I've got you covered...

Cover key:
Cover 1: blonde girl, top left
Cover 2: boat, top right
Cover 3: grey organs, bottom left
Cover 4: blue dress, bottom right

For the intended purpose for cover 1, I think it is to portray the story as whimsical because the first thing it brings to mind is a secret garden and the girl looks very natural and possibly barefoot. As for cover 2, I think its purpose it to show this story as one of human experience and as very normal and realistic because it brings about a nostalgic mood with the muted colors. Cover 3's intended purpose is definitely to portray NLMG as more scary and horror because of the barbed wire and grey background. Lastly, the intended purpose of cover 4 is to show this story as more mysterious and fleeting because you cannot see the girl's face and she looks to be moving or running.

I think covers 1 and 2 are meant to be more literal and realistic because they both have a familiar and earthy background, causing the audience to see the book as a realistic work. Cover 3 is the most unique because it is significantly darker in color and tone than the rest of the covers. It also gives away more information by having the barbed wire in the shape of organs, alluding to the donations in the novel. Covers 1 and 4 are the only covers with a person on them, making NLMG seem more character oriented and allow the audience to be guided as to what Kathy, and more broadly, clones would look like.

When I see cover two the first thing it makes me think of is a Nicholas Sparks novel because it has a very nostalgic mood by portraying the abandoned boat at see, which gives an aura of bittersweet, which is usually what his covers remind me of. If I saw this on a shelf at a bookstore this would definitely be something I would pick up because it would make me think it was realistic fiction and was about life, which is what I look for in many of my book choices. In terms of images, it would make me think of the view from the pier in the background and who was standing there looking out. I think this better represents Never Let Me Go than cover 3 because it brings to mind themes of relationships and importance of setting, which I think are very prevalent in the text. However, I do think this paints the text to be much happier and light-hearted than it is. I would say this cover would be how Kathy sees the story because she is not bitter about what has happened and simply sees it as a sad reality, but is very nostalgic for the times with Tommy and Ruth, which is why she is telling the story. In both covers 2 and 3, I think they are very American in nature because they appeal to the two extremes that are most common in American literature, whereas cover 4 seems more Japanese in nature because it is less distracting and more clean, simplistic, and symbolic. I think this cover would be more appealing to more emotional readers and people who prefer stories about life and the relationships between people, good and bad, which I think is true to NLMG.

In the complete opposite direction, cover 3 reminded me of a Stephen King novel cover in that it screams fear factor and has layers (the forest behind the barbed wire) giving a mysterious mood. The image it brings to mind is the prison from the TV show the Walking Dead because that show also utilizes a lot of texture and dark color choices to create a similar mood. In my opinion, this does not represent the true mood of Never Let Me Go because though they could not leave Hailsham and it could be seen as a prison, the kids never felt imprisoned because of their ignorance. However, I feel that Tommy would have felt this accurately portrayed his and Kathy and Ruth's positions as he reached completion, especially after seeing his reaction to not being deferred and revealing that he really has felt so trapped all along. I think horror readers would go for this cover, but I would guess after reading the description on the back of the book they would wonder why the cover is so dark and evil looking.