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softanimal's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, and Grief
acoffeeandagoodbook's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-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? No
4.0
What a sweet, sad story. For an AI, Klara is a remarkably emotional narrator, and by the end, I'd completely fallen in love with her.
Seeing the world through Klara's eyes is very interesting (although sometimes confusing, as you try to unpick her misunderstandings to get to the reality), and her bond with the child she has been bought to be a friend for is beautiful to read.
The dystopian elements are treated with a light touch, with a lot of the bleakness left to the interpretation of the reader. The plot unfolds slowly, examining loneliness, class, and what it means to be human.
It's hard to review this book without giving anything away, but Klara's efforts to be the best Artificial Friend that she can were very moving, even if her ideas were slightly confused. Sweet, but in parts very sad. A beautiful read.
Seeing the world through Klara's eyes is very interesting (although sometimes confusing, as you try to unpick her misunderstandings to get to the reality), and her bond with the child she has been bought to be a friend for is beautiful to read.
The dystopian elements are treated with a light touch, with a lot of the bleakness left to the interpretation of the reader. The plot unfolds slowly, examining loneliness, class, and what it means to be human.
It's hard to review this book without giving anything away, but Klara's efforts to be the best Artificial Friend that she can were very moving, even if her ideas were slightly confused. Sweet, but in parts very sad. A beautiful read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Terminal illness, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Grief
yerulp's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child death
cellelina's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Child death and Grief
krys_kilz's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book was a very slow read for me. So much of the world building was left shrouded in mystery and the dystopian elements of the story were mostly mentioned in passing while never fully explained. This did help create a general sense of unease and tension that kept me invested, but there was simultaneously frustration that I was unable to fully know what was going on.
The strongest part of the book for me was the narrator. Klara was a wholly original and unique voice and her observations about human behavior, emotion, and loneliness were uncanny. I found her quite endearing by the end.
I like the framing of this story as a parable about parenthood. It's deceptively simple and achingly real.
The strongest part of the book for me was the narrator. Klara was a wholly original and unique voice and her observations about human behavior, emotion, and loneliness were uncanny. I found her quite endearing by the end.
I like the framing of this story as a parable about parenthood. It's deceptively simple and achingly real.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness and Grief
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Classism and Bullying
bcooper21's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, and Child death
miarose_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Hopeful. Unexpected. Unique.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Bullying and Grief
madeleineelr'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Child death
Moderate: Grief
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Of the three Kazuo Ishiguro books I’ve read, this is the only one with anything resembling a happy ending. It was also emotionally devastating, and I may be recovering from it for some time.
This book has so many conceptual layers, and I’m not sure I understand any of them. I may need to read some analyses to feel like I really get all of what was going on.
If you’re looking for a weird, sweet, high-concept novel with a fascinating AI narrator who is equal parts intelligent and naive, I highly recommend Klara and the Sun. If sick kids or artificial intelligence or genetic enhancement are triggers for you, you might want to give it a miss.
Honestly, I kind of feel like this book exists in the same conceptual space as Never Let Me Go, so I will definitely be thinking about potential links between the two for a while.
This book has so many conceptual layers, and I’m not sure I understand any of them. I may need to read some analyses to feel like I really get all of what was going on.
If you’re looking for a weird, sweet, high-concept novel with a fascinating AI narrator who is equal parts intelligent and naive, I highly recommend Klara and the Sun. If sick kids or artificial intelligence or genetic enhancement are triggers for you, you might want to give it a miss.
Honestly, I kind of feel like this book exists in the same conceptual space as Never Let Me Go, so I will definitely be thinking about potential links between the two for a while.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness and Terminal illness
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Bullying
Minor: Racism
enmcurrie's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was definitely an interesting read. It’s about this AI robot, Klara, who gets purchased to live with a girl called Josie to study and take in her relationships and mannerisms. I love the way Ishiguro writes science fiction. The world he creates is totally weird and disorientating but somehow familiar, and so it’s not too far fetched.
While I enjoyed the story, I don’t think I completely fell in love with the nature of the writing and the plot. It felt very vague and ambiguous to me, and although I’m sure it’s done intentionally, I wish it wasn’t. I wanted to know a lot more about the world Klara was living in. Her narration is very dry and rigid (considering she is a robot) and while interesting, it missed the mark a bit for me. I wanted to know more about the divide between the elite + genetically “lifted” society and those that weren’t, more about the different human relationships, Jodie’s absent father and the “community” he’s found himself in. why AFs exist in the first place. But the story focuses on Klara’s faith in the sun, which in this book is described as sort of a sentient being. Granted, this is the title of the book, but I just wanted more depth. Ishiguro is very delicate in the way he unfolds his plot lines, and while that can be great, it felt particularly slow at times with this book.
It was definitely a good read though and the ending was quite sad. Lots of lessons to be learnt, such as the complexity and depth of human emotion and how a person’s worth is dependent on how much others value you. Ishiguro is a very clever writer, who often writes a paragraph and you wonder what the point of it was and the suddenly it clicks and you realise exactly why he’s done it. This book just felt a bit too simplistic to me, too vague and lacking in depth. It definitely had the potential to be groundbreaking. But I do love Klara, I think she was an incredibly sweet and loveable character.
While I enjoyed the story, I don’t think I completely fell in love with the nature of the writing and the plot. It felt very vague and ambiguous to me, and although I’m sure it’s done intentionally, I wish it wasn’t. I wanted to know a lot more about the world Klara was living in. Her narration is very dry and rigid (considering she is a robot) and while interesting, it missed the mark a bit for me. I wanted to know more about the divide between the elite + genetically “lifted” society and those that weren’t, more about the different human relationships, Jodie’s absent father and the “community” he’s found himself in. why AFs exist in the first place. But the story focuses on Klara’s faith in the sun, which in this book is described as sort of a sentient being. Granted, this is the title of the book, but I just wanted more depth. Ishiguro is very delicate in the way he unfolds his plot lines, and while that can be great, it felt particularly slow at times with this book.
It was definitely a good read though and the ending was quite sad. Lots of lessons to be learnt, such as the complexity and depth of human emotion and how a person’s worth is dependent on how much others value you. Ishiguro is a very clever writer, who often writes a paragraph and you wonder what the point of it was and the suddenly it clicks and you realise exactly why he’s done it. This book just felt a bit too simplistic to me, too vague and lacking in depth. It definitely had the potential to be groundbreaking. But I do love Klara, I think she was an incredibly sweet and loveable character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child death