A review by georgia59
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

dark mysterious sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

Despite the many outside scenes in this book and the movement between the city and the country, it felt a very claustrophobic novel, perhaps owing, in part, to its sparse and vague depiction of life in this dystopian world.  In keeping with that tone the dialogue and interactions between characters seemed somewhat unnatural and stilted (almost akin to our now outdated idea of how robots interact?) and there seemed to be little colour in the narrative (despite the Sun's omnipresence in the book).

I wasn't wholly convinced by the depiction of AFs, Klara's AF nature seeming to serve the narrative - astute one moment, uncomprehending the next.  I grant that she was still learning but it still didn't ring true.  On many occasions she seemed to have an awful lot of difficulty computing what she was seeing before her which, to this inexperienced science fiction reader at least, is pretty basic stuff I would think.

Having said all that it was a compulsive read and I was delighted with Ishiguro's original and unpredictable plot turns.  I had no idea where the story was going and that's such a rare experience these days. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings