Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

[OnlyTeaForMe]

This was launched this week and I watched the Guardian Live interview with Ishiguro himself, which was great.

I loved Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, so I was so excited for this new novel.

I just finished it this morning and feel rather flat and bit disappointed. It wasn't the novel I was expecting and I just felt that it skirted around a lot of the really interesting issues it raised.

Would love to talk to anyone else once they've read it to see if it's just me?

I can't figure out why Josie's dad agreed to vandalise the Cootings machine

That puzzled me too. It wasn't plausible. Also, I didn't understand what the Cootings machine was, either.

Clearly there was a lot that flew over my head!

@RoyalCorgi I think the Cootings machine might have been a generator, those noisy and dirty ones that are used for power at roadworks/ building sites. Or maybe a tarmac type machine for roads?

With both Rick and the Father, I attributed it to the desperation and grief of those who are about to be bereaved and the way they will latch onto any far-fetched promise of salvation.

That's a good point @HeddaGarbled

Also, there are suggestions the father is into some other weird stuff too, isn't he living in some kind of white militia community?

SPOILER ALERT!

Just finished it this evening. There’s a lot that’s referred to peripherally but not explained in detail, such as the way the father and his ilk are living since losing their jobs, increasing polarisation of society with the genetically edited elite going off to college while the rest of the population sinks into dangerous tribalism, growing animosity towards AFs.

I think it isn’t perfect. I found the scene outside the theatre particularly irritating: everyone grabbing each other and saying something significant one after the other.

But it did resonate: more about how dangerous technological advances can be if they advantage some to the detriment of the majority, rather than the artificial intelligence theme. I’m thinking about Elon Musk putting rich people on Mars, for example.

And there was poignancy to Klara taking herself off to the utility room, and how casually she was discarded by Josie, and her acceptance of sitting on the hard ground in the junkyard.

I am resolutely averting my gaze from the previous post as Im about halfway through and not sure if Im going to continue or not.
I havent read any of his previous books - not even watched the film of Remains of the day so Im not influenced by these.
I think Im unsettled by this book. It progresses but doesnt seem to get very far. I ,like a PP, am not sure if Im missing things - references that have gone over my head. Is it a bit too clever for me maybe? I dont know.
Or is it too clever for its own good and there isnt really any substance to it. This is where I am I think.

I'm only about half way through so far, but finding it hard going... I don't understand what she means when she talks about her vision being fragmented; is she glitching?! When she talked about people being in boxes I was thinking celebrity squares-style to start with!
Now I'm imagining more one of those mirrors with differently angled panels. I just want to know if it's all going to make sense later?

@Furtheron - I think the seeing people in boxes thing is a kind of computerised focusing thing - sort of when something isn't clear they just focus on a small part of it first (in a 'frame') and then build up a bigger picture from there?

@KineticSand You might enjoy Ian McEwan's book 'Machines Like Me' which I found a much better discussion of the issues of relationships between robots and humans!