseller? What aspects of Gatsby hold up, and which ones have aged terribly?

Fitzgerald’s original title for The Great Gatsby was Trimalchio in West Egg. I think the publisher was right to change it. Trimalchio is a character from the ancient Roman work The Satyricon. Combined with the fictional West Egg neighborhood, this reference is cryptic. Gatsby is now an icon in his own right. He doesn’t need a classical allusion for us to notice the theme of excessive wealth.

In a 2014 NPR interview, Maureen Corrigan, the author of So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures, explained how Gatsby became popular. Initial reception was mixed, ranging from the headline “Fitzgerald’s Latest a Dud,” to Modernist poets like T. S. Eliot saying they loved it. When Fitzgerald died in 1940, Gatsby was unpopular (but not out of print). A few years later, it was republished for US service members in World War II, and 123,000 copies were given to members of the military through the Armed Services Editions.

After World War II, Gatsby was no longer an obscure book with mixed reviews. It was considered a classic and became a staple of countless high school syllabi. Constance Grady wrote that Gatsby was ideal for many 20th and early 21st-century English teachers’ emphasis on New Criticism. It’s a great choice for close readings of short passages and analyzing symbolism. However, historical context is also crucial and should never be downplayed, especially in terms of bias.

The Great Gatsby possibly condemns white supremacist theories but uses racist language elsewhere. Tom Buchanan reads white supremacist books and goes on racist rants. Daisy mocks him for this. It’s easy to read this as condemning Tom’s overall bigotry. However, Fitzgerald also expressed racist and antisemitic views in real life.

Sign up to become an All Access member for only $6/month and then click here to read the full, unlocked article. Level up your reading life with All Access membership and explore a full library of exclusive bonus content, including must-reads, deep dives, and reading challenge recommendations.