I'm not sure how to write about this book without giving it all away. Mystery is probably the most compelling aspect of this novel, and if I take it away by telling too much, the novel simply does not work.
Ishiguro's students are more personable and memorable than Huxley's Alphas, Betas, Gammas and Epsilons in Brave New World, but in his effort to humanize them by writing about their aspirations, dreams, creativity, sexual desires, and social interaction, he never once addresses the issue of religion, and the age-old need for mankind to have a God. Even Huxley addressed the need for God in Brave New World. How did mankind lose their need for God? Was it suddenly, or gradually, like the passing away of "the old kind world" of before?
"a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for the old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go."
The closest readers get to a God in this novel is Hailsham and her governors. The students plead with the governors for deferment, almost like a person prays to God, but ultimately, the governors are not powerful enough to grant their request — it is a God of good intentions only. Interestingly, the rumours are said to arise spontaneously even after repeated stomping out, as if it is instinctive for humans to hope.
It is a sad novel, but I cannot imagine the world as I know it coming to this, not in this generation anyway.
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