Although all four cover have visual differences, they are intended for the same novel, Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. The visual differences of these book covers represent the content of the novel in different eye-catching ways. The first cover portrays the book as a romance due mainly to the girl's dreary posture and facial expression. The red shirt that the girl is wearing contrasts with the earthy green colors behind her. This leads the viewer's eyes to focus on her and associate the cover, and the title to be a love story. The second cover, however portrays the book as a coming of age story. The blurred image of the girl, shows the movement of spinning or dancing, usually something everyone does as kids. The contrasting bright colors of yellow and blue creates a happy, young, and full of life mood. The third cover chooses to portray the themes of loneliness and alienation in this novel. The dull color scheme, and lone rowboat in the lake intensify the mood of loneliness and isolation. Finally, the fourth cover portrays the novel as mysterious science fiction. The blueish-gray color scheme brings an element of fear that is not in the other covers. Harsh dark lines outline the title and human organs add a scientific element and creates an overall mysterious feel.
The reason behind the four different covers are to reach multiple audiences. The first cover appeals to the romantics, the second to the coming of age fanatics, the third to the deep philosophers, and the fourth to the thrill seeking science fiction fans.
- Words, and things that come to mind.
- (Left Cover) Broken hearted, hidden, and mistake
- (Right Cover) creepy, pain, and donor
- What would this image make you think the book was about?
- A teenager whose significant other is dying, or moving away and the couple is forced to break-up. However this is the teenage girl's first love, so she will never forget him, and as years pass, she often remembers them and vise versa.
- A dystopian society, where the government is using a group of people for experimentations, and the main character is discovering the truth about these experiments and tries to stop them.
- Who seems to be portrayed? Whose viewpoint?
- The teenage girl that is featured on the cover would be the narrator, and everything is through her viewpoint.
- A 'rebel' character, who is slowly discovering the truth about his/her government; told through their perspective.
- Does this image spark spark any ideas about the cultural construction of the book?
- Not really, I would imagine a 'normal' society, because there is nothing on the cover to dictate an abnormal society setting.
- Kind of, the cover really sets the mood that something is off, or not 'normal.' the blue-gray color scheme and dark letters and outline gives the sense that the story will take place in a dystopian science fiction setting.
- What kinds of people would make this book, and what kinds of people would read it?
- The person that wrote this book would have been like a John Green, because the author would not only focus on the romanic portion of the book, but also include deep philosophical thoughts, and a dash of humor. The audience for this book would definitely be teenage girls that were into the romance genre.
- The person that wrote this book would have been like a George Orwell, focusing on the technological portion on the dystopian society. The audience for this book would be fans of the science fiction or dystopian genres.
