Klara and the Sun

Another great work from Ishiguro that is both distinct from, yet also very similar to, his others. In terms of commonality, each is narrated from a first-person, and typically outsider's, perspective. There is also a slight dreamlike or surreal element to the story, set in an unidentified country — most likely America — some stage in the future, similar to The Buried Giant. Likewise, just as Never Let Me Go explores one possible dystopian future, so Klara and the Sun considers another. The main focus in this novel is about both the potential and also the limitations of artificial intelligence, expressed via the medium of the eponymous Klara, also the narrator, who is an artificial friend to Josie. Many hints are given, but never fully developed, about the world in which Klara and Josie inhabit. The lack of full disclosure is a classic Ishiguro trait and allows the author to focus attention on bigger themes such as pollution and genetic modification. At the heart, a much more central, almost universal topic: what is it to be human? To love and be loved and to fear loneliness? Machines do not. Further, to what extent can machines behave/feel like humans, let alone replace them? There is a tension between the older generation who refuse to let go, presumably not an accidental choice of phrase, and who believe in what's deeply inside people (see pages 210 and 218), and the more ardent futurists who believe in the unlimited potential of AI. I was kept guessing re the eventual outcome of the novel almost through to the end. By way of resolution, Ishiguro seems to believe that even in the possible future he outlines, some magic, the sun, can still play a role.

By Kazuo Ishiguro