克拉拉与太阳

Klara the AF waits patiently in the store to be chosen by her new owner.

I did not care for this. I found the writing frustratingly ambiguous, and I remained utterly disinterested in Klara’s internal life throughout. Everything interesting was quickly hand-waved and rarely mentioned again, Ishiguro instead focusing on interminable paragraphs about patterns or feelings or thoughts that felt like filler. And had I even liked it, I’d have been rather disappointed by the end.

Ishiguro is a good writer but is either hit or miss for me, and this was a huge miss.

I originally rated this three stars, but this book did something that few books do: it stuck in my head, and I kept thinking about it long after I'd finished it. The premise may seem like cheap sci-fi up front, but it makes you think about life, planned obsolescence, and more.

bitter sweet goodness

Ishiguro's novel about a sentient robot is very timely, thought-provoking, and disturbing. My favorite character in this story was definitely Klara, the AF (artificial friend). In some ways, this is a challenging read, since the author does not spell everything out, and there are plenty of details that are not spelled out. Klara's reasoning and sensory clues are well described, however, and the saddest aspect of this story is how much of Klara's knowledge and insights will never be explained or shared with those she cared about most. Like most of those who have been assigned by society to a subservient role, she is vastly underestimated. This is a story that will stay with me, and I do recommend it.