Never Let Me Go Review

Never Let Me Go slips the reader into an alternate future where clones are bred to be organ donors, raising life expectancy immensely among natural born humans. But there is no feeling of science fiction, no great explanation of how the cloning process was studied and perfected. Instead, the story drops into the middle of a pile of memories from Kathy H., a student of Hailsham. Hailsham is the one institute that strives to raise cloned children as humanely as possible, but the students don't know it as anything other than home. Kazuo Ishiguro crafts a dystopian drama through the quiet thoughts of a quiet girl who reflects on the love, friendships, and realizations that have shaped her short life.

Although the story reveals what the life of the a clone is like from beginning to end, the real drama is not about the structure of their lives, but within it. A rumor begins to circulate at The Cottages-- where Kathy and her friends Ruth and Tommy are transferred after school to await training-- that students from Hailsham can get a three year deferral if they're properly in love. From then the book revolves around the relationships that Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy have built with each other, and how they discover what all the strange things that happened at Hailsham mean to them now.

The book is not about clones, or science fiction. It is about dealing with a limited amount of time, and the different ways of coping with the life you've been given. Tommy looks on the bright side of everything, perhaps to balance out the temper tantrums of his youth. He is always the innocent truth teller, sometimes ending up as the butt of jokes for his naivete, but nonetheless, he believes that although he never heard about the deferral rumor, it might be true.

Kathy is calm throughout her narration, accepting of the changes and problems that dot her life. Even at the end of the book, for a moment, when she allows herself a small thought of Tommy coming back to her, she keeps her feelings tightly bound. "The fantasy never got beyond that-- I didn't let it-- and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasn't sobbing or out of control." Perhaps it is her consistency and control that has extended her life far past those of her friends. This also lends itself interestingly to the voice of the novel. The book is calm, placating, even in its most emotionally charged moments. At some points it even feels numb, and although you watch as Kathy wraps her arms around a screaming, broken Tommy at the book's climax, it's as if you're sitting inside of a dirty car, and the action of the scene seems muted and far off.

Ruth goes through the most drastic changes, from selfish to self-aware. From a young age at Hailsham she seems to boss Kathy around, despite otherwise being her best friend. Once at The Cottages, she tries desperately to fit in by acting with Tommy as the other couples do, and even approaches Kathy at one point to try to nullify any chance of her trying to get together with Tommy if he and Ruth ever broke up.

...what I want to say, Kathy,is this. It'd be completely normal if you'd thought about, you know, what would happen if me and Tommy decided we shouldn't be together anymore. We're not about to split, don't get me wrong. But I'd think it was completely normal if you at least wondered about it. Well, Kathy, what you have to realise is that Tommy doesn't see you like that.

But later in life, when she is nearing her last donation and runs into Kathy again, she reveals that she has procured information about how to get one of the long ago rumored deferrals, and that she wants Kathy and Tommy to go for it while they still have time, because they were the ones that were properly in love from the start, and she just got in the way.

With Tommy and Kathy so stagnant and unchanging throughout the story, it is Ruth's transformation from a girl desperately trying to fit in and be popular to someone ashamed of her actions and in turn desperate to set them right.

Literary Fiction vs. Genre Fiction

The problem with distinguishing between genre and literary fiction is that there are lots of components that make up a "good book," and the public and the critics tend to focus on different things. An average reader is most likely to gravitate towards books with engaging plot lines. This is reflected in Best Sellers lists, where romance, mystery, and thrillers float to the surface. Equally prevalent on these lists are novels adorned with medals and awards for literary merit. The critics who hand out these tokens are often less concerned about the book being a break-neck paced page-turner; the focus is on the writing. At the forefront of their minds is how the author shapes the language to develop characters and scenes with subtle complexities, introduce symbolism, and generally create meaning outside of the small world their characters inhabit.

