It’s been a busy month for Flips Flipping Pages, with not one, not two, but three book discussions crammed within the month. Earlier this month, we Flippers met up with National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose to conclude last year’s Rosales Saga readalong, then two Saturdays back we had the unofficial discussion on Helene Hanff’s “84 Charing Cross Road” (which I moderated).
Last Saturday’s book discussion, my third for the month, and the official discussion slated for March, was on Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go,” moderated by Flippers Haze and Sana, held at a medical facility in Pasig.
A finalist of the Man Booker Prize, “Never Let Me Go” is told from the perspective of Kathy H, a young woman who recalls memories with her friends Tommy and Ruth and their life at Hailsham, an elite school in the English countryside.
I’ve had a copy of this book for years now but never got around to reading it (I couldn’t find my trade paperback and had to get another copy for the discussion!) until now, though I absolutely loved The Remains of the Day.
While I read this book in about a sitting and a half — my Kobo was telling me I was reading it at a rate of 6 pages per minute but the book felt a lot slower to me. I had a lot of frustrating moments with this book, mainly because I couldn’t connect with the characters and thus I wasn’t really invested in what was happening one way or another.
I kept waiting for the pace to pick up but it really doesn’t until the last third of the novel, which was quite jarring because everything seemed to be happening all at the same time. I also wanted concepts to have been explained in greater detail, to find out the mechanisms behind the society featured in the book, but we only get the basic premise. One of the Flippers pointed out that all this is deliberate, to further drive the message of the book, but I’m still not sold on that.
What I liked about this book, however, is what lies beyond the pages: how it gives you pause to reflect on its significance in your life and your own experience, how it forces you to evaluate your own set of values, how it brings out the memories you hold dear.
“Never Let Me Go” also proved to be ideal for a book club session: it gave us plenty food for thought at the discussion, and we had an animated conversation as we explored the different aspects of the novel.
We even had an art exchange:
And a load of swag:
All in all, another awesome book discussion!
(photo by Haze Frias)
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Never Let Me Go, 3/5 stars
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P.S. I’m really excited for April, because I will attempt to moderate a discussion of “I Capture the Castle” in two locations (simultaneously — now where did I put my TimeTurner?!?), in Bacolod (by the Ruins, of course!) and in Manila (thank you, technology). If you’d like to join us in either location on April 18th, do drop me a line so I can send you an invite to the event.