Alternate Realities: A Scifi Book Club discussion

A central theme of this book is the ethics of cloning people for the process of organ donation. By telling the story from Kathy's perspective, we come to see it as a pretty monsterous practice. Ishiguro is Japanese and they tend to have some pretty strong views on organ donation in general. It almost seems like organ donation itself is presented as negative as the donors are generally in a poor state of health afterwards.

I didn't know the Japanese have strong views on organ donation. I looked for more information that would offer further explanation. Here's what I found from www.thepoweroftwomovie.com. Interesting stuff that sheds a lot of light on Ishiguro's writing. Thanks for pointing this out.

"Japan is a wealthy, medically advanced nation that struggles with the issue of organ donation. Japan is the industrialized nation with the lowest rates of organ donation in the world. Japan’s Shinto religion honors all things from nature, and tampering with death through organ recovery and donation goes against the natural order of Japanese culture and beliefs. Other traditional beliefs against organ donation in Japan include the superstitions associated with touching a dead body, that the body belongs to the ancestors, that death only happens when the heart stops, and that the soul does not leave the body after death. Also, charity, or helping others, is usually limited to within the family unit, and the tradition of helping strangers is also less respected than in the West. As a result, living donation among family members has been very successful in Japan."

Yeah, the whole book is about ethics. Ethics that have gone awry. I agree organ donation itself is presented as negative in the book because the donors have been cloned to provide this service, and because they are healthy young people who are going to die as soon as a vital organ is removed. If the scenario were different - the donor was brain dead and then the vital organ was taken - it'd create a positive aspect - but, then there'd be no ethical dilemma or gripping story, now would there?

A Japanese scifi/horror novel that goes into organ donation is Parasite Eve. Not a great book, but it does cover organ donation from a Nihon perspective.

Concerning the superstitions about touching the body:

There is a terrific Japanese movie concerning a man that takes a job preparing bodies for burial called Departures. He, and everybody around him, reacts with horror to the job at first, but he gradually comes to realize how important a job it is. It's a beautiful, moving, spiritual movie, and those aren't adjectives I often use. I highly recommend it.

Budd wrote: "A Japanese scifi/horror novel that goes into organ donation is Parasite Eve. Not a great book, but it does cover organ donation from a Nihon perspective."

Thanks for the suggestion.

Benjamin wrote: "Concerning the superstitions about touching the body:

There is a terrific Japanese movie concerning a man that takes a job preparing bodies for burial called Departures. He, and everybody around ..."

It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in 2008.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtdEN...

It looks terrific. It's available on Netflix's Instant Play. Thanks for the recommendation.

Benjamin wrote: "Concerning the superstitions about touching the body:

There is a terrific Japanese movie concerning a man that takes a job preparing bodies for burial called Departures. He, and everybody around ..."

I watched Departures tonight. It was everything you said it would be. I loved it. Again, thanks for the recommendation.

Maria wrote: "Benjamin wrote: "Concerning the superstitions about touching the body:

There is a terrific Japanese movie concerning a man that takes a job preparing bodies for burial called Departures. He, and ..."

No problem! Thanks for the news about the Academy Award! And all this time I thought I was recommending an obscure foreign movie. Oops! That explains why there's a copy at the library.