Ishiguro's Unique Writing Style

In his 10th novel Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro develops a unique style with his writing that is quite different from other books of the same genre.

The story unraveling in the novel is told to us readers in the first person by Kath- one of the main characters. Kath speaks as though she knows us personally, and that we have been living in this same dystopian world that she lives in. She addresses us saying, “I don’t know how it was where you were...” (13), meaning that she thinks that we live in this futuristic world with her and just grew up in a different school. Additionally, in the first chapter when Kath is discussing a rumor she says, “I’ve heard it said enough, so I’m sure you’ve heard it plenty more” (4). Obviously, we have not heard about anything that Kath thinks we have since we are not from her world. This direct storytelling directed at the reader is an unusual tactic that Ishiguro uses to write his novel.

If we were telling a story to one of our old friends, we would not feel the need to explain what we meant when we were talking about say a high school or a lawyer. In the same way, Kath does not explain to us readers what she means when she says in the very first sentence of the entire book, “I’ve been a carer now for over eleven years” (3). Throughout the first quarter of the book, the word “carer” is used multiple times as well as “doner” along with other terms, and no explanation is offered as to what these words may signify. Us readers are left guessing at what Kath is talking about. This lack of explanations offers a mystery feel to the book. We do not know what is really happening, although we are given hints that Kath and her friends at Hailsham, the boarding school that they all attend, are different from people of the outside world. This element of mystery added to the story is a deliberate stylistic choice that Ishiguro made, and it makes us want to keep reading and keep thinking.

Another unusual yet interesting style in this novel is how the story is told with relation to time. The narrator is telling the story in a series of flashbacks and memories. She is 33 years old when she introduces herself at the beginning of the book, however she tells her story starting from when she was a very young child. As the book progresses, it is possible that we may reach a point where Kath starts telling about her present, but in this section of the reading, we only got a series of flashbacks.

Often times, Kath prefaces her stories of her childhood by saying things such as “This was all a long time ago so I might have some of it wrong; but my memory of it is that...” (13) and “I’m not sure how long this carried on...” (49). We are aware that this story is only one side of what happened, and may include errors in memory. This aspect adds to the mystery of the novel and again makes the narrator seem as though she is speaking to you, a friend- not a third person narration of Kath’s life growing up.

Throughout the past flashbacks, the older Kath often jumps in and speaks directly to the reader and adds her present-day perspective. She often interjects her storytelling to say things such as “I should explain a bit here...” (pg 16) or “looking back now, I can see why...” (16) It is in this way that the writing is almost a little stream of consciousness. Kath can get very distracted sometimes while telling a particular story and go on a long tangent about something before looping back to the original topic. At one point, Kath is telling a story about one of her teachers when suddenly she says, “all this about Miss Geraldine reminds me of something that happened about three years later...” (56) and then she completely changes the topic. Whenever the narrator gets back on topic and starts talking about something else, there is a break in the page with a small symbol. This format helped me to keep the thoughts separate and follow the story better.  

Ishiguro’s writing style is very unique, especially in regards to the narration. Although at first, I was a little taken back by this style, I now am really enjoying his writing and am looking forward to tying together some of the mysterious pieces of the book later in the novel.