What makes a person unique? – Review of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Clara and the Sun e-book

The future is not too distant

Klara, the narrator of the novel, is an Artificial Friend. It may not be the latest model, but it has amazing cognitive abilities and empathy. The purpose of her existence is to take the best care of the child for whom she will be bought. However, in order to fulfill the promise made to Josie and her mother, the help of the Sun will be indispensable, providing the necessary nutrients for life.

We get to know the futuristic world from Klara’s perspective, through the prism of her perceptiveness, and on the other hand, a slightly naive, childlike approach. The reality doesn’t feel too distant and different from ours, aside from synthetic friends for kids and a few other little tips for more advanced technology (can’t reveal more – spoilers).

Klara i Słońce is a very intimate and slow story. Although it is full of intrigue and secrets, there is hardly any fast-paced action here. The heroes and their experiences are more important. Klara tells about what she observed and what happened to her in a very accurate and brilliant way, even if her perception is different from that of the human. There is also something magnetic in Kazuo Ishiguro’s way of describing reality, which makes it impossible to distract yourself from reading.

The author presents the details of the world in a slightly unusual and at the same time very thoughtful way. Everything we learn is very consistent with the narrator’s knowledge. Klara, telling her story, does not explain something to us that is obvious to her. We get to know the details that build the background, as it were, by the way, when they appear in the quoted dialogues or are relevant to the story told by the Artificial Friend.

If you are gamers, it might be easier for you to imagine the character of Klara when I write that I associate it strongly with Kara from Detroit: Become Human .

What makes us human?

Despite its intimate character, the novel is distinguished by a quite diverse gallery of characters. Like the entire world presented, we also get to know them through the eyes of an android. Each character has their goals, worries, and past traumas that shaped them. At the same time, we never get to know their pure intentions, because we only know what Klara captures thanks to her perceptiveness. Getting to know the people around her in this way is very interesting, also considering how ordinary people relate to synthetic life.

The novel does not lack the author’s thoughts on many topics, for example those that will interest futurologists, e.g. the role of artificial intelligence in society or how we will relate to it. There are also motives closer to the average person reflecting on their life, e.g. whether there is a human soul and what is or what exactly is love. If you like when books provoke you to such more serious considerations, Klara and the Sun will not let you down.

Something that for a moment puzzled me and made it much more difficult to evaluate the whole novel was the ending of one of the plots. Initially, it seemed completely out of place to me – on the one hand, it stripped the story of its intrigue, and on the other hand, it left the reader with a whole lot of doubts. However, when I got to know the full story and I felt a bit more comfortable with it, the whole story became much more meaningful.

For the above reasons, it seems to me that the ending will not satisfy all audiences. On the one hand, it is consistent with the story being told, and on the other, it may leave you unsatisfied. You will see for yourself what it will be like if you reach for the latest novel by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Correct minimalism

Klara i Słońce was published by the Albatros publishing house, translated by Andrzej Szulc. Technically, I have nothing to complain about this book. There is one typo in the whole novel, and apart from that, the editing and proofreading seem to be correct. Also the e-edition has virtually no disadvantages. It is difficult for me to judge the cover that I have seen only in the digital version, although the illustration is minimalist and fits perfectly with the content.

If you were new to Kazuo Ishiguro’s work, it might be a good choice for your first contact with a writer. But you must be aware of how slow this is. Its author clearly enjoys every word. It will definitely appeal to soft science fiction fans looking for a thought-provoking reading.