Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Detailed summary

 PART TWO

CHAPTER TEN

Kathy recalls that after she left Hailsham, she and seven others, including Ruth and Tommy, went to the Cottages, buildings on the site of a farm that had gone out of business. They live independently for two years in rather Spartan conditions (simple without luxuries), joining a group of students who already live there and are referred to as veterans. After about two months there, Kathy and Ruth quarrel. Kathy tells Ruth about an annoying mannerism she has copied from a veteran couple, Chrissie and Rodney. Ruth does not take this well and says that Kathy is upset because Ruth has managed to make new friends. Kathy then criticizes Ruth’s behavior toward Tommy.

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kathy feels betrayed by Ruth because in their argument Ruth made an unpleasant comment about Kathy having had sex with some of the boys at the Cottages, but now, in the present, Kathy reconsiders the situation from Ruth’s point of view, deciding that perhaps Ruth had some cause to be unpleasant to her. She was trying to adapt to their new life in the Cottages, and Kathy realizes that she should not judge her friend.

 

Recollecting once more their lives at the Cottages, Kathy says that when a student left the Cottages, people rarely spoke much of them again. She remembers someone named Steve whom she never met but who kept a collection of pornographic magazines. Some of those magazines keep turning up long after Steve had left. Kathy looks at them, and Tommy finds her doing so, but she does not tell him why she is looking, nor does she herself know.

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

Kathy, Tommy, Ruth, Chrissie, and Rodney decide to go on a trip to Norfolk. They go because on a previous trip, Chrissie and Rodney claim to have seen someone they regard as a ‘‘possible’’ for Ruth. A ‘‘possible’’ is a person who may be the model from whom a particular clone was made. The idea that circulates among the Hailsham students is that if they can find their model, they will have a deeper idea of who they are and what their lives might become. Ruth’s possible is a woman who works in an office.

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Rodney borrows a car, and they drive to a seaside town in Norfolk. At lunch in a cafe, they talk about a future for Ruth, working in an office, just like her possible. Ruth even thinks that Tommy will be with her. Chrissie mentions that she has heard that a couple, if they were Hailsham students, could get a “deferral”(postponement of donation). The couple must prove that they are in love, and then they would be allowed to have few years together before they are required to become donors. Kathy has heard this rumor before, circulating among the veterans at the Cottages.

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

They go shopping in the town. They pass an office with a big glass front, and Rodney points out Ruth’s possible, a dark-haired woman of about fifty. Later, they see the same woman walking along the street, and they follow her into an art shop. They pretend to be interested in the pictures while observing the woman. After they leave, they decide that the woman is not a possible for Ruth after all. Chrissie and Rodney then take Ruth to visit a friend of theirs, but Kathy and Tommy decline to join them. There is tension between Ruth and Kathy.

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Tommy and Kathy go to a shop where Kathy finds a copy of the Judy Bridgewater tape that she lost some time before. Tommy had suggested that they look for it. He had always wanted to find it for her. Later, they talk about deferrals, and Tommy wonders whether the rumour is true. He thinks it may have some connection to the Gallery, the collection of artwork that Madame took from them. The Gallery would help the authorities decide whether the couple who applied for the deferral were worthy of it. Tommy also tells Kathy he has recently been doing some art work of his own, drawing imaginary animals. Later, as they return home, Kathy feels that the tension between her and Ruth has been resolved.

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

One day Tommy shows Kathy his drawings of imaginary animals. He tells Kathy he sees no reason why he should keep his work secret, and she agrees with him. She tells him his work is good, but some time later, Kathy and Ruth talk about Tommy’s animals, and they both laugh about them. When Kathy later meets Ruth and Tommy at a churchyard, Ruth is upset that Tommy told Kathy about his theory of the purpose of the Gallery but did not tell her. She then tells Tommy that Kathy thinks his drawings of animals are hilarious. Kathy is shocked that Ruth would say such a thing, and she turns and leaves.

