Kazuo Ishiguro

My donors have always tended to do much better than expected.

I won't be a carer any more come the end of the year, and though I've got a lot out of it, I have to admit I'll welcome the chance to rest.

I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast. And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much. The current's too strong. They've got to let go, drift apart. That's how it is with us. It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other all our lives. But in the end, we can't stay together forever.

It'll come off. If you can't get it off yourself, just take it to Miss Jody.

What is this gallery? Why should she have a gallery of things done by us?

Her general drift was clear enough: we were all very special, being Hailsham students, and so it was all the more disappointing when we behaved badly.

It never occurred to us to wonder how we would feel being seen like that.

She said we weren't being taught enough.

'At least you got him to pipe down,' she said. 'Are you okay? Mad animal.'

This is all strictly against regulations, of course, and Marie-Claude should never have asked you in. And naturally, I should have turned you out the second I knew you were here. But Marie-Claude doesn't care much for their regulations these days, and I must say, neither do I.

Memories, even your most precious ones, fade surprisingly quickly. But I don't go along with that. The memories I value most, I don't see them ever fading.

Ruth, incidentally, was only the third or fourth donor I got to choose.