"Klara and The Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Many would argue that Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro wrote the most notable book of the 20th Century with his 1990 tale “The Remains of the Day.” He has written many other works in between, but his latest, “Klara and The Sun,” is a wonderfully woven story of just what love, living and the fear of death mean in our culture.

Set in the not too distant future, the title character, Klara, is a B-2 model AF, or artificial friend. In a society where genetically modified children are “lifted” to higher achievement and better schools, many also combat isolation by purchasing an AF. Klara and her kind are able to observe and learn things about human speech and emotions so they can continually improve their algorithms and provide better service (sound eerily familiar?). While they generally come to the appropriate conclusions and choices, the path is not always even. They also run on solar power, hence the praise of the Sun as the giver of life and the ultimate source of goodness.

Klara is found in a department store by an adolescent girl named Josie and her mother, who decide to pick her instead of the newer model because of her appearance and apparent demeanor. Josie is suffering from a debilitating illness of some sort, which often leaves her quite exhausted, and her mother feels Klara will provide companionship and also some monitoring of her health condition.

Klara is the narrator of the entire book, and watching her process the world around her is captivating and enlightening at the same time. She soon becomes aware of the true motivation of Josie’s mother and also the depth of affection between Josie and her childhood friend Rick. Ultimately, it may be Klara’s ability to pray to and negotiate with the Sun that saves them all.

I give this book my strongest recommendation—it is one of those works that just keeps you turning the page to see what Klara and Josie will work through next.

– Former Odessa resident, Davenport native, self-described raconteur and avid reader Tim Coley writes this occasional column for The Odessa Record.