The kids at Hailsham: They're organ donors. After they leave school they'll be expected to give away all their organs. That's all they're told, and that's only because one of their guardians has a sort of nervous breakdown and blabs. She refers to the artwork the kids do as "evidence". ????
After leaving Hailsham at 16 the kids are just dumped at various locations in the country and have to fend for themselves - how will they be rounded up for their donations later?
I don't mind giving a spoiler for this book 'cause I know no one will read it anyway. Ishiguro, so far as I know, hasn't been a top seller since Remains of the Day, although his books always get excellent reviews. I love his writing because it's very simple and direct, almost conversational in style. That's a world away from a lot of the overwrought crap that's popular in Canada. The whole "life's a brutal bitch and then you die" literary trend leaves me cold. (If a person was to learn to about Canadian history and Canadian life only through Annie Proulx and Anne-Marie McDonald novels, he'd think we were the sickest and most depraved bastards on the planet - a bunch of incestuous, grumpy pirates who eat weird food.)