The novel begins with Kathy reminiscing about her time at Hailsham which the reader soon realizes is a boarding school. Kathy brings the reader through her childhood at the school where she met friends, is educated by slightly odd teachers, and prepares for the next stage in her live. As Kathy gets older, she becomes more perceptive of the oddities at Hailsham and begins to question what is really ahead for the school's students. Suddenly, school traditions such as "the sale" (in which students sell their work to each other) takes on a completely different meaning as the students realize the Madame of the school is purchasing their work for her own "Gallery". Eventually, they realize that their lives are predetermined and Hailsham is just schooling them on becoming "carers" and "donors".
In the first chapter, Kathy mentions that she's a carer for those who are donors. It is clear that the donor is a person who donates their organs and their carer is just that, a person who cares for the donor. The narration then seems to follow Kathy's train of thought. I was nervous because this is usually an interesting though confusing narration style. However, her train of thought stays on the logical tracks and moves fairly chronologically. Whatever preconceptions I had of this narrative style, flew out the window as I devoured page after page without looking up for hours. As I was reading, I thought the ideas in the novel were incredible and though I had heard of such a scenario in a book before it still felt fresh and new. Yet, once I finished it and started to think about the great issue in the book it started to seem a bit hackneyed. The writing is beautiful and reminiscent of Margaret Atwood but nothing extraordinary. Once again, I have to wonder why this specific book was included in 1001 while others were kept out. But it's all subjective!
-DLP
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