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dcgaray33's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness
mayareads4fun's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Definitely surprised me in some ways, I didn’t know what to expect from a book in the perspective of an AI character, but it was really touching.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Chronic illness
Moderate: Death and Grief
laurajordensharris's review against another edition
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
ellisy's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Klara and the sun, a novel about human emotions and the human heart seen through the lens of an Artificial Intelligence: Klara, a robot with both a child-like and an outsider's perspective. It's a book that recognizes the changes and problems in a world that reflects problems of our reality, but takes a more human approach where relationships and day-to-day life are the focus: "The human heart. Do you think there is such a thing? Something that makes each of us special and individual?" Making it a one of a kind exploration where individuals are the center in what slowly becomes a more and more savage society.
This story is told through an unreliable narrator, not because it's trying to trick you into believing in something untrue and genuinely monstrous like in Lolita, but because the narrator both doesn't understand nor know everything. She's a robot configured for something very specific: prevent kid's loneliness. "You have an outsider narrator that paradoxically allows you to focus very sharply on specific aspects of the human world. It feels quite natural for Klara: she looks out of the shop window at the street going past and she tries to de-code it in terms of loneliness, tries to spot it and how people tend to avoid it". Like a child, she doesn't understand much of the world, but is learning quickly and making connections of what she sees with what she is capable of understanding. One of the very first connections she makes is that the Sun is a benign being that not only gives nourishment but also is capable of saving people from death. An idea that becomes very relevant in the story.
As I mentioned, Klara doesn't understand everything, is not programmed to. Even though she's remarkably curious, she never goes out of her programming. Her focus is and always will be the people she's surrounded by, and most importantly, her kid. That makes such a novelty in the genre, not only because it avoids the stereotype of the robot going out of their programming, but builds a world we never get to fully understand, since the narrator is not interested in what usually interests this genre. Normally, in Science Fiction, your focus is politics as a mechanism to get you to comprehend fully its world, and to use this fictional world and the afflictions of its society to warn you about a real-life problem we may be experiencing in a smaller level. This book turns that around completely and focuses on two households, their own domestic problems and tragedy. Takes a smaller scale where feelings and relationships are the focus. As the author mentioned in an interview in 2021, he wanted to question "if the world is changing like this, if the environment is changing like this, then what does this do to us as human beings? What does it do to our relationships? What would it feel like to be in this situation? I write novels to help people swap emotions, not to warn people".
At the same interview, he mentioned that his main interest in the novel is looking at human love and human relationships through the eyes of an AI. The peculiar perspective of such an outsider with a different kind of logic and different assumptions. To which she concludes that "perhaps all humans are lonely. At least potentially", that love is something life-long lasting; and that there isn't something special about a person, but about the inside of those who love them. "He already knew Josie and Rick were bound to go their separate ways, and yet understood that, despite everything, their love would last".
But "how much does Klara understand about human emotions? Is she just labeling them and naming them and finding them somewhere in her mind, or does she herself have these emotions in any kind of meaningful way?" To which I respond that she indeed understands them, with some limitations, but she does. She's even able to have some of them too. This is, most probably, because she's programmed to be a friend, a companion. Which makes me question at what extent humans could be considered to be "programmed" to have feelings too. They developed naturally as a survival mechanism and became more complicated with time, just like our narrator. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I never found it difficult to connect with her, even if I couldn't relate to her completely. Things don't have to be exactly like us to deserve empathy, and that may be a reason why I found its finale so heartbreaking, and this book a failed attempt to be optimistic.
From here I could enumerate some of its other faults, being the main one its lack of focus. It would have worked perfectly as an exploration of the human heart and the way exterior factors affect us and our relationships, but it ended-up adding other half-baked themes that just distracted you from the main idea. This problem is so prevalent that when I finished the book I wasn't sure what it really was about, and it was not until I saw interviews of the author explaining it that I saw the questions he was trying to raise. It's not even like these other ideas were bad, they were very interesting, just didn't work the way they should have. Even the quotes that could be taken for these main ideas are very few.
Klara and the sun shines a light into everyday things we usually wouldn't think about, pointing at the bright side of tragedy and the dim side of miracles. A novel that focuses in feelings and relationships in a society that is more and more practical and individualistic. One that reminds you that "we're part of each other".
This story is told through an unreliable narrator, not because it's trying to trick you into believing in something untrue and genuinely monstrous like in Lolita, but because the narrator both doesn't understand nor know everything. She's a robot configured for something very specific: prevent kid's loneliness. "You have an outsider narrator that paradoxically allows you to focus very sharply on specific aspects of the human world. It feels quite natural for Klara: she looks out of the shop window at the street going past and she tries to de-code it in terms of loneliness, tries to spot it and how people tend to avoid it". Like a child, she doesn't understand much of the world, but is learning quickly and making connections of what she sees with what she is capable of understanding. One of the very first connections she makes is that the Sun is a benign being that not only gives nourishment but also is capable of saving people from death. An idea that becomes very relevant in the story.
