# Book about clones--anyone remember it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828 "2010-02-13T05:29:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/1 "2010-02-13T05:29:59Z")
My parents have this maddening habit of quoting or referencing things I’ve never heard of. When I ask them about it half the time they don’t remember where it came from and the other half they tell me it’s “inappropriate” or “bad” and I shouldn’t watch/read/whatever it. I was quoting Eddie Murphy Raw when I was like 10 years old and had no idea where it came from until I watched it ten years later. Anyway, for some reason both of my parents keep mentioning this book that they read when they were younger, but they can’t remember the title. I’m guessing it was written somewhere between the 60’s and maybe the early 90’s. It sounds an awful lot like the 2005 movie The Island, but I can’t find anything saying that movie was based on any book. Basically what they can remember from this book is that there is a group of teens/young adults, in a secluded place, possibly an island, that discover they are actually clones that were created so that their organs could be harvested when their creators needed them. Does this sound like anything you’ve read? ---
**Author:** ![valleyofthedolls](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a4c791/32.png) [@valleyofthedolls](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/valleyofthedolls)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/2 "2010-02-13T06:00:24Z")
Your description sounds a lot like Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. That came out in 2005 though. Are you sure about your time frame? ---
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/3 "2010-02-13T06:06:27Z")
I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure they said they read it when they were teens, or at least a lot earlier than 2005. I’ll ask them though, thanks for the suggestion! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/4 "2010-02-13T06:54:27Z")
The Island was based on the 1979 movie “Parts: The Clonus Horror”. Are you sure they didn’t just see the movie and aren’t just too embarrassed to admit it? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/5 "2010-02-13T07:10:42Z")
Since this is about a book, it’s better suited for Cafe Society than GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/6 "2010-02-13T07:10:52Z")
I mean, I hope not. They may just be sharing some weird delusion. My dad generally doesn’t read fiction so it would be weird that he’s read it if it does exist, but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt here. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/7 "2010-02-13T08:00:06Z")
Clones raised for organ donation is a pretty common theme in science fiction. There3’s lots like that. However a brief search of Google books found this book: [The experiment By John Darnton](http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rBV03q6Jj6AC&source=gbs_navlinks_s) Review : Less-than-perfect biological thriller from the Pulitzer-winning journalist and author of Neanderthal (1996, not seen). On a remote barrier island, renegade scientists have secretly raised a community of young people. Kept in ignorance and disciplined by an identical trio of brutal Orderlies, the young folk are subjected to frequent medical tests and examinations. Some are then taken away only to return with organs missing; others don’t come back at all. Sounds like a good match. However it was published in 1999, a bit later than your description. ---
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/8 "2010-02-13T08:33:28Z")
Maybe my parents are just embarrassed that they read something that lame and cheesy that recently. ---
**Author:** ![ZPhobiaZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9de0a6/32.png) [@ZPhobiaZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPhobiaZ)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/9 "2010-02-13T13:48:43Z")
I have read many books with a similar theme, and I wonder if you may be thinking of Clone Catcher. It was published in 1982, and I recall a scene in it which went something like this. Old Man: Don’t think this means I forgive you for trying to kill me. Old man’s teenaged clone: Don’t think this means I forgive you for putting me on Earth as a bag of spare parts. I hope that helps, and if it doesn’t, good luck finding your book. ---
**Author:** ![ZPhobiaZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9de0a6/32.png) [@ZPhobiaZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPhobiaZ)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/10 "2010-02-13T13:58:57Z")
That scene was near the end of the book, mind. I think it is the one you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/11 "2010-02-13T17:28:41Z")
Thank you! That sounds more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Paige\_Turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Paige\_Turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paige_Turner)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/12 "2010-02-15T05:51:19Z")
They could also be talking about _Spares_ by Michael Marshall Smith. From Wiki [Michael Marshall Smith - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Marshall_Smith#Novels:) > [@](#): > > In 1996 his second novel, Spares, was released, a novel in which the lead character, Jack, goes on the run with clones who are used for spare body parts for rich people, when he realizes they are people with feelings. Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks purchased the film rights for Spares, but a film was never made. When the rights lapsed, Dreamworks did produce The Island, whose plot had strong similarities to Spares, though Marshall Smith did not consider it worthwhile to pursue legal action over the similarities. He now considers it unlikely a Spares film will ever be made Like most of his books, it’s vivid, complicated and intermittently violent. They tend to stick in your mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/13 "2010-02-15T15:12:12Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Clones raised for organ donation is a pretty common theme in science fiction. There3’s lots like that. However a brief search of Google books found this book: > [The experiment By John Darnton](http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rBV03q6Jj6AC&source=gbs_navlinks_s) > > Review : Less-than-perfect biological thriller from the Pulitzer-winning journalist and author of Neanderthal (1996, not seen). On a remote barrier island, renegade scientists have secretly raised a community of young people. Kept in ignorance and disciplined by an identical trio of brutal Orderlies, the young folk are subjected to frequent medical tests and examinations. Some are then taken away only to return with organs missing; others don’t come back at all. > > Sounds like a good match. However it was published in 1999, a bit later than your description. This is the same one I thought of when I read the OP, though I couldn’t remember the author or title… as I had this on audiobook within the last year, this is very, very telling… (it was NOT great literature). ---
**Author:** ![jlpaul89](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@jlpaul89](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlpaul89)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-about-clones-anyone-remember-it/528828/14 "2010-02-17T03:41:12Z")
Dad confirms it was The Experiment! Thanks guys.