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Over the next few days, Kathy realizes that Ruth and Tommy have grown apart; Kathy also finds it harder to talk to Tommy. Eventually she and Ruth try to patch up their quarrel. Ruth tells Kathy that she and Tommy probably will not be together forever, but even if they were to split up, Tommy would not be interested in taking up with Kathy. He regards her just as a friend, Ruth says. Kathy takes this without much comment, but the two girls come close to quarrel about something else and part on bad terms. Not long after that, Kathy decides to leave the Cottages and begin her training as a carer.

 

 

PART THREE

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It is seven years since Kathy left the Cottages, and she reports on her life as a carer, saying she is suited to it. She drives around the country, taking care of the donors that are assigned to her. She has learned to live with the emotional difficulties of the work and the long hours. One day she meets Laura, one of her friends from Hailsham, by chance, and Laura says she has heard that Ruth had a bad first donation. Laura suggests that Kathy become Ruth’s carer. They also discuss the fact that Hailsham has been closed.

 

Three weeks later, Kathy becomes Ruth’s carer. Their relationship is still a little strained, and Kathy feels that Ruth does not trust her. They decide to go to see an old boat that is stranded in the marshes.

 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

On the way to see the boat, they stop at Kingsfield, which is a recovery center for donors. Tommy is staying there, and the three of them drive to see the boat. They talk about the news that Chrissie has ‘‘completed’’ (that is, died) during her second donation. On the way home Ruth asks Kathy to forgive her for trying, at Hailsham and the Cottages, to keep Kathy and Tommy apart. She wants Kathy to put it right by applying for a deferral, so she can spend some years with Tommy. She gives them Madame’s address, which she discovered for herself. After this, Kathy’s relationship with Ruth improves, and just before Ruth dies after her second donation, Kathy agrees to become Tommy’s carer.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

A year later, Kathy becomes Tommy’s carer. He has just made his third donation. Their relationship deepens, but Kathy regrets that they left it so late. Tommy continues to do his drawings of imaginary animals. Some time later, Kathy tells Tommy that she has seen Madame after waiting outside her house in Littlehampton. They decide to visit her and ask for a deferral. Tommy says he shall bring his drawings.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Kathy and Tommy intercept Madame as she is about to go into her house. They say they must speak with her, and she invites them in. Kathy explains that she and Tommy are in love and want to apply for a deferral. Tommy explains his belief about the purpose of Madame’s gallery,  that the students’ art will reveal who they are. Then someone in a wheelchair enters the room, and Tommy and Kathy realize it is Miss Emily, the former head guardian at Hailsham.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Miss Emily remembers both of them. She tells them the rumour about deferrals is untrue; there is no such thing. She also says that their artwork was taken to prove to doubters that these cloned people had souls, just like normal people. She explains that Hailsham was set up to improve the conditions under which clones lived, which had been deplorable. Those who set up Hailsham wanted to show that clones could become fully human if given a decent education but at some point there was a scandal involving a researcher who claimed to be able to help people produce superior children through genetic manipulation. People found this alarming, and funding for Hailsham began to dry up, even though Hailsham had nothing to do with the researcher’s work. Miss Emily also explains that Miss Lucy was dismissed as a guardian because she thought the students should be told more of who they were and what their lives were for. Miss Emily believes Miss Lucy was wrong and that it was important to shelter the children from the full truth. When Kathy and Tommy drive home, Tommy says he agrees with Miss Lucy. He gets out of the car and expresses his feelings.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Tommy starts to identify more with the other donors at the center where he lives, and Kathy feels a bit left out. Tommy sometimes tells her she cannot understand certain things because she is not a donor. Tommy’s fourth donation is coming up, and he tells Kathy he thinks he ought to have another carer because the job is too much for Kathy. She is angry at first but then agrees to his suggestion. In the last section of the book, Kathy looks back from the present. She is still a carer. Tommy is dead, but she thinks she will never forget her memories of him and Ruth.