Klara and the Sun by  Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun

Kazuo Ishiguro

Such a simple read but goes so deep. Gentle yet tense with what’s going on under the surface; melancholy and hopeful at the same time. Can an Artificial Friend be more loving and more generous than a real human being? Klara’s innocent voice constantly shows up the deep needs beneath the artificiality of our ordinary human relationships. Unforgettable.

Extract

When I was still new in the house, I believed there were particular danger topics for Josie, and that if only the Mother could be prevented from finding routes to these topics, the Sunday breakfasts would remain comfortable. But on further observation, I saw that even if the danger topics were avoided – topics like Josie’s education assignments, or her social interaction scores – the uncomfortable feeling could still be there because it really had to do with something beneath these topics; that the danger topics were themselves ways the Mother had devised to make certain emotions appear inside Josie’s mind.  

Parallels
  • A.I. Artificial Intelligence – film by Steven Spielberg
  • Ex Machina – film by Alex Garland
  • Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan