‘Never Let Me Go’ by Kazuo Ishiguro
“…I saw you, by yourself, a little girl, dancing. As you say, eyes closed, far away, a look of yearning. You were dancing so sympathetically. And the music, the song. There was something in the words. It was full of sadness”
There is a sense of hopelessness in Madame’s words, which will be the leitmotif of the entire book. Coming to terms with the so called ‘completion’ of a life circle is something all mankind needs to face sooner or later. And although Kate, Tommy and Ruth try in many ways to overcome this sense of disheartenment and melancholy, they know their fate has already been decided.
Hailsham is nothing but a dream, an attempt to postpone the truth, a human experiment amid the inhumanity of the outside world. Students in there feel the urgency of life, need to build meaningful relationships, have to be creative, keep healthy and strong. As they are conscious of what to expect next, even if a glimpse of faith remains until the end.
But Ishiguro is merciless. Nothing is going to stop his dark decision to accompany Hailsham kids towards their destiny.
Playlist has some music reference either from the book and movie (from 2010, directed by Mark Romanek) and a tribute to writer’s country, Japan, with MONO’s Memorie dal futuro (Memories from future). The rest is a work of imagining a soundtrack of late 90’s Britain (time and setting of the novel) which our characters might have listened to and that could possibly relate to their lives and feelings. A couple of songs are instead quite recent but they are somewhat meaningful and fit in the overall atmosphere.
Playlist
01. Rachel Portman – Making Tea 02. MONO – Memorie dal futuro 03. Massive Attack – Exchange 04. Tamino – Tummy 05. Cigarette After Sex – Nothing’s gonna hurt you baby 06. The Jesus And Mary Chain – Happy when it rains 07. Blur – Tender 08. Radiohead – No Surprises 09. Pixies – I Bleed 10. Judy Bridgewater – Never let me go
Posted by Gra