Although many critics seem to separate literary and genre fiction, I have seen novels that accomplish both provoking, meaningful social commentary wrapped up in excellent writing. But perhaps for critics it's not worth digging through the coals to find a diamond. Genre fiction is, after all, drowning in books sold on plot alone (has anyone ever lauded Twilight for its complex, heart-wrenching prose?), and critics shouldn't be blamed for wanting to stick to a genre that tries to give them exactly what they're looking for. Don't we all do that anyways?

People read books for as many different reasons and there are paperback in print. The type of people who go on to be critics-- passionate about literature, majored in English, strong at writing-- do not represent any reader who casually picks up a book and wonders if it's worth their time. Genre fiction is as much loved and adored by a popular audience as literary fiction is by critics, so to judge a book by the attention it gets from review panels would be lopsided. People like what they like. Perhaps there should be more critiques written by the everyman.

Catch Me If You Can book trailer

Adapting "Catch Me If You Can"

Translating Catch Me If You Can to the big screen would come with a fair number of challenges. The story takes place over an action packed five years and the main character is only 16 at the start, but passes regularly for 26 to 30 years old. A lot of scenes would have to be cut or combined so that the essence of Frank Abagnale Jr. and his crimes could be shown without taking up too much time.

Scenes Essential to Keep

• His parents breaking up
• In the existing 2002 movie, this is brought out as more prominient in Frank's life than maybe it actually was to set up his motivation for his crimes: pleasing his father. However influential it was in his life of crime, it's still an important point. Frank was only 16 when he left home, and regularly cried himself to sleep over his parent's seperation, even if that morning he had posed as a confident, mature co-pilot of Pan American Airlines.   
• Forging his Pan Am passport, buying his outfit, etc
• A lot of work went into Frank's first crime, and it would be beneficial to show that he really took the effort to make himself look as legitimate as possible. The movie could show him taking apart the model airplane kits to get Pan Am stickers, discreetly copying down phrases that other pilots were using, and faking phone calls as local newspaper reporters. If this process was shown once, the many other times he did it could be implied, saving time within the movie.
• Passing the BAR exam
• Perhaps one of the few things he did completely legally, passing the BAR exam showed not only how dedicated Frank was to his con, but how smart he was.

Scenes to Cut

• Jail time
• Frank spent over a year in French and Sweedish prisons, but including this in the movie would only slow down the amount of time it took him to finally be caught in America by the FBI, whose storyline is of much more importance than those of the European police because it's tied together with Frank's parents' storylines.   
• Explanations of check knowledge
• There is a part in the book where Frank goes into detail about all of the things he knows about checks that no one else bothered to learn. A lot of this section could be cut or implied simply by showing as short scene of Frank researching.

Book 1 Project: Looking for Alaska Prank Pack

What we’re offering here is a one of a kind opportunity to re-live the pranking experiences of Miles “Pudge” Halter and his friends at Culver Creek. The Looking for Alaska Prank Pack includes 30 firecracks, 1 tube of blue hair dye, 5 black t-shirts, 1 fox hat, instant coffee, saltines, cheddar cheese, Strawberry-Kiwi Minute Maid, and Mountain Dew--everything you need to pull off the perfect prank! Also thrown in is a small book of famous last words.

In Looking for Alaska, Miles “Pudge” Halter’s friends are caught up in a prank war with some of the other students. They decide to plan their most elaborate prank yet, setting it over a weekend that they can each claim to be out of town. With this kit, the consumer will receive all of the same basic items that Miles, Alaska, Chip, Takumi, and Lara utilized over that weekend. The first stage of their prank is a distraction for the principal. Miles and Takumi light a string of fireworks, then run for a minute, then light another string, leading Mr. Starnes away from the real action back at the school, where Lara is sneaking “undiluted industrial-strength blue number five hair dye” into the hair products of some other students and Alaska and Chip are sending out bogus reports from the office saying that those same kids are failing their classes. Everyone wears black to reduce their chances of being caught, and Takumi wears a fox hat as he runs because “no one can catch the m-----f----g fox.” Afterwards, the kids all hide out in a nearby barn and survive on instant coffee, Strawberry Hill, and cheese and crackers until the weekend is up.

