Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro - Book Review

Klara and the Sun 

By Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Rating 5/5 

I am enthralled for once to read the positive impact AI could have on the world - because most of the books I read portray them as this formidable "black box" things which are unknown and hence must be feared. But Kazuo Ishiguro writes this brilliant story with a tone of mystery and suspense that he had me hanging onto every word till the end and keep hoping against hope that what comes next wouldn't be something bad. There is a sensory build up of something dangerous/untoward about to happen through out the narrative - but this is actually a story of impossibly hopeless and selflessly unconditional love - between a human girl and her AF - Artificial Friend, an agent of the artificial intelligence (a robot, silly! 🤣🤣) Klara. 

Getting into the story a bit. Klara is a version B2 AI model that is put up for sale in a store so that children could choose her and make her their friend/partner. She is not like all the other B2 models or even like the advanced B3 models - she carries some unique abilities in her. She likes to observe, analyse, understand emotions of people/other AFs and try to emulate them within herself. One day she is purchased by a girl Josie whose mother approves the transaction only when Klara successfully emulates her daughter's peculiar walking pattern - it is puzzling that she should do so and although Klara heartily enters into this new phase of her existence, it creates an eerie feeling that she is stepping into danger. And what appears to her on the surface is not what lies underneath - the narrative also coming from Klara, we only get to see one side to the picture actually. Klara blends into her new world through love and appreciation - she becomes the rock of positivity and appreciation for other folks to lean on. Josie eventually becomes very seriously ill to be on the point of dying and Klara does the unthinkable - a tinge of self sacrifice blended with uncommon faith(in - the Sun,ofcourse - duh! 😅) and emotion - she is a robot right? So what has she done? What if robots can love? Do they do it in secret and not let the helped know of the help rendered? 

A robot like Klara would be a gift,indeed. She is very perceptive and emotionally detached from whatever selfless act she must perform for love ❤ - but obviously she is also a rare/anomaly and hence the heroine to this story. ✌ There are also many pearls of wisdom sprinkled here and there through out the story for a careful/observant reader - someone as interested in observing as Klara is!!