I have had a copy of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro on my bookshelf since almost choosing it for a book club selection a couple years ago. (I ended up going with Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Company.) I offered it up for a different book club and it was selected for our March book. The overall consensus was that it was a strange book that had us talking to our coworkers, friends, or family about it. Several said they didn’t like it, or rather, it was an uncomfortable, unsettling book, one that kept them thinking.

Ishiguro has taken a familiar concept – “the other” – and wrapped it in a sci-fi package, an alternate world where human cloning is routine. These clones are kept apart from the rest of society, treated as commodities rather than living beings with emotions. Sound familiar? The premise reminded me of our treatment of animals, particularly in agribusiness, as well as our exploitation of third-world labor, not to mention a host of other such cases throughout history and continuing on in our supposed enlightened society. We use those resources, but we don’t really want to know too much about their origins or care how they’re treated. Remember the outrage a few weeks back about the mass beef recall? Yeah, that stopped us eating our Big Macs for about 2 minutes. Do most people care if their clothes are made in third world sweat shops? Not really, they just want cheap clothes.

There are plenty of questions to ponder, but there aren’t any answers in Never Let Me Go, and the ending isn’t presented wrapped up in a pretty bow. An unsettling read, to be sure, but those are often the best kind.