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Commenting here mainly as I don't want this to drop off. It's a good interview with a really very wonderful writer. HN'ers unfamiliar with his work might reall

Commenting here mainly as I don't want this to drop off. It's a good interview with a really very wonderful writer. HN'ers unfamiliar with his work might really enjoy Never Let Me Go, a very affecting novel which you could plausibly call sci-fi.

qualitytime 9y ago
On another recent HN thread someone also gave a glowing impression of the film adaptation of this work. I went ahead and rented out the movie and I have to say, for me personally, I really wish I could get back the time wasted.
- dkarl 9y ago
  I thought the movie was okay, but I suspect it worked for me by evoking the experience of reading the book. Maybe it doesn't have much to offer on its own. I would recommend giving yourself a year to forget the movie and then trying the book. You'll know within the first hundred pages if you're going to like it or not.
- scrumper 9y ago
  Wasn't aware there was a movie. I'd have thought it'd have been a tough adaptation. To me it's quite an impressionistic piece of writing, not something that would easily translate well to cinema.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- andyjohnson0 9y ago
  I posted something complementary about the film adaptation - so if it was my comment you read, my apologies! For what it's worth, I think it was beautifully filmed and well acted - the actor who played Tommy did an exceptional job in my opinion.
  - qualitytime 9y ago
    No thats alright. I'm just very tight when it comes to creative works. Personally, on a bad day, a work that is ONLY beautifully filmed and well acted makes me spew a torrent of curses at the makers, with strange looks from those around me who don't get why I'm getting so passionate about using the word "sht" in every sentence. And I get very annoyed when others don't acknowledge that there is some truth in what I'm saying. I realise it's the way it comes out from my mouth but seriously, cannot others agree and say "Yeah, that was sht but beautifully filmed and well acted". Really, it was beautifuly 'filmed', good 'acting', beautiful 'actors' with promising futures but ultimately, and its ok to say it, this movie was a pile of sh*t. If you liked this movie you will love "The Lobster (2015)", but you should never ever watch a movie with me.
shoo 9y ago
I've read "The Remains of the Day" and "Never Let Me Go". Enjoyed the former. I found the latter irritating to read -- roughly, many of the characters are "not in a great situation" when it comes to the role society has assigned them -- yet they are all accepting (perhaps that is too strong) or passive. No volition to change the status quo. That doesn't mean it is a bad book, or bad literature, but reading pages and pages of characters focusing on interpersonal drama when they are trapped in this hideous situation pissed me off!
- wtflmaohnisdumb 9y ago
  > That doesn't mean it is a bad book, or bad literature, but reading pages and pages of characters focusing on interpersonal drama when they are trapped in this hideous situation pissed me off! I haven't read anything of his work beyond a bit of The Buried Giant, but this sentence makes me want to read "Never Let Me Go". I think it's easy to focus on the immediate or even use it to distract yourself from big picture problems that might not even have solutions.
- twoodfin 9y ago
  One of the major themes of the book is how easy it is to accept gross injustice when it’s presented as foundational reality, as prosaic as the “who’s sleeping with whom” that the children do take so seriously.
- dantillberg 9y ago
  This is a major reason I so love Never Let Me Go. So much of our dystopian fiction chronicles characters that heroically resist the terrors thrust upon them. But Never Let Me Go tells a much more human story: these characters, like so many of us, are swept up helplessly in the torrents and terrors of their world. And it's not that they're _unable_ to change the tide -- they don't even know that it's an option. It is, for certain, quite frustrating -- just as it is in the world outside the book's covers.
- Zanni 9y ago
  Never Let Me Go is an excellent example of the maxim that an idea is worth 1% and execution is worth 99%. It is brilliant, haunting, beautiful and tragic--one of the best books I've ever read--yet it shares its central conceit with a truly awful Michael Bay movie.
niuzeta 9y ago
+ for "The Remains of the Day". Phenomenal work of literature. Truthfully, I can't believe it took it this long for Ishiguro to get the prize.

qualitytime 9y ago

On another recent HN thread someone also gave a glowing impression of the film adaptation of this work. I went ahead and rented out the movie and I have to say, for me personally, I really wish I could get back the time wasted.

dkarl 9y ago
I thought the movie was okay, but I suspect it worked for me by evoking the experience of reading the book. Maybe it doesn't have much to offer on its own. I would recommend giving yourself a year to forget the movie and then trying the book. You'll know within the first hundred pages if you're going to like it or not.
scrumper 9y ago
Wasn't aware there was a movie. I'd have thought it'd have been a tough adaptation. To me it's quite an impressionistic piece of writing, not something that would easily translate well to cinema.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
andyjohnson0 9y ago
I posted something complementary about the film adaptation - so if it was my comment you read, my apologies! For what it's worth, I think it was beautifully filmed and well acted - the actor who played Tommy did an exceptional job in my opinion.
- qualitytime 9y ago
  No thats alright. I'm just very tight when it comes to creative works. Personally, on a bad day, a work that is ONLY beautifully filmed and well acted makes me spew a torrent of curses at the makers, with strange looks from those around me who don't get why I'm getting so passionate about using the word "sht" in every sentence. And I get very annoyed when others don't acknowledge that there is some truth in what I'm saying. I realise it's the way it comes out from my mouth but seriously, cannot others agree and say "Yeah, that was sht but beautifully filmed and well acted". Really, it was beautifuly 'filmed', good 'acting', beautiful 'actors' with promising futures but ultimately, and its ok to say it, this movie was a pile of sh*t. If you liked this movie you will love "The Lobster (2015)", but you should never ever watch a movie with me.

shoo 9y ago

I've read "The Remains of the Day" and "Never Let Me Go". Enjoyed the former. I found the latter irritating to read -- roughly, many of the characters are "not in a great situation" when it comes to the role society has assigned them -- yet they are all accepting (perhaps that is too strong) or passive. No volition to change the status quo. That doesn't mean it is a bad book, or bad literature, but reading pages and pages of characters focusing on interpersonal drama when they are trapped in this hideous situation pissed me off!

wtflmaohnisdumb 9y ago
> That doesn't mean it is a bad book, or bad literature, but reading pages and pages of characters focusing on interpersonal drama when they are trapped in this hideous situation pissed me off! I haven't read anything of his work beyond a bit of The Buried Giant, but this sentence makes me want to read "Never Let Me Go". I think it's easy to focus on the immediate or even use it to distract yourself from big picture problems that might not even have solutions.
twoodfin 9y ago
One of the major themes of the book is how easy it is to accept gross injustice when it’s presented as foundational reality, as prosaic as the “who’s sleeping with whom” that the children do take so seriously.
dantillberg 9y ago
This is a major reason I so love Never Let Me Go. So much of our dystopian fiction chronicles characters that heroically resist the terrors thrust upon them. But Never Let Me Go tells a much more human story: these characters, like so many of us, are swept up helplessly in the torrents and terrors of their world. And it's not that they're _unable_ to change the tide -- they don't even know that it's an option. It is, for certain, quite frustrating -- just as it is in the world outside the book's covers.
Zanni 9y ago
Never Let Me Go is an excellent example of the maxim that an idea is worth 1% and execution is worth 99%. It is brilliant, haunting, beautiful and tragic--one of the best books I've ever read--yet it shares its central conceit with a truly awful Michael Bay movie.

niuzeta 9y ago

+ for "The Remains of the Day". Phenomenal work of literature. Truthfully, I can't believe it took it this long for Ishiguro to get the prize.