As I mentioned, Klara doesn't understand everything, is not programmed to. Even though she's remarkably curious, she never goes out of her programming. Her focus is and always will be the people she's surrounded by, and most importantly, her kid. That makes such a novelty in the genre, not only because it avoids the stereotype of the robot going out of their programming, but builds a world we never get to fully understand, since the narrator is not interested in what usually interests this genre. Normally, in Science Fiction, your focus is politics as a mechanism to get you to comprehend fully its world, and to use this fictional world and the afflictions of its society to warn you about a real-life problem we may be experiencing in a smaller level. This book turns that around completely and focuses on two households, their own domestic problems and tragedy. Takes a smaller scale where feelings and relationships are the focus. As the author mentioned in an interview in 2021, he wanted to question "if the world is changing like this, if the environment is changing like this, then what does this do to us as human beings? What does it do to our relationships? What would it feel like to be in this situation? I write novels to help people swap emotions, not to warn people".
At the same interview, he mentioned that his main interest in the novel is looking at human love and human relationships through the eyes of an AI. The peculiar perspective of such an outsider with a different kind of logic and different assumptions. To which she concludes that "perhaps all humans are lonely. At least potentially", that love is something life-long lasting; and that there isn't something special about a person, but about the inside of those who love them. "He already knew Josie and Rick were bound to go their separate ways, and yet understood that, despite everything, their love would last".
But "how much does Klara understand about human emotions? Is she just labeling them and naming them and finding them somewhere in her mind, or does she herself have these emotions in any kind of meaningful way?" To which I respond that she indeed understands them, with some limitations, but she does. She's even able to have some of them too. This is, most probably, because she's programmed to be a friend, a companion. Which makes me question at what extent humans could be considered to be "programmed" to have feelings too. They developed naturally as a survival mechanism and became more complicated with time, just like our narrator. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I never found it difficult to connect with her, even if I couldn't relate to her completely. Things don't have to be exactly like us to deserve empathy, and that may be a reason why I found its finale so heartbreaking, and this book a failed attempt to be optimistic.
From here I could enumerate some of its other faults, being the main one its lack of focus. It would have worked perfectly as an exploration of the human heart and the way exterior factors affect us and our relationships, but it ended-up adding other half-baked themes that just distracted you from the main idea. This problem is so prevalent that when I finished the book I wasn't sure what it really was about, and it was not until I saw interviews of the author explaining it that I saw the questions he was trying to raise. It's not even like these other ideas were bad, they were very interesting, just didn't work the way they should have. Even the quotes that could be taken for these main ideas are very few.
Klara and the sun shines a light into everyday things we usually wouldn't think about, pointing at the bright side of tragedy and the dim side of miracles. A novel that focuses in feelings and relationships in a society that is more and more practical and individualistic. One that reminds you that "we're part of each other".
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness and Medical content
Minor: Death
chelly_reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Terminal illness, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
born_reading's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Chronic illness and Cursing
adventurouspotato's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
i think the people who hate this just don't understand subtle storytelling. part of the beauty of this book is how things aren't always explained explicitly, but over time we learn more about the world just as klara does. klara is not infallible, she sometimes doesn't understand things as the reader does because she makes connections from her own experiences. some will see her as naive, but i believe this is what makes her interesting and charming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
etinney's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Ishiguro continues to be a master of subtle yet impactful symbolism. If you are looking to start reading his work, Klara and the Sun is probably one of his most approachable. This novel is also unique in it being a "Covid" book (released in Apr 2021) that isn't about the illness itself. Rather, it reflects on themes of social isolation and fears regarding the advancement of science in contributing to that loneliness and dehumanization. I think the ending shifts the book's tone in a direction that I thought was odd given what the rest of the book had led up to. Ishiguro gives us this feeling of dread and tension that just kind of gets resolved. The fact that praying to the Sun works in apparently curing Josie (though my interpretation is that this was merely a coincidence) goes agains the theme of overreliance on religion to cure our problems with the world. I wish the consequences for Klara having enacted a small act of ecoterrorism (destroying the construction machinary) because the "Sun" (aka "Son" aka the Christian God) told her to in exchange for a miracle. There are many themes explored in this novel that feel underdeveloped toward the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Child death and Terminal illness
Minor: Classism
kriziny's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, and Terminal illness
oliviah16's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Chronic illness