Review of “Klara and the Sun”

Klara and the Sun, authored by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021), struck an arrow through my heart. I know Kazuo Ishiguro from his previous work, The Buried Giant (2015). Simple circumstances prompted me to know of him: the Nobel Prize in Literature, 2017. 

The Buried Giant needed several more reads before I could muster an appropriate review. The Buried Giant impressed me that much. In contrast, Klara and the Sun is smaller in size, though denser. I held hope that Klara and the Sun would give me the same reading experience, and what do you know? It indeed delivers.

About the author: Kazuo Ishiguro

While he was born in Japan, Ishiguro wrote primarily in English on account of his moving to Britain at five years old. Nobel has his biography on their website, so you could check it out if you want. 

In my personal world scope, Kazuo Ishiguro has moved Haruki Murakami’s spot as my favourite Japanese writer. Yes, despite him being more British in his writings than Japanese. Others may beg to differ, but I consider him one of the strongest contenders in the writing of the magical realism genre: one of my favourite genres. The magical realism aspect showed itself beautifully in Klara and the Sun, hand-in-hand with the main genre: dystopian science fiction.

It must be noted that this review was originally written on 4 September 2024, right after I finished reading the book. The review you are currently reading has been edited and refined to suit the blog format, but the main points are preserved.

Summary of the story (spoiler-free)

The protagonist and main narrator is Klara, an ‘Artificial Friend’. In other words, Klara is an android robot designed to be a playmate for children during their growing period. During her time standing near the shop’s window, Klara has an apt observation towards the people outside and the way sunlight moves, which becomes a central aspect in the story.

A 'sick' girl named Josie bought Klara out of the store. She began her life in Josie’s house, watching and observing the interaction of humans around Josie—and around her by proximity, as she tried to decipher and make sense of human drama. 

The narration

We follow the story through Klara’s nonhuman eyes. She watched people and scenery in “boxes”. It took me several pages before I realised the “boxes” meant to be a type of visual recognition program that camera AI often had; a common example being face-recognition programs in phones. 

Reading the narration was a hurdle. A huge block of text that spans one or more pages, perhaps due to the physical book’s size (small). The story is separated into parts but not chapters. The first page has a total of 45 pages, the second has 60, and the narration seems to be never-ending. 

Now, if you could get through such hurdles as I did, then you would find that the writing style is very well-written. It’s a beautiful and easily digestible style.

The plot, setting, and characters

Due to Ishiguro's use of Klara's first-person point of view, the humans' dialogue and Klara's own thoughts sprinkle a lot of exposition or information about the setting and plot throughout the narrative. The main plot itself revolves around Josie’s illness and her loved ones' drama. In contrast, Klara is astonishingly naive in comparison to other characters, such as Josie’s Mom, Josie’s childhood friend, and the store manager.

Magical realism elements

In 2024, I wrote that the magical realism element in the novel is kind of a let-down from how easily discernible it was. The element is too on the nose, without subtlety whatsoever, which actually adds to the charm of Klara’s naivete. 

The magical realism originated from Klara’s religious faith in the sun, which then “answered” her prayers. While the writings kept me at the edge of my seat as it progressed, it was—as some other reviewer noted—somewhat lazy at the end.

Other elements

While writing this post, I researched other people’s thoughts on this book. They do differ sharply from my own observation. A lot of review focuses more on the dystopian/dark science fiction elements. Barely any big-name websites mention or allude to magical realism. The Guardian (little spoiler alert), for example, said it was “dark allegories that spoke about the danger of unchecked technological advances”. Yale Daily News (spoiler alert) dubbed it a “story of loneliness and love”. There are more mixed reviews on the book’s Goodreads page, but everything scratches on the science fiction aspect. What all these reviewers brought to the table, though, is similar: they all have read many of Kazuo Ishiguro’s previous science fiction works (note that The Buried Giant is an Arthurian epic fantasy).

Now, I must say that the science fiction elements are somewhat dull and lacking. Sure, we get a robot protagonist and some sci-fi plot points, but those are all eclipsed. By what, you may ask? In my opinion, the theme is hope in the genre of magical realism. While Ishiguro did it beautifully, it has no subtlety. I wished I could attribute the “drama” genre to the book, but Klara’s too out of the field for it.

Final Thoughts

Klara and the Sun is better read as magical realism that happens to take place in some imitation of a sci-fi setting rather than actual science fiction. If you are not used to a dense wall of text, then this is not for you. I must warn you, though: the ending delivers a gut-punch after everything that has happened.

In the past, I gave the book a rating od 4,5 out of 5. Today, I will revise my rating to be 4 out of 5. If you disagree, please bear with me, I am easy to seduce by good writing style. 

See you next time!