Klara and The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Thank you, Faber. I was delighted last Saturday morning when the postman delivered a package which contained a signed copy of the brand-new novel by the Nobel Prize laureate Kazuo Ishiguro called Klara and The Sun. A few months ago, one of my Facebook friends who knows I like books told me about an upcoming online discussion with Kazuo Ishiguro organised by The Guardian.  I thought that would be an interesting event to look forward to, so I bought a ticket which included a signed copy of his new book. Previously I have read The Remains of The Day, When We Were Orphans and two Faber mini books Come Rain or Come Shine and The Nobel Lecture. I also started The Buried Giant but did not finish it. I would say that Klara and The Sun is as moving and thought provoking as anything I have read by this author.

I will not give away any secrets of the plot in case you are reading it yourself, except to say that the narrator Klara is an AF or Artificial Friend. (The author uses the word Robot very sparingly in this book) Klara and her friend Rosa get to spend time in the shop window where they can see the sun and observe the humans going by. Eventually Klara is bought by a lady to be a companion to her sick daughter Josie. Klara is so intelligent that she begins to realise that there is to be a lot more asked of her than just being a friend. I will not say any more about the plot.

I do not think I have been so moved by non-human characters in a book since childhood when I read Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. One of the reasons Kazuo Ishiguro is such a wonderful writer is that when you have finished the book you ponder about the issues raised in it. You begin to ask yourself about what kind of a world we are creating, what is the future for artificial intelligence? Will robots start creating art, music, books, or deciding government policies? Maybe they already are! Another moral question in the book is about genetic engineering. Do we want gene-editing in order to produce superior people? It is bad enough already with all the divisions in the world. These questions will have to be faced by society very soon. Another issue raised in the book is carbon emissions and pollution which also need to be urgently addressed. You can read the book on lots of different levels. It is also a love story between Josie and her boyfriend Rick. The author raises the ultimate question of, what is love? There is also some wry humour in the book. I like how he called the unpleasant housekeeper Melania. I will not say any more about this book, except to say It is the best book I have read in a long time and I think you should read it as well. If you do, I would love to know what you think.