After Never Let Me Go, Klara and the Sun (2021) is the second novel by Kazuo Ishiguro exploring the relationship between humanity and technology. The titular Klara in the novel is a highly sophisticated robot, and the novel traces their “life,” from initial placement in a commercial setting through their integration into a human family.
Two things stand out to me about this novel.
First, Ishiguro is firmly committed to an in media res philosophy: key questions about the setting, about what the global context within which the events take place, even about Klara’s appearance are all left unanswered. That this works, leaving the reader curious, but not frustrated, is a testament to his skill.
Second, and not unrelated, Klara’s presence as the main character is a remarkable achievement, as Ishiguro presents a point of view that is decidedly not human, but also full of emotion, warmth, perception, and a fantastically detailed level of observation of the (mostly) humans around her.
It’s a smart, engaging, meditation on the relationship between humans and technology, and if it remains a little light on conclusions, the powerful nature of Ishiguro’s writing–especially his imagery and his insights into Klara’s perceptions of the world–makes the journey very worthwhile.
Well put, Daniel. Ishiguro really is very good at writing a novel with an unreliable narrator, denying the reader a reliable Jamesian authorial voice to explain everything, and so leaving the reader to decide what the narrator might be missing. As you suggest, the absence of some contextual specifics provides a nice universality that probably means that the novel will be as vital in some future era as it is now.
My own thinking about this fine novel, and the earlier, devastating Never Let Me Go, has moved to believing that the interrelations are not so much about futuristic technology as they are about current, long-standing, and subtle divisions among humans.
Yes, class and race. I see the divisions in Ishiguro (and in American life) as primarily about class, rather than race, but class divisions in a novel obviously can serve well as literary symbols for racism, religious elitism, and other tribal distinctions. If I am right, Ishiguro’s novels are in part chastising us for not always noticing subtle discrimination and separatism in our own world.