Klara and the sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun 
Kazuo Ishiguro 2021
Faber and Faber

A unique dystopian story written by a celebrated author. Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize after he received a multitude of awards for his previous seven novels.

In this story, an artificial friend (AF) has been developed to starve off loneliness for children who have been ‘Lifted’. To be Lifted is to be modified so that one can have future career advantages. The narrator is one such artificial friend named Klara, and the story told through her eyes creates an unreliable perspective of the challenges faced by humans in this futuristic world.

Klara is a special AF and is charged with caring for Josie, a young teenager who has become quite ill. Klara is observant, adaptable and intelligent, and because of her own solar charging, comes to believe that the sun is a powerful God.

The tone becomes dark and ominous when the desperate motives of Josie’s parents are revealed. Klara appeals to the Sun for help as she grapples with her understanding of what it is to love another.

With themes of hope, love and science, this is a story with many twists and turns. The reader will find themselves flip-flopping between sympathies for different characters, while the voice of Klara remains consistent and unique throughout the story.