By setting the novel in a version of 1990s England—complete with cassette tapes and country lanes—Ishiguro grounds the science fiction in reality. It feels uncomfortably close to our own world, suggesting that society is capable of great evil not through malice, but through willful ignorance.

The story is set in an alternate 1990s England where a state-sanctioned program of human cloning has extended the lives of "normal" citizens. The narrator, Kathy H., is a thirty-one-year-old "carer" who reflects on her childhood at Hailsham, an elite boarding school for these clones.

The novel’s final scene is not about rebellion or rescue. It is about quiet, devastating acceptance.

“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro 2023 | ВКонтакте - VK

Perhaps the most chilling part is the characters' lack of rebellion; they accept their "donations" as an inevitable duty. Finding Community on VK