Thank you for your review. I too was split on this book. On the one hand there are some wonderful themes: selfhood; what we accept; love; social injustice; where will technology take us; and sentience. However, I find the characterization lacking. One character sounded like another and even like a character in another book he wrote. It is very layered and this could have been deliberate. All in all I liked what I got from the book rather than the activity of reading it.
I appreciated the read book A or B instead based on your interests at the end of this review. I’ve refrained from reading Klara and the Sun because I couldn’t click with the writing in Never Let Me Go. I loved The Employees.
Spot on! I also appreciated this novel for the atmosphere and the emotional landscape. But for some of the big themes explored, like what it means to be the "same person who you used to be", I think the novel comes a little too close to offering easy answers or getting towards a conclusive message, when it might be better just left to the reader to ponder. (I still think Ishiguro does a pretty good job encouraging his readers to think about these themes; it just doesn't always feel totally on the mark to me here).
You really explained this clearly - Incidentally in some cases in literature the sun represents a god of sorts cf the story of Icarus and Moliere's Dom Juan - however these defied the sun and suffered. Klara follows and obeys
I picked up this book for the booker boy discord read and I'm.... nervous based on Kieran and your review haha. I feel like I should just read Never Let Me Go 😂
Haha I still enjoyed the read, but I heard many people say they were bored so take that as you will 😂 I really want to pick up Never Let Me Go too. I feel like I need to get a better idea of Ishiguro
Thanks for reviewing the book, however I feel like you missed what likely did happen. The big red flag for you might be that you felt like it was too easy on you as a reader. You assume way too many things about the story. Your interpretation of the book takes everything at face value. You might love this book if you are open to thinking deeper about what probably happened. The story reaches a frantic height when Klara has to decide whether to believe Josie’s dad that he can extract fluid from her neck that she can use to break the machine to fulfill her end of the deal with the sun, and she decides to believe him and go forward with the procedure. We do not actually get to find out if the machine is ruined from this, only that Klara’s ability to process information is damaged after this, despite Klara believing she was not damaged by the procedure. Now, we have a damaged narrator that goes on to tell us that Josie is actually revived by the sun. If you believe Klara, the narrator, then you will likely think this book was too simple. That it is a story about a transactional solar deity, and questions about AI, what makes humanity, and maybe genetic modification (being “lifted”) etc. But isn’t that way too easy? A much more fascinating take on this book is that Klara is naive and misunderstands a lot. Her first naive thing is that she thinks the sun is god. You know this isn’t true. Then she believes the machine is only for pollution. We know this isn’t true either. Then she believes the Doctor is painting a portrait that is taking a long time and many visits. While you might have missed this one, we find out from the characters that it is not true. So why then would we think Klara was unaffected by the procedure like she says despite drastic differences in how she sees and recalls memories? That the dad (who had a blatant motive) did not harm Klara in the procedure? That the sun healed Josie? That Josie would abandon the AF she promised to love forever? You must see that Josie may have died rather than revived by the sun. Once you do this, you will realize that this book is a masterpiece. Otherwise, it’s a weird, face-value, modern fable about believing in the sun. When you realize that you don’t actually know if Josie dies or not, the possibility that she did die explains everything. I know it’s distressing, but you have to decide if you want to believe the happy yet confusing story, or if you’re open to the sad truth.
Nice review. I enjoyed this one, but as an Ishiguro fan I'd have to say it's quite a step down from his best work. In interviews, Ishiguro has mentioned that he originally conceived the book as a children's story, and that it was his daughter Naomi (who is herself now a published novelist) who discouraged him from going down that route. He has also said that the book is very loosely set in the same universe as 'Never Let Me Go', though there is no explicit overlap. I'm a big fan of the Employees and agree with your comments. It's somewhat harder to access than Klara, which as you noted is a very accessible read, but a very thought provoking reading experience nevertheless.
I think we watched the same interview! That was definitely helpful in understanding this book better. I'm looking forward to reading other books of his though
where is the podcast that explores the religion aspect of this book?
Thanks for the shout out! You crushed this review. Totally in sync on this one.
Thank you for your review. I too was split on this book. On the one hand there are some wonderful themes: selfhood; what we accept; love; social injustice; where will technology take us; and sentience. However, I find the characterization lacking. One character sounded like another and even like a character in another book he wrote. It is very layered and this could have been deliberate. All in all I liked what I got from the book rather than the activity of reading it.
