Reviews with content warning for Grief - Klara and the Sun

KLARA AND THE SUN follows an artificial friend with an incredible skill for observation. We follow Klara as she moves through different phases while she cares for her human companion and tries to make sense of what is happening around her.

This is the third book by Isiguro that I have read. And I continue to be disturbed, amazed, and intrigued by the scenarios he gives life to in his books. As my friend once put it, there is always that moment in an Isiguro book when you’re like “Aha, here we go”. And this one was no different. When that point game, I genuinely said “WHAT.THE.HELL?!” out loud in front of my toddler.

There’s always a story being told under the story and eventually it comes out, though never so fully that you feel like someone is hitting you over the head with a moral or an ideology. It’s always just subtle enough that you feel uncomfortable and can’t stop thinking about it.

I thought Klara was charming and I loved seeing the world through her eyes. So many little things we take for granted that Klara calls attention to in a unique way. And the way relationships and emotions are talked about in this book, was just chef’s kiss!

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em_haydon's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

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theleppy's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I didn't expect to come out of this book crying. It was so lovely seeing the world through the eyes of an optimistic and hopeful robot (which is such an unfair thing to call her. The book's term AF or Artificial Friend is so much more apt). I came to love Klara and the other characters flaws and all. This book is filled with such hope and sadness but it's beautiful. The way Klara sees the world is strange but beautiful. It's not a book for everyone and I say I tagged it as challenging because it doesn't hand you answers, you have to piece things together on your own and even then it's hard to grasp. It's a puzzle that is missing pieces even at the end but at the center it's beautiful.

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juliettea's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

3.0

I will read more Ishiguro in the future maybe never let me go next but I’m not super excited as this being my first novel from him. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but till the end I was just barely holding on.
I was not very emotionally vested into the characters. His exploration into the views of artificial intelligence, while compelling, falls pretty flat even with an analysis on love.

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summersnitch's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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nicolinebl's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I dont think I've ever read a book quite like this. Books/movies about robots aren't unique per se but something about this book, something about Klara, was very special and touching to me. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was very intrigued by the story. It was also a surprisingly emotional read at the end, I definitely shed some tears. Some great writing!

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wolfthorn's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I got confused when I started reading this book because the page count on the ebook was all messed up. The Cover and Title page were both page 1, then the Part One page was page 58! I hadn't read much of it and had already got to page 60-something which was definitely confusing. As if the book itself wasn't confusing enough.

There's no real information given as to when or where the book is set. It seems to be a not-too-distant future in that people have smart phones and tablets, but no self-driving cars. Given that there are comments made about Rick's British accent and how the best staff come from Europe, it seems to be set in America. I felt that lots of other background information was still missing at halfway point: what are lifted kids, why doesn't Rick fit in, why are the meetings necessary, what is the Cootings Machine?? I also didn't understand why Klara kept referring to things being in boxes. I felt as though there was a lot of underlying meaning that I wasn't picking up on and as a result, I didn't really understand what was going on beyond the surface descriptions.

The book seemed to change direction halfway through when it was revealed what the portrait actually was. The idea of having Klara assume Josie's look and personality characteristics was rather random but it did raise some interesting questions about whether that would be an acceptable substitute for a bereft parent. Then, as it looked like that eventuality might play out, a miracle occurred and Josie didn't die after all. The entire scene with the Sun magically healing Josie seemed at odds with the whole realism of the book and didn't fit. There was no explanation given for it either, it was just accepted that the Sun had done it. After that, the story seemed to trail off and became a summary of several years, and ended quite blandly.

Even after finishing it, I felt like a lot of the book still didn't make sense. I ended up turning to Wikipedia which had an in depth summary and helped to explain that Klara seeing things in boxes was supposed to indicate her vision was glitching. I really didn't get that at all. It also explained what the lifted kids were and why Josie was ill in the first place. It feels like a bit of a failure of the author that I had to have these things explained to me from Wikipedia rather than the book itself.

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nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Kazuo Ishiguro is truly a master of slow, uncomfortable, disorienting, stunning prose. Klara is an AF--an Artificial Friend--who begins her conscious existence in a store, eagerly observing anything she can of the outside world, seeking to understand and empathize with the human experience, and waiting for a child to choose her and take her home. When Klara gets her turn at the shop window, she is mesmerized by all of the activity and her unfettered access to the sun's strengthening power. She basks in the light, noticing and asking questions of the world beyond the store, and I was completely enamored of her from the very first line.

Sura Siu narrates this perfectly, capturing Klara's innocence and curiosity with just the slightest lilt indicate, as Ishiguro's writing itself does, that something is not quite right, that Klara's questions and observations go beyond her individual interest to make a statement about the state of the world. Indeed, the questions that this book explores about the role of technology, our desires for our children's success, the essence of the human condition, are universal and relevant.

When Klara is finally chosen by Josie to come home with her, her observations are unceasing, and the slow build of the plot and the relationships reaches a dramatic, devastating climax. As Klara attempts to protect Josie and her family and navigates her own experience of under-developed emotions (she is a robot, after all), her endearing innocence and determination carry the story through to a heart-breaking, quiet conclusion.

Despite my belief in the absolute beauty of this book, it didn't receive 5 stars from me because a few too many things were left unexplained. The critique of pollution was interesting but minimally contributed to the plot, serving primarily to create additional suspense that, in my opinion, was unnecessary. Furthermore, I wanted more explicit explanation of Klara's sight blocks and what it meant to be lifted. Ishiguro's writing is effective to a large extent because it is eerie and unclear, but I was left with a few too many questions about these elements to be 5 star-satisfied.

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