Klara and the Sun

A very readable journey into a possible future. A very interesting narrator, an artificially intelligent humanoid with good observational abilities but limited reasoning, which ultimately allows her to draw some curious and false conclusions.

Minor things about the proposed future slightly irk, for example we seem to have autonomous artificial friends, but driving is still something done by humans. Walking around is likely more difficult to automate than driving around, though companionship does not appear to be as difficult as we might have thought/hoped. That said, the future inhabitants all have something called an 'oblong', which seems to be roughly a futuristic smart phone. Do we then really need the artificial friends to be humanoid in look? Why can the artificial friend not simply be interfaced with through the oblong? Lastly, it seems that the artificial friends can perform chores if asked, why then does the main family still have a housekeeper? Why does not everyone have a robotic maid?

Still these are just nitpicks about the possible future, the main throw of the work, and the pleasure of reading it, is not significantly affected. At times, the book may seem to belabor about the point a bit. Perhaps some scenes could have been cut, or perhaps I am just missing their significance.

I’ve just finished this book and I really cannot see what the hype is about. Three of the reviewers on the cover describe it as a ‘masterpiece’ and we’re told that the author won the Nobel Prize for literature (not for this book). Yet it’s depressing, boring, and unfulfilling.

Loose ends abound, from what being ‘lifted’ involves to how the Sun helps humans (helping AFs, who seem to be solar powered, is at least understandable). Most of the characters are unpleasant for large parts of the story, with the exception of Klara, and the two mothers spend most of their time being rude to or about their former partners (and this is reciprocated). There’s a hint that AFs aren’t liked by some sections of society, but this isn’t followed up and it’s not clear what the reasons are (AFs are friends, rather than performing manual tasks which might be seen as taking away jobs from humans).

Finally, the description of at least two characters as ‘black-skinned’ - apparently their defining feature and the most important thing worth commenting on - would be bad enough from a first time author in the 1920s. For a book written in 2021 by a Nobel laureate, it’s unfathomable as to why this got into the initial draft and then past the editor and publisher.

I finished this because it was for a book club, otherwise it would have ended up on my abandoned shelf.

This is one of those very rare books that reminds me of what books are at some level all about. That makes me want to go about and knock about two stars off of 99% of my prior book ratings, to make room to properly differentiate this one.

It's hard to say too much that's concrete, without giving it away. I was closer to tears at the end of this than I can remember with any book for a long time. Not easy maudlin tears, but deep oh-my-god tears about what a universe this is.

The people are very fully people; the viewpoint character is not a person, but ... well, that would be a spoiler also. But the viewpoint it gives her allows Ishiguro to say some amazing and touching and true and thought-provoking things without coming out and saying them (because nothing he could come out and say would say them so well).

Language cannot express truth, I often say; but what I mean is that it can't explicitly express literal truth. Language, when it's used with this much expertise, can and does express deep and breathtaking truth.

I need to go spend a few weeks processing this now, I think..

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you should,