Opinion: Never Let Me Go

I found this to be a difficult novel to form a definite opinion on. Before reading it, I thought I would have liked it more than I really did. I picked it out from all the other library books because the author was Japanese; and I decided to read it because Time had declared it "The best novel of the decade." Unfortunately, I do not give it the same praise.
The book did not have a synopsis anywhere on it, so I decided to go ahead and read it blindly - I will not be making that mistake again. Not only did I have no idea what the author was trying to focus on at any given point, I also didn't understand some crucial elements, and missed many important hints altogether. As I read, vague ideas formed themselves in my head, but I only pieced together the message in the last two chapters.
After reading some reviews, there is a clear split down the middle - half the readers loved the book and the other half hated it. Due to this, I feel a sort of guilt that I thought it was mediocre (like I had missed something that would have landed me on either side of the line instead of dead-centre). Many reviewers said the story was beautiful; I hope to find this beauty in the movie.
I cannot praise the author on his writing ability, but he deserves recognition for raising moral and ethical questions about human cloning. Were it written better, with some of the explanations done at the beginning rather than at the end, the novel would have received a more positive response from me. The idea itself is thought-provoking and very, very real; but, it is a shame such an extraordinary story lacked minor details that would have made a significant difference.