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prettiestwhistles's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Ableism, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death, Abandonment, Classism, and Terminal illness
Minor: Pedophilia
heather_harrison's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Pros
* Nailed the linguistics of a robot
* Complex relationships with family
* Exploration of idea of being replaced by machines (this happens to Klara herself)
* Ambiguous ending - was Josie healed by the sun from Klara’s sacrifice or did she die only to be seamlessly replaced by the portrait?
Frustrations
* Slow plot
* POV gives extremely limited view of the world, leaves plenty of unanswered questions about the world and Josie
* introduced Sal but no explanation of her death
* Klara is painfully optimistic, unable to empathise with her
Like a duller, lonelier, non-homicidal version of M3GAN.
* Nailed the linguistics of a robot
* Complex relationships with family
* Exploration of idea of being replaced by machines (this happens to Klara herself)
* Ambiguous ending - was Josie healed by the sun from Klara’s sacrifice or did she die only to be seamlessly replaced by the portrait?
Frustrations
* Slow plot
* POV gives extremely limited view of the world, leaves plenty of unanswered questions about the world and Josie
* introduced Sal but no explanation of her death
* Klara is painfully optimistic, unable to empathise with her
Like a duller, lonelier, non-homicidal version of M3GAN.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Abandonment
andrewhatesham's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Well written and cohesive plot, and a loveable main character (Klara), but I personally prefer a denser plot. The writing style is very subtle. There's a lot subtextually (no spoilers here), but not many events actually happen. It's much more of a reflective, slow paced story.
I put off reading this for a long time because I thought it was gonna be heavier on the sci-fi (I hadn't read much sci-fi at all until recently), but it ended up being the opposite of that. If you're a sci-fi newbie, you don't need to feel daunted by this, because things are put into simple terms and there aren't that many sci-fi elements anyway, most of it feels like a real life setting. Conversely, if you're a literary newbie, this may not be for you.
It's also a bit less emotional than I expected. But I'm sure some people would view it as much more emotional than I did, it's subjective. It just didn't hit a nerve that way for me.
In terms of this as the audiobook version, I think listening to it was a good choice since it's slow paced. I could just increase the speed when it felt a little too slow (I typically read faster paced books, just my preference). I liked the narrator for the most part. The only thing that was slightly grating, were the parts with the British accented characters because the accents did not sound realistic.
I put off reading this for a long time because I thought it was gonna be heavier on the sci-fi (I hadn't read much sci-fi at all until recently), but it ended up being the opposite of that. If you're a sci-fi newbie, you don't need to feel daunted by this, because things are put into simple terms and there aren't that many sci-fi elements anyway, most of it feels like a real life setting. Conversely, if you're a literary newbie, this may not be for you.
It's also a bit less emotional than I expected. But I'm sure some people would view it as much more emotional than I did, it's subjective. It just didn't hit a nerve that way for me.
In terms of this as the audiobook version, I think listening to it was a good choice since it's slow paced. I could just increase the speed when it felt a little too slow (I typically read faster paced books, just my preference). I liked the narrator for the most part. The only thing that was slightly grating, were the parts with the British accented characters because the accents did not sound realistic.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cursing, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
veerau's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
It starts as a quite chill and perhaps cozy? read, up until half the 3rd part or so when things began taking a turn... That personally I wasn't expecting with that beginning.
Klara is lovely, always attentive and with a never ending amount of hope in her. I can't say much about other characters honestly, Josie is 14 and acts like it, Rick is too but he doesn't, both mothers need a therapist and that's pretty much all about them.
Overall, loved the atmosphere and the robotic POV more than expected, but was not a fan of how some things get casually mentioned once and that's it(like the whole genetic enhancement or whatever, mentioned only once? Or what really happened to the shop...)
That ending got me teary eyed, probably because it wasn't fully how I thought it was gonna end but still, first book in a while to do that so 4 stars are warranted 👍
Klara is lovely, always attentive and with a never ending amount of hope in her. I can't say much about other characters honestly, Josie is 14 and acts like it, Rick is too but he doesn't, both mothers need a therapist and that's pretty much all about them.
Overall, loved the atmosphere and the robotic POV more than expected, but was not a fan of how some things get casually mentioned once and that's it
That ending got me teary eyed, probably because it wasn't fully how I thought it was gonna end but still, first book in a while to do that so 4 stars are warranted 👍
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness and Grief
Minor: Child death
lorenag5's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness and Grief
modrinkscoffee's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Grief, and Child death
Moderate: Bullying
elerireads's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I struggled with this one, and some of my issues with it were definitely 'me problems', but some of them weren't.
First the things I liked about it though. I enjoyed the first 100 pages a lot and I whizzed through them. It was engaging world-building, and I found Klara an intriguing perspective - her childish naivety coupled with curiosity and uncanny philosophical depth of perception gives us a wonderful way to discover this world that's so similar to our own but for a few fundamental differences. I found her tendency to ascribe motives and meaning really interesting for a robot. It was almost too human? I read an interview (https://www.wired.com/story/kazuo-ishiguro-interview/) with Ishiguro where he talks about AI "overfitting" (but not really in this context) and when you think about it like that it seems obvious that AI should develop a whole bunch of bizarre superstitions, such as Klara's worshiping the sun. The other thing I enjoyed was the suggestion that Klara may be able to "learn" Josie and then become her after she died. Less for the issues raised in the book itself than for the things that it made me think about afterwards.
