Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro with Professor Sebastian Groes

Join us as we discuss Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go with Professor Sebastian Groes in a highly insightful conversation. Professor Groes was the perfect person to help us untangle this complicated work, having spent years researching Ishiguro's writing, particularly his treatment of memory, identity, and what it means to be human. Groes talks about the uncanniness Ishiguro uses to prevent our expectations from concluding in the way we would like, adding to the tension of a novel that, in many ways, remains unfinished.

It's a dystopian novel set in an alternate history of England, largely at a secluded boarding school called Hailsham. Here we meet Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, three children whose friendships, jealousies, and complicated relationships follow them into adulthood. As they grow older, they begin to understand the unsettling purpose behind their upbringing and the limited futures that await them. It's a book about belonging and finding a sense of worth. It's about how the relationships we create shape our future selves and memories.

We explore how the novel is comparable to the American slave trade in many senses, particularly in the ways people were dehumanized and stripped of their identities. We also talk about the advent of AI and how it is perhaps a similarly dominating presence in our current society, one whose takeover we may unknowingly be complicit in allowing.

We discuss Ishiguro's excellent use of tension and the general feeling of hopelessness one feels at the close of this book. And yet, it will still Never Let You Go. Give this novel a read! But spoiler alert, we talk about the ending in this conversation, so if you don't want to ruin it, read the book first!

Join us!

For more of Professor Sebastian Groes's research on Kazuo Ishiguro:

• "Something of a Lost Corner": Kazuo Ishiguro's Landscapes of Memory and East Anglia in Never Let Me Go — A chapter examining memory and place in the novel, published in 2011.

• Kazuo Ishiguro: New Critical Visions of the Novels — A collection of literary criticism co-edited by Groes and Barry Lewis, exploring Ishiguro's treatment of memory, mortality, identity, and ethics.

• Health Warnings: Reading Kazuo Ishiguro in Times of Crisis — Groes's scholarly article examining Ishiguro's work in the context of contemporary crises.

You can also explore his other publications at Sebastian Groes's research website.