Review: Klara and the Sun

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go”. I started that book without having read any reviews about the story itself, and found the gradual realization that it was about the lives of (view spoiler)[ cloned people raised to provide replacement organs for the “real” people, while maintaining their own kind of humanity (hide spoiler)]. It was touching, and provided a new and valuable perspective into the issues it focused on. Here, we have a very similar story.

(view spoiler)[Instead of cloning, the focus here is on androids – artificially intelligent human-looking robots built to provide friendship to human teens during their formative years. Like in “Never Let Me Go”, the story is from the perspective of the “servants”. To provide some differences in personality, each android is programmed a little differently, and can be better at some things and worse at others. This allows the androids to be sold a lot like cars – you can look for the one that fits your needs best. Ishiguro’s androids, at least some, spend time worrying about issues that are unique to them, like how they can help sell themselves to children and their parents, how to understand and learn their “friend” in order to provide good service, and strangely, they learn about the sun. These androids are solar powered, so need the sun to maintain their power. The perceptive android that this story revolves about even goes so far as to create a mythology about the sun, and goes to great lengths based on these beliefs to support her friend. The story brings to mind the question of how to tell if a being is sentient, and provides much to think about. (hide spoiler)] This is one of those books that gives you new things to think about long after you read it. I look forward to the next one in this vein by Ishiguro.


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