This Prank Pack will allow Looking for Alaska fans to relive a fun and positive scene in the book that has the characters enjoying themselves and each other’s company. The bonus book of famous last words is something more central to the book as a whole, since Miles spends his free time memorizing these and using them to help him sort through life. It would help fans of the book feel closer to Miles, and intrigue possible new readers by showing them one of the unique traits of the main character. The Prank Pack would ideally be sold in a merchandise stand containing the actual Looking for Alaska novel, as well as other John Green books. Other books sold in this merchandise stand could be the different books mentioned within Looking for Alaska. For instance: the different biographies Miles read, an almanac to represent Chip’s knowledge of all the world’s countries and their capitals, a rhyming dictionary for Takumi and his rap skills, and excerpts from Alaska’s “Life Library,” such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s The General in his Labyrinth. But the main attraction and selling point would be the Prank Pack.

Looking for Alaska has been questioned and even banned in some schools for its material, so the kit’s items would be toned down compared to what the actual book characters had on hand. Since the target audience of the book and Prank Pack is the young adult crowd, alcoholic Strawberry Hill would be replaced with a non-alcoholic Strawberry Juice, and the industrial strength blue dye would switch to regular, washable blue hair dye. This allows consumers the same chance to wreak havoc, but slightly more legally.

 

  

What is a Book?

A book is a secret that takes effort to share. It is both the work and the reward, and that's why I enjoy it. Not only to interact and to imagine, but when I'm done to be able to say "I did this, I finished this. Here's the proof."

I agree with Tom Piazza when he says that a computer screen neutralizes information. It's easier than falling asleep to put your ideas out on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog. For instance, this blog only took about 5 minutes to set up, and now I can share my feelings with anyone in the world. It's not a large accomplishment. But if my ideas were good enough to be published outside of cyberspace and a physical representation of my work was mass produced, that might be the ultimate form of validation. Although  electronic books have still been just as painstakingly worked on as any physical version, it is their place on the screen alongside cat videos and inane tweets about the weather that cheapens the reading experience.

The novel-- the paper, breathing, "actually dying" novel-- is the vessel taken seriously.

And it encompasses the life of a  story better than any other medium. Can you make margin notes on an oration? Does rereading a story again and again on your Kindle wear down the spine? Books are the things we make love to before we know what love is, and I want proof, evidence more than some electromagnetic waves in the air, that I have loved.

Why I Read

There are, to me, two kinds of books. Those that connect you to the world outside of yourself and those that you relate to inwardly. Many times a book does both.

In a world of information, where every fact and figure is at my fingertips, I turn to non-fiction books for depth, for purposeful learning. When I pick up a biography, or a historical account of some event that I'm interested in, I do it to retain the information. Reading a book isn't skimming a Wikipedia page. Reading a book is thinking, growing, letting it settle in your stomach and change you. Reading a book to learn makes me feel powerful. "In a world of ignorance," my mom once told me, writing her library list, "knowledge is my respite." Every time I read, whether it be the daily paper reporting the primary winners or a 500 page collection of the nurses from World War 2, I imagine myself chipping away at my ignorance, at my immaturity, my prejudices. Fiction as well helps show new worlds, transporting me into times, places, and situations I would never be in otherwise. In this way books can be both an escape and a facing of the harsh realities of the human narrative.

But the most incredible thing about books isn't that I can learn about experiences and places that I will never have or see. The most incredible thing is that sometimes, I learn about myself. Often in novels, and poetry especially, there will be a character, or a feeling-- some deep, twisted emotion that you've never been able to articulate-- that's brought to light through the deftness of an author's language. As Henry says in The History Boys:

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours."
And that moment, that clarity in which you realize that you are not alone, that's why I read.