Now for the 'me problems': I'm just not really interested in the whole AI-takes-over-and-it-wreaks-havoc-on-society genre. In fact I'm not really a dystopia fan full stop but this in particular just kind of switches me off. Not that it's not an interesting idea worth exploring, it just doesn't excite me personally at all. The other problem is that I didn't really get this book. After the initial world-building I didn't feel pulled in and there didn't seem to be much structure to it. I think a big point of it was slowly figuring out the final key elements of the set-up from a slow drip of small details rather than having it explained directly, but I think I failed utterly to pick up on some of those crucial details. I got to the end and had to google what being "lifted" was actually supposed to mean because I was still none the wiser - apparently it means the kids were genetically engineered to be more intelligent? Apparently most people who read it seem to have figured that out but I'm completely baffled as to how we were possibly supposed to infer that and from what?
One of my major issues that I don't think is a 'me problem' is linked to that - Klara's ignorance is completely unrealistic. For starters, it doesn't really make sense that she starts off being completely ignorant about the world. Surely, surely, she would be preprogrammed with some basic knowledge about how the world works and the state of humanity at the time. But I do understand it makes for a brilliant perspective to write from if the character is having to learn about the world along with the reader. However, Klara's continued ignorance is completely at odds with her curiosity so it makes absolutely no sense other than as a way to keep the reader in the dark for longer. Secondly, why did none of the other characters have questions when Klara was roping them into her bizarre superstitious schemes? I understand the mentality of "oh well we might as well try it if there's a chance it could help Josie", and even "these robots are super intelligent and might know things we don't about how to help Josie", but surely you would still ask how and why? They all just immediately go along with it.
Overall I was left pretty unsatisfied because it felt like an enormous amount of care and effort had been put into setting up this fascinating world, only to refuse to tell us about it properly. And there wasn't all that much in the plot itself to hold my interest.
First the things I liked about it though. I enjoyed the first 100 pages a lot and I whizzed through them. It was engaging world-building, and I found Klara an intriguing perspective - her childish naivety coupled with curiosity and uncanny philosophical depth of perception gives us a wonderful way to discover this world that's so similar to our own but for a few fundamental differences. I found her tendency to ascribe motives and meaning really interesting for a robot. It was almost too human? I read an interview (https://www.wired.com/story/kazuo-ishiguro-interview/) with Ishiguro where he talks about AI "overfitting" (but not really in this context) and when you think about it like that it seems obvious that AI should develop a whole bunch of bizarre superstitions, such as Klara's worshiping the sun. The other thing I enjoyed was the suggestion that Klara may be able to "learn" Josie and then become her after she died. Less for the issues raised in the book itself than for the things that it made me think about afterwards.
Now for the 'me problems': I'm just not really interested in the whole AI-takes-over-and-it-wreaks-havoc-on-society genre. In fact I'm not really a dystopia fan full stop but this in particular just kind of switches me off. Not that it's not an interesting idea worth exploring, it just doesn't excite me personally at all. The other problem is that I didn't really get this book. After the initial world-building I didn't feel pulled in and there didn't seem to be much structure to it. I think a big point of it was slowly figuring out the final key elements of the set-up from a slow drip of small details rather than having it explained directly, but I think I failed utterly to pick up on some of those crucial details. I got to the end and had to google what being "lifted" was actually supposed to mean because I was still none the wiser - apparently it means the kids were genetically engineered to be more intelligent? Apparently most people who read it seem to have figured that out but I'm completely baffled as to how we were possibly supposed to infer that and from what?
One of my major issues that I don't think is a 'me problem' is linked to that - Klara's ignorance is completely unrealistic. For starters, it doesn't really make sense that she starts off being completely ignorant about the world. Surely, surely, she would be preprogrammed with some basic knowledge about how the world works and the state of humanity at the time. But I do understand it makes for a brilliant perspective to write from if the character is having to learn about the world along with the reader. However, Klara's continued ignorance is completely at odds with her curiosity so it makes absolutely no sense other than as a way to keep the reader in the dark for longer. Secondly, why did none of the other characters have questions when Klara was roping them into her bizarre superstitious schemes? I understand the mentality of "oh well we might as well try it if there's a chance it could help Josie", and even "these robots are super intelligent and might know things we don't about how to help Josie", but surely you would still ask how and why? They all just immediately go along with it.
Overall I was left pretty unsatisfied because it felt like an enormous amount of care and effort had been put into setting up this fascinating world, only to refuse to tell us about it properly. And there wasn't all that much in the plot itself to hold my interest.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness and Grief
maxgene's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness and Grief
Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Death, and Terminal illness
mals_reads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Classism and Emotional abuse
waybeyondblue's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Child death, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Death