According to the review’s author, Matt Matros, there are a number of similarities that the book and film share, but some of the film’s differences undermine central ideas or themes in Ishiguro’s novel. Similarities include the friends’ feeling of “otherness” by the adults and the intimate relationship that Kathy and Ruth both share with Tommy. However, in the opening scenes of the film, it is revealed immediately that the world that these people are living in is nothing like our own – something that Ishiguro doesn’t fully reveal until about halfway through the novel. Additionally, part of the oppression that the clones face is that they are physically restricted via a tracking chip implant. Matros recalls that “The subtle power of Ishiguro’s work lies in its depiction of an oppressed people becoming complicit in the prevailing power structure.” The film’s depiction of the story loses the feeling of complicity by the clones because they are no longer complicit by their own will and societal expectations, but they are now physically restricted. Them being bound simply by society’s expectations of them shows how an oppression deeply embedded into the structure can lead to the reinforced belief of “otherness.”
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Matros, Matt. “Book vs. Movie: Never Let Me Go - Ploughshares.” Ploughshares, 10 Oct. 2016, pshares.org/blog/book-vs-movie-never-let-me-go/.