I appreciated the read book A or B instead based on your interests at the end of this review. I’ve refrained from reading Klara and the Sun because I couldn’t click with the writing in Never Let Me Go. I loved The Employees.
Spot on! I also appreciated this novel for the atmosphere and the emotional landscape. But for some of the big themes explored, like what it means to be the "same person who you used to be", I think the novel comes a little too close to offering easy answers or getting towards a conclusive message, when it might be better just left to the reader to ponder. (I still think Ishiguro does a pretty good job encouraging his readers to think about these themes; it just doesn't always feel totally on the mark to me here).
Agreed! and yes, the atmosphere is really wonderfully written.
You really explained this clearly - Incidentally in some cases in literature the sun represents a god of sorts cf the story of Icarus and Moliere's Dom Juan - however these defied the sun and suffered. Klara follows and obeys
Good point! I wasn't even thinking of the history behind that theme and other literature that's used it before
I picked up this book for the booker boy discord read and I'm.... nervous based on Kieran and your review haha. I feel like I should just read Never Let Me Go 😂
Haha I still enjoyed the read, but I heard many people say they were bored so take that as you will 😂 I really want to pick up Never Let Me Go too. I feel like I need to get a better idea of Ishiguro
I thought klara was incredibly meh, didn't really do anything for me but i always enjoying watching your reviews, always very thoughtful
Thanks for reviewing the book, however I feel like you missed what likely did happen. The big red flag for you might be that you felt like it was too easy on you as a reader. You assume way too many things about the story. Your interpretation of the book takes everything at face value. You might love this book if you are open to thinking deeper about what probably happened.
The story reaches a frantic height when Klara has to decide whether to believe Josie’s dad that he can extract fluid from her neck that she can use to break the machine to fulfill her end of the deal with the sun, and she decides to believe him and go forward with the procedure. We do not actually get to find out if the machine is ruined from this, only that Klara’s ability to process information is damaged after this, despite Klara believing she was not damaged by the procedure. Now, we have a damaged narrator that goes on to tell us that Josie is actually revived by the sun. If you believe Klara, the narrator, then you will likely think this book was too simple. That it is a story about a transactional solar deity, and questions about AI, what makes humanity, and maybe genetic modification (being “lifted”) etc.
But isn’t that way too easy?
A much more fascinating take on this book is that Klara is naive and misunderstands a lot. Her first naive thing is that she thinks the sun is god. You know this isn’t true. Then she believes the machine is only for pollution. We know this isn’t true either. Then she believes the Doctor is painting a portrait that is taking a long time and many visits. While you might have missed this one, we find out from the characters that it is not true.
So why then would we think Klara was unaffected by the procedure like she says despite drastic differences in how she sees and recalls memories? That the dad (who had a blatant motive) did not harm Klara in the procedure? That the sun healed Josie? That Josie would abandon the AF she promised to love forever?
You must see that Josie may have died rather than revived by the sun. Once you do this, you will realize that this book is a masterpiece. Otherwise, it’s a weird, face-value, modern fable about believing in the sun.
When you realize that you don’t actually know if Josie dies or not, the possibility that she did die explains everything.
I know it’s distressing, but you have to decide if you want to believe the happy yet confusing story, or if you’re open to the sad truth.
Nice review. I enjoyed this one, but as an Ishiguro fan I'd have to say it's quite a step down from his best work. In interviews, Ishiguro has mentioned that he originally conceived the book as a children's story, and that it was his daughter Naomi (who is herself now a published novelist) who discouraged him from going down that route. He has also said that the book is very loosely set in the same universe as 'Never Let Me Go', though there is no explicit overlap. I'm a big fan of the Employees and agree with your comments. It's somewhat harder to access than Klara, which as you noted is a very accessible read, but a very thought provoking reading experience nevertheless.
I think we watched the same interview! That was definitely helpful in understanding this book better. I'm looking forward to reading other books of his though
I am so glad you thought The Employees and Life of Pi worked better. I completely agree. I liked Klara and the Sun but only in a sort of OK way.
#amwf
If you enter this reading with predjuices you won't get the message, maybe it was not a book made for you sweetie
Bad review