Klara and the Sun

Told from the perspective of an artificial friend, this novel explores love, consciousness, and what it means to be human in Ishiguro's latest masterpiece.

Klara is an Artificial Friend, a sophisticated android designed to provide companionship for children. From her place in the store window, she observes the world outside with curiosity and hope, waiting for someone to choose her. When she's finally selected by Josie, a bright but fragile teenager, Klara enters a family dealing with illness, social inequality, and the ethical implications of genetic enhancement.

Ishiguro's decision to narrate the story through Klara's perspective allows him to explore fundamental questions about consciousness, emotion, and what makes someone truly alive. Klara's observations about human behavior are both naive and surprisingly insightful, revealing aspects of humanity that we might take for granted.

The novel is set in a near-future America where genetic modification has created a class divide between "lifted" children with enhanced abilities and unmodified children who struggle to compete. Josie's illness may be connected to her genetic enhancements, raising questions about the price of technological progress and parents' willingness to risk their children's health for competitive advantage.

Klara's relationship with the Sun—which she sees as a benevolent force that gives life to everything—provides the novel's spiritual dimension. Her faith in the Sun's power to heal and help creates a form of artificial spirituality that may be more genuine than human religious belief.

The novel's exploration of love is particularly moving—Klara's devotion to Josie and her family raises questions about whether artificial beings can experience genuine emotion or whether they're simply following sophisticated programming. Ishiguro suggests that the distinction may not matter if the effects are the same.

The book's treatment of mortality and sacrifice echoes themes from Ishiguro's earlier work while adding new dimensions through the artificial intelligence perspective. Klara's willingness to sacrifice herself for Josie's welfare demonstrates a form of love that transcends the boundaries between natural and artificial consciousness.

Klara and the Sun was longlisted for the Booker Prize and confirms Ishiguro's position as one of the most important contemporary novelists exploring the implications of technological advancement for human relationships and identity.