Klara and the Sun

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

A solar powered artificial friend or AF, Klara boasts unusually impeccable observational skills that could trump even those which the newer B3 models are known to possess. Regularly moved everywhere from the window to the middle section of the store, she and another B2 AF called Rosa are spending more and more time at the back due to their impending obsolescence. As Rosa is purchased and finds a new home, Klara counts on the promise of a young girl named Josie who has come back a few times to take a look at her saying that she would buy her once she convinces her mother. When that day finally comes, Klara is introduced to a new household far from the city with wide fields and just one close neighbor nearby, Klara’s friend Rick and his mother. As Josie’s fragile health condition is revealed, Klara makes a bargain with the sun which she worships to improve the condition of her new owner, even if it means sacrificing something of hers in return.

While I enjoyed reading Klara and the Sun, it felt derivative, but then this is coming from someone whose only other Ishiguro reading experience is that of Never Let Me Go. Kazuo seems to have a thing for humanoids as narrators telling you a thing or two about the human condition. From a detached point of view. After all, the clone in the other novel is almost human but not quite while Klara here is an android that seems one step closer to becoming an actual person. Such storytelling technique sounds gimmicky alright but paves the way for an outsider critique on how it is to be human without coming across as preachy or patronizing.

Another similarity worth pointing out is the author’s use of seemingly ordinary terms that mean a different thing altogether in the context of his novels’ world. In Never Let Me Go you are introduced to some like “donations” and the like. Here, the most frequent repetition is that of being “lifted” referring to certain adolescents. I never fully understood this reference. The context clues seem to point to genetic manipulation on humans. Is this why Josie is sick, because her gene editing went awry? Wouldn’t it be a brilliant twist if Josie was just another clone from Never Let Me Go? Now this would’ve been an interesting crossover!

Klara’s narration as a protagonist is colored by her android structure which makes for a fun read. The character could’ve been an adopted orphan or just any other human being, but had that been the case then the observations about human behavior wouldn’t have seemed as unbiased as Klara’s given her eagerness to learn more about the ways of mankind. Even then, the limitations of her robotic nature do not really permit even the semblance of emotions, which gets in the way of her transitioning to almost-human. As such, Ishiguro ends up with a novel that explores what really makes mankind stand out as a species.

Nevertheless, perhaps the best aspect of Klara and the Sun is how it deals with the concepts of Faith, Religion, and Hope. You have a robot worshipping the sun and having so much faith in it that the premise reaches borderline stupidity at times. Then again, you just end up pondering on the same coping mechanism most human beings employ to make sense of their apparently meaningless existence. That’s why many religions have survived since their inception. Abolish them and some new trend or belief system will just pop up to take their place. Because that’s what we humans do to survive. Latch on to beliefs. Cling on to hope.

Anyway, a film adaptation to be helmed by Taika Waititi is in production, with Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams playing the roles of Klara and the mother, respectively. While some netizens are worried that some aspects of storytelling, such as Klara’s unique perspective made up of cones and boxes, wouldn’t be given justice, it seems like there has been enough precedent in films about artificial intelligence and robots. Perhaps what we should all be worrying about is whether the emotions, or lack thereof, or the yearning for it, could translate effectively to the big screen. We’re just going to have to wait and see.