Klara & The Sun

KLARA & THE SUN

by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Award: Nobel Winner 2021

 

Nominations: Booker Longlist 2021, Carnegie Longlist 2022, Dublin Longlist 2022

 

Date Read: March 9, 2022

 

I love that Kazuo Ishiguro is willing to create new realities and perspectives from which to view humanity. Such as the character of Klara, and Artificial Friend whose sole purpose is to serve as a friend to a child/teenager. Klara, however, is more observant than most AFs and is able to marvel at the uniqueness of the human experience and all the emotions that come with that.

 

From the very moment Josie sees Klara in the store window, she knows Klara is for her. Josie is a “lifted” or genetically enhanced child that suffers a sickness that accompanies being lifted. Some of these children survive and others do not. Klara survives by solar absorption, elevating the Sun in her life to almost that of a god. But from her store window she can see what it can do first hand.

 

Despite Josie’s mother’s misgivings, Klara is taken to their strange home, isolated except for another house where Josie’s best friend, Rick, lives. Josie’s mother is incredibly depressed from the loss of another daughter and pretty hopeless about Josie’s illness. In many ways I found Josie’s mother much more mentally challenged than Rick’s. 

 

Soon, Klara becomes aware that she is not just in Josie’s life to be her friend but to eventually become her surrogate. The mother has every expectation that Josie will pass away and she is making active plans to have Klara literally become Josie by mimicking her every move and thought. But mimicking Josie’s heart is impossible. Apparently, the mother tried to duplicate her daughter Sal in this way with very poor results. I cannot imagine the depths of despair that she feels in order to pursue this as an actual plan.

 

The father, Paul, who is not as present in Josie’s life, is against this plan. He doesn’t believe it will work but he is all for Klara’s plan of trying to save Josie. Paul and Klara find themselves together on a rare trip to the city and he agrees to help her destroy a Cootings Machine, whose sole purpose seems to be to create pollution.

 

Ultimately, though, as with most of Ishiguro’s writings, so much is omitted and left to the imagination. What is the real purpose of the Cootings Machine? Why is Paul living in a guarded commune with other intellectuals? What is the real cause of Josie’s illness? Whatever happened to the Sal AF? The fact that I actually want to know is the brilliance of Ishiguro. And this grim future that he has created seems just a little too real for comfort.

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