Klara and the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: [from the dustjacket] Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her.
Expectation: A heartfelt story about forming connection.
Reality: A solid first half is squandered by several convoluted plot twists that put Klara in the backseat.
Recommended For: Fans of light scifi.
Why I Read It: #Bookstagram made me do it.
My Take:
I jot notes about whatever book I’m reading or listening to as it progresses to process the work in real time. Then it usually doesn’t take me long to craft a review, because I’ve already worked through the details and — barring any massive plot twist at the end — my rating is usually set before the credits roll (in an audiobook, at least).
Rather than putting up an immediate review of “Klara in the Sun,” I wanted to spend 24-hours digesting it, because my initial thought was “meh” and it got me thinking that maybe I missed something because so many people on #Bookstagram loved it.
My conclusion: Elements of “Sun” worked but Kazuo Ishiguro tried to do too much, which made the story feel unfocused.
The first half of the novel is the strongest. Klara is an artificial friend (AF) model known for observational astuteness, but she only experiences the world through the confines of her store and precious moments at the window.
The store is a delicate ecosystem overseen by a Manager that ensures the AFs learn about human nature to make exceptional companions one day. There is an innocence and melancholy to Klara’s life in the store. She views situations with a detached and literal examination of the world she sees that’s both funny (anti-parking signs, for instance) and spot-on, as she quickly learns to assess happiness, fear, grief and classism in the people hurrying by.
Spending time at the window, witnessing the sunset or feeling recharged by the sun (literally, it’s her fuel source), give her the perception of joy. Her time in the store is relatively short-lived — about 60-pages/three hours — and once she went home with Josie, a possibly terminally ill teenager, things started to fall apart for me.
I found the second half of the novel to be a mish-mash of ideas that never quite stuck. With Klara as narrator, our understanding of the world she inhabits is limited to the conversations from human characters around her. This means many of the scifi and dystopian elements of the story are presented without context and are, frankly, difficult to fully understand.
[some WTF spoilers below]
At the 50 percent mark not much had happened, and I debated giving up until a nugget of intrigue — a mysterious painting with a creepy painter! — entered the fold. Unfortunately, this just opened up a slew of unconnected plot points that involved the neighbor boy, Rick, his mother, Helen, and Josie’s parents.
In a nutshell, Josie is dying because of the genetic modifying “lifting” procedure, and Klara is being groomed to inhabit her life. But Klara begs the sun (her god) to save Josie and somewhat sacrifices herself to destroy a polluting machine, and then Josie doesn’t die, and she leaves for college and Klara gets turned out with the other homeless AFs.
Oh, and I forget to mention the fascist subplot and whole section that focused on Rick and Helen trying to get him into college even though he wasn’t lifted. How this is all connected, I have no idea.
[WTF spoilers concluded]
Ultimately, I think Ishiguro is trying to make us think about individual sacrifice — especially that of a parent for their children — and of losing our humanity in a quest for perfection. Still, there’s too much happening and Klara, the robot heart of the story, gets lost.
The ambiguous and non-linear nature of the novel means each reader/listener will probably interpret Klara’s journey a different way. This could be a fun book club pick for the love it/loath it debate, but I can’t say it will be one I recommend.
As an audiobook, Sura Siu is fantastic. She gives Klara the detachment needed for an artificial being, but you still completely understand how she “feels” about a situation. I was most impressed with how she narrated Josie, giving the teen a voice that’s the perfect combination of parental angst and wonder at the world.
Rating (story): 2.5/5 stars
Rating (narration): 4/5
Formats: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: March 24 - 28, 2021
Multi-tasking: Difficult, since there’s a lot of nuance.
