Never Let Me Go: film vs novel comparison

Can a movie ever be as good as a book? While it is true that books allow the readers to plunge into the narrator’s thoughts and perceive the events through a particular point of view, films themselves are a masterpiece in their own kind of way. The boat scene in the novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, which reunites Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, after so many years of leading separate lives, plays a significant role in both the book and the film. Though the film adaptation certainly modifies this passage by adding and omitting certain features, the film adaption still stays very true to the book. Perhaps the strongest difference is the emphasis of Kathy and Tommy’s relationship in the film, which appears a few chapters later in the book. Moreover, the film, with its beautiful scenery and music, manages to embellish the melancholic mood of the scene, in order to make it more powerful than in the book.

The passage in the novel starts by giving vivid descriptions of the setting, which are used to establish the desolate atmosphere displayed throughout of the scene. The author’s particular diction plays a key role to emphasize this feeling. Phrases such as “there was open marshland as far as we could see”, “the pale sky looked vast”, and “it reflected every so often in the patches of water breaking up the land” are the main indicators that help us picture the setting. The syntax is primarily lengthy and detailed sentences. These sentences help establish the mood as rather isolated and passive. The expression “ghostly dead trunks poking out of the soil” even goes further than this passive mood by providing a sense of gloominess. Little details, such as “you could hear the squelch in our shoes” add a touch of realism and provide a better picture of the scene.

The description of the boat that follows makes the reader wonder upon its symbolism and the character’s struggle for identity throughout the book. Here, once more, the word choice implies that it is old and