Pages: 250

March, 2021

Penguin Random House

When I started this novel, I was instantly gripped by the narrative voice- Klara, the AF’s ; an innocence, a beguiling quality to it (Artificial Friend). The story is set in a dystopian future, which mightn’t be as unimaginable as one might wish to believe. How vital and integral the Sun’s role is, becomes clearer and clearer as the story continues to unravel from Klara’s viewpoint. She not only leans on Him for sustenance, but believes with all her ‘being’ that it is the Sun alone that can nourish and repair Josie’s ailment. Does He?

Klara, an insightful AF, brighter than other Afs, is chosen by Josie, a sickly teenager, to be by her side as she struggles with her illness and with life. This forms the backdrop of a rather captivating sci-fi’ish story.

Ishiguro is the recipient of many awards- including the Man Booker in 1989 (The Remains of the Day) and more recently the Nobel Prize for literature in 2017.

There is an undefinable quality to Ishiguro’s writing. As I read on, my understanding flowered. What was so profoundly disturbing so as to stay with me in my waking and sleeping hours to the degree it did, grew surer.

The protagonist and her relationship with Josie, the fourteen-year-old particularly, her mother Chrissie, and Rick- the teen’s childhood mate, are most compellingly developed in the story. Klara is not just intelligent and insightful, she is also noble, which gives rise to the thought that perhaps we undermine those we consider robotic; we humans tend to disregard those very folk who display emotions with difficulty.

Perhaps it is an error to deem them less sensitive?

As the story progresses, the reader is forced to ponder upon life and what it is that consumes us so; it throws lights and shadows in equal measure. Klara, while a robot, is far more sensitive than the humans we encounter in the course of the read.

“….people often felt the need to prepare a side of themselves to display to passers-by- as they might in a store window- and that such a display needn’t be taken so seriously once the moment had passed.”  How astute!

Klara remarks to her shop Manager on observing two people embracing for a long while outside the window where she is displayed for a few weeks:

“They seem so happy, but it’s strange because they also seem upset.”

The Manager responds, “Sometimes, at special moments like that, people feel a pain alongside their happiness. I’m glad you watch everything so carefully, Klara.”  So it is, isn’t it! 

AF Klara, learns continually, upping her knowledge of humans naturally. Remarkably easy is it to forget she’s a robot. Rick, the childhood friend, forgets and apologizes to her about the smell pervading his room, and Klara quickly corrects him- she has no sense of smell, does she!

The kind of compassion she displays, the subtle grasp of a situation, and the desperation to help Josie live on make us love her.

She chases this wish to the exclusion of all else, consumed by the feverish desire to harness the Sun’s energy.

It is an incredible premise, and I bought into it. I simply did.

Humans are prone to emotional upheavals, and moodiness, but an AF isn’t. She observes:

“…what was becoming clear to me was the extent to which humans, in their wish to escape loneliness, made manoeuvres that were very complex and hard to fathom…”

“Until recently, I didn’t think humans could choose loneliness. That there were sometimes forces more powerful than the wish to avoid loneliness.”

Lifted is an expression unique to the story- Rick isn’t lifted- which means he isn’t genetically modified. Josie is. This sets them apart. The lifting process itself is risky, and Josie had lost her older sister Sal, perhaps because of this very process.

I was keen to learn what happens next- of the dangers Klara or Josie, or Rick might face. The tone of the plot has a thriller-like quality. With Ishiguro one is never quite certain whether the story will wind you up, or that you’ll fall for his mind’s incantations.

I found myself completely taken by the time I had arrived at twenty percent of the book. And I loved this question he poses to us: “Do you believe in the human heart? I don’t mean simply the organ, obviously. I’m speaking in the poetic sense. The human heart. Do you think there is such a thing? Something that makes each of us special and individual?”

The end is unexpected. The power of Ishiguro’s penmanship shines here. It was all happening right where I was, and I believed in Klara’s quest, in relationship to the Sun. This book is not for the faint-hearted.  If you are successful in suspending belief, then this story is about the power of light and love, and discarding all else that comes in its way.

©kamalininatesan2022