- Never Let Me Go was published in 2005, but Kathy is telling her story in England in the late 1990s. Unless there's something the government isn't telling us about secret clone farms, it's not exactly the 1990s we remember. So why is this story about future scientific advancements set in the past? And why the '90s in particular?
- Why is Never Let Me Go split into three parts? How does this affect your reading experience?
- How are the book's characters similar to regular humans? How are they different? Or are they exactly the same? What's the deal?
- Kathy likes to direct comments toward "you," her reader. Sometimes she even makes us feel like we live in her funky storyworld. So who is this mysterious assumed reader? And do you identify with this reader? Or do you feel alienated when Kathy talks to "you"?
- Imagine this: what if this story were told from a different character's point of view? We're thinking Ruth or Tommy or Miss Emily would have a pretty different perspective on things—what do you think?
- What is the point in having Kathy tell her story out of order? How do you think it would change the novel if she told her story chronologically?
- Do you agree with Kathy's decision to submit to her fate? What would you have done if you found yourself in the same situation?