At its heart, Never Let Me Go is more or less what I'd expected--a story of school days, of friendships and those first tentative romances, of growing up with a sense of shared experiences and how those experiences will shape one's adult life. And it is all that, but there's more to it, something just under the surface that makes the whole situation just a little off-kilter, a little questionable. It's almost like those early chapters of The Handmaid's Tale, where you know that something is indescribably off in the world. In this case, Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are students at a boarding school--one where they are encouraged to produce art for "the gallery," where they know they will eventually become carers and donors, and after a few donations they will complete. The mystery is never the thrust of the narrative; these are just facts of life, and the euphemisms become clearer as the tale progresses. Really, it's a beautiful story, romantic in the way that only school friendships can be, and even when you know the ending in store you can't help but hope it works out anyway. 
 I was ready to give this book 5 stars. I wanted to. But, alas, when good books go bad, there's the discussion near the end that amounts to "but before I kill you, let me explain my master plan!" Unfortunately it breaks the gentle rhythm of the rest of the book, going back to a character who seems to be dropped in where she doesn't belong for the sole purpose of info-dumping. It's good, valuable information, but the way it's presented is too clumsy for the rest of the book.