Book Review: Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

While visiting the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, I saw an interesting display of a floating woman’s statue, dominating over other displays on a table. Intrigued, I read its plaque – it was Klara the AF, based on the novel “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro, who had won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. The plaque went on to inform me that the novel was about AI and consciousness. The premise sounded interesting – I went to the gift shop and bought the book.

I have to admit that it was slow going at first. The writing, in the first person, reveals very little of the world it is set in. What is an AF? Is the speaker really an “object” for sale in a shop and is somehow sentient? Why is she(?) obsessed with the “Sun’s patterns”? What is going on in the world where it seems routine for families to have buy an AF for their children? These questions were nagging me as I read the first few pages.

A little about the author - based on the name I assumed a Japanese origin and wondered if the book was translated. I confess I had thought that the withholding of information was perhaps because something was lost in translation. A quick internet search showed this was not the case; the author was born in the UK and wrote in English. So, the style of writing – scattering hints and clues without revealing everything – was intentional.

As I continued reading, I realized that I may never know the answers to my questions. Once I accepted this somewhat unsettling fact, it was easier and much more enjoyable to read. The book is divided into six parts. After ploughing through the first half Part 1, I learnt to enjoy the elusive writing - puzzling together comments from the characters to deduce their backgrounds and motivations and how the society functioned.

By Part 2, I was hooked after reading a few bizarre incidents that occur. My interpretation led me to conclude that the society was futuristic and deeply flawed, but functioning as if everything were normal. The hints and allusions to the dystopian side made the society sound more ominous than a clear description would have. Hinting at something unseemly lurking underneath a surface of normality is a clever way to imbue a sense of disquiet into the reader.

Klara, the main protagonist, is an AF – an Artificial Friend; essentially, a robot. The book is from her perspective. She is designed to be a friend to a child – to put the child’s needs first, to have empathy, and be caring. As a robot, it is clear that she is extremely clever. However, what is remarkable is how her friendship with her human friend develops – goes above and beyond what she is designed to do. Despite being an advanced robot, she has a touching innocence and develops something that borders on religion for the sake for her human friend. So, is this humanoid a person or a robot? Where does sentience begin?

In the book, people usually talk to AFs as if they were human. However, that they are not human is not far from peoples’ minds – revealed in their attitudes in moments of stress. AFs have a short shelf life, are replaceable and, as is hinted in the book, can be miserable if mistreated. Human history is unfortunately full of examples “lesser beings” being denied rights and mistreated. Do AFs belong to this category?

The Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Ishiguro “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”. This novel evokes strong emotions – devotion to friendship, love, pain, anger, anguish and finally indifference. It also made me wonder how self-serving seemingly “nice” people could be and I realized the transient nature of our connection to others.

I’d definitely recommend reading this book – its unique writing style and theme are both thought provoking and enjoyable.