[FeatureImage]
[Customfield field=”reviewer-firstname” label=”Reviewer”]
[Customfield field=”reviewer-age” label=”Age”]
Klara and the Sun is the new book from Kazuo Ishiguro, and his first since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017. Klara is an AF (Artificial Friend) described as having great observational qualities, who is taken home from the store she has been in by a family with a young daughter Josie, who has an unspecified illness. The story is told from Klara’s viewpoint, as she lives with the family, and tries to gain a thorough understanding of Josie as a human person and her feelings. As a solar-powered AF, she views the sun as having great powers, and eventually her efforts to support the family have a transformative effect. This book inevitably recalls one of Ishiguro’s previous novels ‘Never Let Me Go’ which was also set in a dystopian future where issues of human health loomed large. To read more…
Ishiguro has written a number of novels, of which two – arguably his most popular – have also been made into very successful films; these are Never Let Me Go, and The Remains of the Day. Just as Klara is an artificial being of service to humans, so too the main young characters of Never Let Me Go are non-humans as they are clones, brought up to provide organs to prolong the lives of human citizens. Both of these novels explore common themes, such as to what extent these non-humans can experience feelings, and what is meant by love. The Remains of the Day is somewhat different to these two novels, as it is set in a recognisable historical past in England, centring upon a butler in an aristocrat’s house, who appears to have sacrificed his happiness in order to be a great servant to the household, but eventually realises that his loyalty to his lord has been misplaced. But there are themes common to all three of these books including that of ‘being of service’ which all the main characters aspire to, or are expected to be, to those considered to be of more importance to society.
