Date of Reading : Sunday, 24th December, 2017
Date of Purchase : Thursday, 26th October, 2017
Purchase of Location : Kyobo bookstore offline
Reading of Location : Cafe HeungShinSoh near Hangyang University
******** Be aware that there are some spoliers in thsi review ********
<Main Characters>
Kathy : Narrator and main protagonist
Ruth : Kathy's cloesest friend
Tommy : A male donor and friend of Kathy and Ruth.
Miss Emily : Headmistress of Hailsham
Madame(Marie Claude) : A female who visits Hailsham regularly and collects some of the best art works.
The first impression I got from his way of writing is he understands a human mind which is a fundamental qualification to be a great writer. He describes what and how we feel in plain words with simplicity, but I know this is the most difficult thing to acheive as writer.
Speaking of the book, it tells a world with clones who should donoate their vital organs until they complete, which means death. Main characters are raised to be a donor at Hailsham. They are trained by guardians to learn art and other various subjects. Especially, art is the most important subject they should master and some of the best works are selected by Madame, Marie-Claude. Later, this confuses them very much because what they are trained to learn seems practically pointless if all clones would become donors anyway.
Young Tommy suggests a theory why guardians emphasizes art so much and Madame collects their best drawing or poetry to Gallery. There is some rumor that donors can 'deferral' if two donors are in love. 'Deferral' means thay can be granted a few extra years to live with each other without donating their vital organs. Tommy's theory is that art is thought to reveal a soul and their arts collected will act as evaluation guideline to prove their being in love. This theory arises again when adult Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy meet again and Tommy's theory proves to be partly correct.
It was partly correct because there has never been such a thing like 'deferral'. Tommy is about to face 'fouth donation' soon. Most donors complete at third donation, and some even at second. This means Tommy will definitely complete after fourth donation. Ruth gave them the address of Madame before she completed. Kathy and Tommy decided to go and see Madame to talk to her about 'deferral'. They meet miss Emily in her house. Miss Emily explains everything the reason why they are trained at all. This is a part of ther conversation in the book :
'Why did we do all of that work in the first place? Why train us, encourage us, make us produce all of that? If we're just going to give donations anyway, then die, why all those lessons? Why all those books and discussions?'
'Why Hailsham at all?'
'You said it was because your art would reaveal what were like. What you were like inside. That's what you said, wasn't it? Well, you weren't far wrong about that. We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.'
'Why did you have to prove a thing like that, Miss Emily? DId someone think we didn't have souls?
'It wasn't something commonly held when we first set out all those years ago. And though we've come a long way since then, it's still not a notion universally held, even today.'
On the way back to Kingsfield hospital by car, Tommy wants some air and Kathy pulls up the car. After a few minutes, she hears a man's scream. Kathy describes the scene: I caught a glmpse of his face in the moonlight, caked in mud and distorted with fury, then I reached for his flailing arms and held on tight. He tried to shake me off, but I kept holding on, until he stopped shouting and I felt the fight go out of him. Then I realized he too had his arms around me. And so we stood together like that, at the top of that field, for what seemed like ages, not saying anything, just holding each other, while the wind kept blowing and blowing at us, tugging our clothes, and for a moment, it seemed like we were holding onth each ohter because that was the only way to stop us being wept away into the night.
Kathy told Tommy that he might have always knwon at some level and maybe it was the reason he used to give tantrums like that. Tommy says it might be true he knew somewhere deep down.
Kathy danced in an empty classroom at Hailsham. There was a song which went: 'Baby, baby, never let me go'. She imagines there is a woman who's been told she couldn't have babies, who'd really wanted them all ger life. Then, there's a sort of miracle and she has a baby. Eyes closed she is dancing as if she was holding a baby, so pleased that ever so tightly to her breast. At the end of the book, while she is passing by Norfolk she imagines a little fantasy : I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear on the horizon across the field, and gradually get larger until I'd see it was Tommy, and he'd wave, maybe even call. The fantasy never got beyond that because she didn't let it. Tears rolled down her face and she drives off to whereever it is she is supposed to be.
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