I didn't have high expectations of this book, for before I read it my mother had told me that this book was slow-paced and boring. And as I rarely liked slow-paced books, I really thought that I would probably toss this book away after about twenty pages.
However, after reading the first few pages, I was already drawn to the first-person narration, the extremely elegant prose. The narrator described the events in a calm but compelling manner, and I was stunned by how the Author, Kazuo Ishiguro, linked the events so beautifully together, transitioning from one event to another in such a smooth fashion.
And even though the book was quite slow-paced and not very full of actions, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really enjoyed reading the narrator's insightful and perceptive observations on the seemingly small events, and I liked how each of the events added a bit mystery to the characters' identities. Then, after about 70 pages, their identities were revealed, and this simply made the story even more intriguing.
I also think that Ishiguro did a very excellent job on character development. The characters were very vivid, and after reading the novel, I felt as if I actually knew the three main characters.
And of course, this novel was very thought-provocative, and I think it raised a lot of deep questions. For example, what does it mean to be human? How should human clones be treated? And is it better for horrifying facts to be revealed or hidden? Also, besides these questions that are central to the major theme, a lot of others arise from the interactions between the characters. For example, what does it mean to be a friend?
Overall, this novel was an amazing read, and it is— and very likely to remain as— one of my all-time favourites.