Behind the Scenes of NLMG Book Covers

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

Cover 4

A dystopian science fiction novel set in England in the late 1990s, English-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go follows an alternate present told through the perspective and memories of a 31-year-old woman named Kathy H. in which the human life span has been enhanced due to the recent development of a human cloning program. The clones, Kathy included, grow up in private institutions that are isolated from ordinary life. This allows for a lifelong struggle of adapting to the world and coping with the social division they face as they get older and leave these institutions to fulfill their essential purpose of being "donors" of their vital organs for the benefit of normal individuals.

Even though it is often said not to judge a book by its cover, when choosing a book to read, the cover of it is arguably one of the biggest things that impact our decision to take a closer look at the book, maybe read the blurb on the back and possibly even buy it soon thereafter. Therefore, a book cover needs to be captivating and unique -- something that would stand out in a sea of books. Here, 4 different covers of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go will be analyzed and compared for their deeper meanings, followed by a more focused analysis with two of them.

Cover 1: When looking first at the first cover, an immediate sense of longing and desire overcame me. The cover features a young woman with long blonde hair in a field with wild, overgrown plants behind her. She sits in a bed of thick wildflowers and weeds, her face turned to her left and her gaze looking down at the ground as her hands are clasped on her folded legs. The cover is a mixture of bright yellow and green colors and hues, which was what drew me to the cover. Oftentimes the color yellow, a color many associate with positivity, can symbolize happiness, hope, aspiration, and clarity. Similarly, the color green, especially in this cover when it is used to show the plants the girl sits around, is linked to life, growth, freshness, and safety. When these two colors mix together to make up the first cover, the image depicted gives a sense of pure bliss and what may represent an optimal, perfect reality. This might catch the onlooker's eye and fool them for being a joyful story. However, when looking closer at the cover, they may realize that the exposure is extremely enhanced, which, especially in movies, usually means that the scene is supposed to be a dream or a vision, something that isn't actually happening. Combining all these aspects, Cover 1 makes me believe it is representing the theme of longing for happiness and freedom that is so present in Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. 

Cover 2: In the second cover, a much darker tone is present that immediately signals to an onlooker that this story is not one that follows a perfect and happy world. Cover 2 depicts a dreary scene of one small rowboat resting next to a singular old pole on a deserted beach. The water is eerily still; no ripples are present which gives the sense that this beach isn't occupied frequently. Dark shadows are utilized as well as no traces of sunlight or even a few fluffy clouds are present, giving the impression that the sky is most likely completely grey and dreary. Even though in this second cover the color yellow is used, it has an opposite effect than it did in the first cover. Here, yellow is mixed in with brown, making a very sickly-colored hue that makes up the entire cover. This coloring, combined with the small rowboat waiting with an open ocean horizon in the background, gives the impression that this story would incorporate the theme of wanting to leave something, most likely bad, behind -- wanting to seek something else, something brighter, something new and undiscovered. The small boat provides that opportunity, but it appears in the book cover old and abandoned, symbolizing that small chance or a glimpse of hope isn't completely reliable or bound to work out. Cover 2, therefore, also represent's Never Let Me Go's theme of longing and desire to escape something, like Cover 1, but it does so in a way that also shows the dark and dreary reality of the story, unlike the first one.

Cover 3: Cover 3 is very different than all of the other covers in the sense that its color scheme is darker and utilizes a deep blue rather than some form of yellow. This immediately makes it clear to any onlooker that this story isn't a happy one, especially since the book cover also has an eerie-looking drawing of the human body that demonstrates gruesomeness. Additionally, though this could just be false interpretation on my behalf, there are these two dark vertical lines which, to me, look like bars. This could symbolize some form of confinement or prison within the story, whether metaphorical or literal. Behind these "bars," this cover also features the outline of looming trees which provides a mysterious and ominous tone. Another interesting stylistic feature of this cover is that it looks very childlike. The font and the drawing both look like they could have been done by a child.

Cover 4: This cover is my least favorite. It portrays a blurry figure of a woman with short brown hair wearing a blue dress looking as though she may be spinning around. The background is a yellowish-orange, almost blending into her skin color. It is more similar to the first two covers given that the colors are not so dark and that the figure is a little hazy. Though, quite frankly, I don't see how this cover relates to Never Let Me Go at all, because the cover, with its warm tones of soft yellow and blue, reminds me of a book or a movie cover that would be about a story about young love in some remote warm European country. Nevertheless, it's obvious the main focus is not the actual figure depicted in the cover but more so just the title of the book and the author's name.

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Immediately looking at these covers, Cover 1 and 2 were most definitely my favorite. Not only were they the most visually interesting and detailed to look at with their unique color schemes, but I felt like they resembled many of Ishiguro's overall themes throughout Never Let Me Go the best. They highlighted desire, hope, and escape.

Taking a closer look at Cover 1 and 2, both of these covers symbolize Ishiguro's consistent theme of wanting to obtain something that's just beyond reach, a perfect reality, and freedom. In Cover 1, the young girl who is presumably Kathy H. sits in the midst of nature and her head is tilted downward with her gaze following suit. When I first saw this, she almost looks like she's admiring the flowers, overgrown and wild. Now that I have read Never Let Me Go, I can relate this action of the woman to the longing many of the characters in the book have to be free.

The characters in the book are clones who merely exist just so that they can donate their vital organs. Their lives have a strict purpose. They were created for this reason only, and therefore live very different lives from ordinary people. They're socially isolated in some capacity or another from normal people, and deep down, especially when they are older, they just want to have or do the same things that ordinary people can. They want to be free from the restrictions placed on them. This is what I think of when I see the blonde woman in Cover 1 looking at the flowers. The characters want to be like the wildflowers, uncut and free.

Comparably, in Cover 2, the open ocean horizon resembles the unknown, the hope of something new, and simply freedom. Just as in Cover 1 with the woman looking like she is admiring the flowers, to me, the singular small boat resting on the beach acts with the same freedom the flowers have and as something that could be admired. It acts as a beacon of hope of escape and freedom, as it can be sailed wherever it wants to be. However, both of these covers also show that these desires aren't possible. In the first cover, the way that it portrays this longing as something unobtainable is that it is hazy, blurry, and highly exposed, like the way most dreams are portrayed in films. In the second cover, the boat looks old and abandoned, resembling how even though it's there, it might not be reliable enough to use for sailing.

Overall, covers of books can tell onlookers many hidden messages or can hint at themes within the book, even if we don't know them yet. Ishiguro does so with 4 different covers of his hit novel Never Let Me Go.