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A review by enmcurrie
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
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