Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022--San Antonio

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro has received highly positive reviews.  The story is set in the near future in a society that has greatly changed from the present one.  Many adults are no longer needed as workers due to the advances in artificial intelligence.  Plus, a privileged segment of society has developed based on the use of genetic engineering to "lift" children who are essentially the only ones allowed to go to university because only the ones with the most capability will be needed in the changed job market.  But there are outlier--parents who choose not to have their children lifted, unemployed adults who have founded communes based on keeping their chosen society as white and male dominated, children who have not been lifted but have used their intelligence to learn and create on their own, etc.  The story is told by Klara, an "AF" (artificial friend)--a technical advancement by adding artificial intelligence to human lookalike robots designed to be bought to serve as companions to the lifted children who are home schooled by faculty over tablets.  She has been purchased by a mother who still is employed and is concerned because she has already lost one child to disease and whose remaining child is in poor health.  Klara can monitor her for health problems, provide companionship, and possibly be of eventual assistance to the mother via a plan which shows how drastic the mother is to save her daughter.  The other main characters are the immigrant woman who is the cook and has been overseeing the daughter during daytime, and a young boy the daughter's age who is not lifted and lives next door with his mother.  Both houses are far away from the polluted city with no other nearby neighbors.  One of the more interesting aspects of the story is that Klara, as an especially talented AF, is very observant and has advanced reasoning to the point that she develops a religion based on her reasoning and on her concern for her ill human child--a religion based upon the sun as the source of life and the savior of life through the strength its warmed provides. (She is solar powered herself.)  The story is well thought out and written, but it is revealed in a drip, drip, drip fashion.  I felt that the 400+ pages required more time than I wanted to give it.  I rated the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.