Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021
★ 3.73 from 495.4k ratings on Goodreads
An artificial friend watches a child and the people who love her, trying to learn what makes a person singular—and whether love can be copied. A patient, tender voice makes the novel feel quiet and wistful, with an undercurrent of unease as an artificial friend tries to understand people.
Feels like tenderness, unease and wonder. About love, solitude and art.
Who it’s for
You may like this if you enjoy quiet, character-driven fiction about memory, love and what makes a person distinct. Some readers find the pacing slow and the tone muted, so it may suit you best when you are in the mood for something gentle rather than dramatic.
Why read it
It offers a close look at how people love and grieve, and at the strange gap between an artificial mind and human feeling.
A page from the book
A mother’s suspicion that love may be a superstition we haven’t outgrown.
I think I hate Capaldi because deep down I suspect he may be right. That what he claims is true. That science has now proved beyond doubt there’s nothing so unique about my daughter, nothing there our modern tools can’t excavate, copy, transfer. That people have been living with one another all this time, centuries, loving and hating each other, and all on a mistaken premise. A kind of superstition we kept going while we didn’t know better. What readers say
Readers find the story gentle and emotionally affecting, centering on memory and loss, yet some find it slow and muted; the mood is tender and wistful rather than dramatic.
Kazuo Ishiguro.Klara’s vision sometimes breaks into grids, a device Ishiguro uses to remind us that her way of seeing is not ours.
Books that feel like this
More by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005
A carer looks back on her English boarding-school childhood and the two friends she has loved since, in a world whose rules she never thinks to question.
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro, 1989
A butler's motoring holiday becomes a quiet reckoning with duty, dignity and a life spent not saying what he felt.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Klara and the Sun for me?
- You may like this if you enjoy quiet, character-driven fiction about memory, love and what makes a person distinct. Some readers find the pacing slow and the tone muted, so it may suit you best when you are in the mood for something gentle rather than dramatic.
- What is Klara and the Sun like?
- A patient, tender voice makes the novel feel quiet and wistful, with an undercurrent of unease as an artificial friend tries to understand people. Feels like tenderness, unease and wonder. About love, solitude and art.
- What should I read after Klara and the Sun?
- If you liked Klara and the Sun, try Yesteryear (Caro Claire Burke), The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) and Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby Van Pelt).
A taste of the feed
The voice policing a woman's anger often wears her own face.
A voice in my head, echoing softly: America hates angry women. The Lord hates angry women. You hate angry women. Do not be an angry woman.
Yesteryear · Caro Claire Burke
The gap between a mother's corrections and a stranger's kindness.
It was hard not to compare Mrs Elm to her mother, who treated Nora like a mistake in need of correction. For instance, when she was a baby her mother had been so worried Nora’s left ear stuck out more than her right that she’d used sticky tape to address the situation, then disguised it beneath a woollen bonnet.
The Midnight Library · Matt Haig
Someone is quietly making plans to fix a heart that isn't his.
As a general rule, I like holes. A hole at the top of my tank gives me freedom. But I do not like the hole in her heart. She only has one, not three, like me. Tova’s heart. I will do everything I can to help her fill it.
Remarkably Bright Creatures · Shelby Van Pelt
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