I had a lot of high hopes for Klara and the Sun but now that I have finished it off, I am left wanting more. It's been bothering me that I feel unfulfilled by the plot but I'm not sure if this is the genius in Kazuo Ishiguro's writing.
The story follows a super-curious, insightful and loyal Artificial Friend (AF) - Klara, who navigates through a dystopian future as she learns to answer an essential question: what does it mean to love? Klara has limited knowledge of the outside world, but does have the ability to absorb and learn information of not just the environment but also the people around her. She obtains her energy from the Sun and attempts to destroy climate change by herself.
Narrated by a pre-adolescent robotic voice, the novel does not excel at creating excitement and engagement with the reader. Rather than focusing on the many distorted relationships between characters, the environment which it is set in or the reason why the characters are in the situation described, the novel focuses on Klara's unhealthy obsession with the Sun and with her owner, Josie.
It was refreshing to read a novel from an Artificial Intelligence (AI) point of view. I have a personal curiosity about AI and I was excited to read about how Klara would develop and absorb the world around her.
There were ideas that were breezed over with too much subtlety for my liking and left my understanding of major concepts in the plot blank. Ishiguro wrote vaguely about the characters' backstories and I felt there were gaps in character and plot development.
There was too much untapped potential in this novel and felt it could have taken eerie turn or have an exciting plot twist, but feel it just ran flat overall.
I would be curious to discuss this novel with any other readers. What are your thoughts and opinions? Have I missed the big picture here?
Completed on: 6th May 2021
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