Klara and the Sun: A novel

In an enigmatic world, seemingly set in the future, Klara longs for the day a customer will walk into the Artificial Friend store where she lives and choose to take her home. Her dream finally comes true when Josie, a sickly but kind child, spots her in the store and brings Klara to her countryside home to live with her, her working mother, and housekeeper. As Klara and Josie’s friendship strengthens, Klara will soon be asked to take on a role no AF has ever attempted before.

In Klara and the Sun, Ishiguro’s prose is as lovely as ever. Through Klara, we get seemingly simple observations about the human world painted in a riveting and haunting manner. The first half of the novel in particular is engrossing, somewhat reminiscent of the Netflix show Better Than Us in its depiction of an AI-ridden world. At times, the lack of explanation can be frustrating: we know little about this futuristic world, and the characters often reference details or phrases that are left to the reader’s imagination. But the buildup does pay off in the end, with an interesting and somewhat unsettling twist.