Klara and the Sun

"There was something very special, but it wasn't inside Josie. It was inside those who loved her."

(Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun)

Klara is an AF (artificial friend) with excellent observational skills. She sits in the store,watching the people on the street,hoping that one day, a kid will choose her as friend. This day eventually comes,and she is taken home by Josie and her mother. Josie is a promising and kind teenage girl, however  she has an unknown illness. She and Klara soon become friends and by her side,Klara experiences the meanings of human love.

Klara and the Sun is the eighth novel of Ishiguro, and the story explores the human nature and the ways of love. It a is unique story,since the storyteller is an artificial mind, Klara. She is working with the power of sun,therefore she sees the Sun as a kind of god. Interestingly, she sees the sun as a "he" and occasionaly prays to him. She observes and contemplates about the life of the humans,guesses their feelings and eventually we discover, she also has feelings - although it is both similar and different from the humans. She loves Josie and also fear for her, has her own doubts and belief.

The story takes place in times,where the robots and artificial minds are taking the employee's jobs,people are retrievable. Josie's father for example lost his job due to articifial intelligence and forced to live outside the city with different groups of people. The kids who are lucky enough and born with excellent genes can study (they are "lifted" children according to the novel) but it is a terrible lottery. The novel also raises the question if we, humans are special? Are we different from the machines? Can a person be retriveable or copied by an AF? 

I've read this novel in English,and the writer uses a language easy to read, illiustrates a family life and dinamics with compassion and sensitivity.  The story is compelling, full of emotions, heart-breaking and provoking. I recommend this beautiful novel to anyone,not just sci-fi fans.