Jessica Sede

I really LOVED this book. It grabbed me from the beginning. I didn't know what to expect, but I knew that there was something ominous about Hailsham. I had no idea what was going to happen in the novel, but I was compelled to continue reading.

Ishiguro's characters were very real to me. I felt that I could really relate to them. I remembered being a young child and devising plans to rebel against the adults, and coming up with theories about certain mysterious adults.

The thing that really scared me while reading this book was the possbility of something like this actually happening. With the reality of cloning, I would not be surprised to learn that these things were actually happening somewhere. The thought of being raised simply to donate your organs is terrifying...yet...we raise animals for specific reasons all the time..but they don't have consciousness, right? Or do they?

We breed animals because we are above them...we can utilize them. Yet, many people felt they were above the children at Hailsham. They were viewed no different than animals, which was why it was so important for them to make art. They needed to prove they were just like other people.

The reason I say this isn't far from reality is because of Kathleen Patricia Trebing:

Baby Kathleen was born on Dec 12, 2002 with a disease called Diamond Blackfan Anemia. About 30 children are born with this disease each year in Canada and the U.S. The disease effects the bone marrow. Her body would not make red blood cells, so she would need a blood transfusion to keep her alive. Even with a blood transfusion Kathleen would be dead by 40.

The second option was that Kathleen could be put on steroids, which had a high risk of infections.

The third option was a bone marrow transplant from a sibling who had inherited a portion of DNA that exactly matched Kathleen's, but Kathleen's brother was not a match. What could be done? The parents could have another child, but there was only a 1 in 4 chance that the new baby would be a match.

The answer? Design the perfect sibling...something called "A Donor Siblng"

Kathleen's mother would have to go through IVF to produce many embryo's to choose from. Then scientists would pull a cell of each embryo and test to find the perfect match. Once the child was born he or she would undergo a bone marrow transplant. If this procedure was successful Kathleen would have a 90% chance of being cured.

If it failed...she could die.

Wow! How would that new child be treated if Kathleen died? Would the parents view it as a failure? Would the child feel guilt and pain when it learned why it had been born? What if the new child died in surgery? Would the parents mourn it? Or feel happy that Kathleen was still alive, since that was their purpose for having the child?

There are so many possibilities, so many problems with this procedure. Isn't this just one step closer to what Ishiguro writes about in his book?