Book review: Klara and the Sun
Many moons ago I picked up Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro. I could never get myself in the right state of mind to go through it. It’s not an easy book to read. It continues to rest on my bookshelf. Ishiguro is a name that has remained in my mind since then. I have always wanted to read him. Some months back, I picked up five books from a local bookstore to serve as my next reads. I was disappointed with myself for what I had read the previous year and wanted to make up for that. Klara and the Sun was one of them.
When I began reading the book, right after I realised what an artificial friend (AF) was, I thought it was one of those books written long ago that envisioned the future. It wasn’t. It was published a year ago. At the same time, while the concept of an AI robot is so familiar to us not because it exists in real life but because many movies has depicted it as such, the book still does talk about the future.
It did not take long for me to fall in love with the story. Like any such story, it fulfilled its promise of breaking my heart when I shuffled through the four blank pages at the end of the book looking for something more, something that could make it a happy ending.
In many ways, by narrating this book from the eyes of an artificial friend robot, Ishiguro succeeded in making us understand how we feel towards our loved ones, particularly those who are fighting a losing battle and nearing the end of their time. Through a robot, the author so clearly explained our predilection for hope, against all odds, if only to see our loved ones recover and lead the lives they were destined. It showed what we are capable of doing and thinking in despair, when we are not strong enough to accept reality. Finally, from the eyes and mind of a machine, Ishiguro brought us to feel the sadness and loneliness of being left behind by the very loved ones we cared so deeply, hoped so blindly for. There are more broken relationships than happy ones in the world, and people, with broken families, continue to live with what they have, because those are the choices they made and stuck with. A machine that so vividly understands that in the decisions we make for us and our loved ones, we are in part trying to ward off loneliness gives you, the reader, a fresh perspective into life and people. This is what this book is about: love, hope, relationship, loneliness, sadness, and longing. It’s not about AI or robots.
It’s not a happy book to read. It’s definitely a book to read.
