MovieChat Forums > Never Let Me Go (2010) Discussion > So much critique for Kathy and Ruth, wha...

So much critique for Kathy and Ruth, what about Tommy??

posted 12 years ago by nnenok
4 replies | jump to latest

I see it in most of the threads here: Kathy is considered to be too passive, too calm, spineless. Ruth is the bitch who kept them apart. But how does Tommy end up to be such an angel? He was the most passive of all three. Kathy at least tried to give them both some silent treatment, but Tommy doesn't do anything. He clearly loves Kathy and what does he do? He goes along with Ruth with no apparent reason. Does the book explain it? He bothered me in two scenes:
1) when that couple from The Cottages asks them about the deferral and it's obvious that this revelation makes a click in both Kathy and Tommy - they both understand that this is probably one of the reasons why Ruth went after Tommy.
2) when Ruth gives her apology on the beach. Tommy appears to be hurt by this apology, and yet - how is she more guilty than him? She at least had a reason for being with him, whereas he was just a marionette who wasn't even in love with her. He had no right to be insulted.

[–] vedrana_a 12 years ago

I think things like this happen in real life too often also.
Ruth went for him, he said yes, and that's it. Now you live with it.
It doesn't mean Ruth and Tommy weren't in love.
I believe they were. And that Ruth didnt want to be with him only because if the deffarel. remember, they haven't even heard about it. Ruth liked Tommy because her best friend liked him. That happens often. And Ruth was the HOT girl, so he said yes. But later he realised he liked more Kathy. Maybe because he and Ruth had a hard time in relationship? It is usually like that.

[–] histopaul 12 years ago

I've just finished the book... to be honest the characterisation is worse than in the film. Pretty much every chapter follows the same structure:
1. Kathy says/does something
2. Ruth replies spitefully, usually putting Tommy down in the process
3. Tommy looks hurt with a hint that he might throw a tantrum but is trying to calm himself down, or spinelessly follows Ruth and gives Kathy a sheepish glance.
The film made a good job of fleshing out the characters with a bit of subtlety, but that basic structure is still very much evident.

They are all really one dimensional characters in the book. The only hint of love in the entire book is when Tommy's trying to find a copy of the Judy Bridgewater tape for Kathy, and even then it seems very one-sided at best (Kathy doesn't seem interested at all). Then later Ruth does the big speech about her holding Kathy and Tommy apart and then they're suddenly in love. So there's not really any subtle progression in the book, they're friends one minute with no sexual chemistry, then they're deeply in love the next.

All in all, the book is just a series of isolated events, since each chapter is a flashback to a different time, so there's no link between chapters and huge swathes of time are cut out in the process - very lazy authorship.

Kinda puzzled as to how it got nominated for a Man Booker prize to be honest, it's amateurish in every regard.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nastylev 12 years ago

Tommy was a guy, a guy who had been approached by a pretty teenaged girl and was kept "p*ssy-whipped" till the age of 18 (the whole kissing-in-the-hidden-garden scene made it apparent). The only way he would have left Ruth in that period was if Kathy grew a spine and made the first move. Ultimately it is Kathy's fault in my twisted mind, which makes Tommy an innocent victim stuck between a b!tch and a spineless girl.