One of the staff at Vancouver Kidsbooks mentioned they had signed copies and I decided on a whim to buy the book. I have heard of Kazuo Ishiguro and know he’s a great writer. But I hadn’t read any of his books. I haven’t even seen the acclaimed film versions of The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. Obviously I need to get with the program.
Description: This is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend (AF), who is waiting in a store window to be purchased by her forever family. Klara, although a second-generation model, is incredibly observant and quickly comes to understand empathy, love, and the basics of other human emotions and drivers of behaviour.
Klara is eventually purchased by Josie, a 13-year-old girl who absolutely adores her. But like all teen crushes, there’s some waxing and waving.
What I absolutely LOVED about this book was that very little is explained. As a reader, you are dropped into a modern, futuristic world and have to read between the lines about what’s happening culturally and politically, how AFs fit into the picture, where the cognitive biases lie. The book asks you to stretch, but not too far beyond comfort.
Klara is a fabulous narrator. Can you call an artificial being genuine? I found her so charming. And I found many aspects of this modern world alarming.
Do you believe in the human heart? I don’t mean simply the organ, obviously. I’m speaking in the poetic sense. The human heart. Do you think there is such a thing? Something that makes each of us special and individual?
Josie’s father to klara, on whether klara could truly learn Josie, not just her mannerisms, but her heart, page 215
This is the perfect read for someone who likes technology yet remains wary. The Matrix meets The Shallows. I feel like this is an iconic read, a true culture trip, that I will go back to in order to unravel the layers.