![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiBook Review: Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
This was a random discovery in a National Trust second-hand bookshop, although I'd already been aware of it and was mildly curious. Klara is an Artificial Friend - we don't get many details, but enough to confirm a human form - and the story begins in a shop where she is for sale. Eventually she encounters teenager Josie, and her mother buys Klara for her.
Josie is home-schooled and sometimes ill, and Klara spends some time caring for her among other activities. Klara meets the neighbours. Josie's parents are separated, but eventually Klara meets Josie's father.
There are many twists in the story, and the ending was, for me, unexpected. Throughout, there is a combination of humanity and dystopia. It's accidental: no-one is seeking to be evil, but everyone is living through the consequences of their and others' actions.
There is some process called lifing, which seems to be some sort of genetic enhancement, that Josie has been through. It's not clear whether that is the cause of Josie's illness, though it seems likely. The parents have already lost one child, and although it's made out that that was "different", there's a sense that the parents may be in denial about that. Rick, Josie's neighbour and boyfriend, has not been "lifted" and sees little hope for his future.
The biggest flaw as I see it, but which is intrinsic to the plot, is Klara's complete lack of interest in the nature of Josie's illness. We are shown and told how much curiosity Klara exhibits, yet she never asks anyone about this matter. It doesn't prevent her from providing care and expressing concern, but it's an amazing no-go zone. Of course, combined with an unrelated observation, this ignorance is what leads to Klara's faith in the Sun and her mission to seek his help. The blurb on the back cover talks about "what does it mean to love?" but at least as much, this is about "what does it mean to believe?" Klara observes a street scene where an apparently ill homeless man recovers due to what she perceives as the Sun's "special help"; it's not too cynical, I think, to find an easier interpretation that the man was drunk or hungover, and slept it off. But for Klara this becomes an idée fixe and an article of faith, almost a religion. Like robots going bad in SF everywhere, and the generative AIs we see around us today, she can be stubbornly persistent and unwilling to offer an explanation.
This was a random discovery in a National Trust second-hand bookshop, although I'd already been aware of it and was mildly curious. Klara is an Artificial Friend - we don't get many details, but enough to confirm a human form - and the story begins in a shop where she is for sale. Eventually she encounters teenager Josie, and her mother buys Klara for her.
Josie is home-schooled and sometimes ill, and Klara spends some time caring for her among other activities. Klara meets the neighbours. Josie's parents are separated, but eventually Klara meets Josie's father.
There are many twists in the story, and the ending was, for me, unexpected. Throughout, there is a combination of humanity and dystopia. It's accidental: no-one is seeking to be evil, but everyone is living through the consequences of their and others' actions.
There is some process called lifing, which seems to be some sort of genetic enhancement, that Josie has been through. It's not clear whether that is the cause of Josie's illness, though it seems likely. The parents have already lost one child, and although it's made out that that was "different", there's a sense that the parents may be in denial about that. Rick, Josie's neighbour and boyfriend, has not been "lifted" and sees little hope for his future.
The biggest flaw as I see it, but which is intrinsic to the plot, is Klara's complete lack of interest in the nature of Josie's illness. We are shown and told how much curiosity Klara exhibits, yet she never asks anyone about this matter. It doesn't prevent her from providing care and expressing concern, but it's an amazing no-go zone. Of course, combined with an unrelated observation, this ignorance is what leads to Klara's faith in the Sun and her mission to seek his help. The blurb on the back cover talks about "what does it mean to love?" but at least as much, this is about "what does it mean to believe?" Klara observes a street scene where an apparently ill homeless man recovers due to what she perceives as the Sun's "special help"; it's not too cynical, I think, to find an easier interpretation that the man was drunk or hungover, and slept it off. But for Klara this becomes an idée fixe and an article of faith, almost a religion. Like robots going bad in SF everywhere, and the generative AIs we see around us today, she can be stubbornly persistent and unwilling to offer an explanation.