Klara and the Sun: The Times and Sunday Times Book of the Year

One of my favourite writers of all time. This book is written with the same geniis as Never leave me. Except this time they brought their elders. I cried at the end. I am left considering so much about what it really means to care, to be humane rather than human. What an exquisite book. Your life would be poorer for not reading this.

Spectactular, simple and stunning. Exploration of what it means to love and what it means to be human.

Generally liked the book, mainly due to the protagonist, but there are still some issues that bugged me, mainly the over the top describing of unnecessary details and the overall plotlines that in the end were of no importance. Also the narration of the english characters was not that good and felt pretty fake. Still Klara is definetely the highlight of the book, and especially her feelings and "relationship" with the sun.

Very good narrator, and Ishuiguro's gorgeous mix of sifi and human feeling

Ishiguro doesn't dissapoint and in this pandemic (end?) era where we are living remotely more than ever before, an a.f. is not a distant idea at all. This book is timely and futuristic at the same time.

Klara and The Sun, story of about a humanoid robot (AF) who became a friend to children, Klara. And AF hangs on the sun, because that Klara likes to stand at the window in the store and observe the lives and behavior of people who walk around the store and it also helps the chances of af finding its owner. The one who's unique is Klaras is the narrator in this story. Until one day Klara was bought and became a teenage friend named Josie.
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This story is so interesting, making us ask what does it mean to us to be human? About social commentary, technology and how human relationships and love are in the future. Anyway, this is my first reading of kazuo ishiguro's work, and it's really cool and i really wants to read another one.

As the book is told from the POV of an AI, it's pretty dry and the characters seem underdeveloped and 2 dimensional, and the pace is slow. The concept is intriguing and the first half was enjoyable, but many questions were left unanswered and sufficient context was not provided for some of the futuristic elements for the plot to have its intended weight. This book could have delved so much deeper into ethical issues with AI, but these ideas were skated over. Some of the characters were downright annoying, and Klara seemed to have too many thoughts, feelings and free will for an AI. The book unfortunately doesn’t provide the clever insights into human motivations and feelings that it thinks it does.

Can’t believe it’s over :( What a delight , loved this story

Loved it my first introduction to the world of AF superbly narrated

An interesting story, not my usual genre. Disliked the majority of the characters and I have been left with many questions. What happened to Helen ? The original housekeeper? Did the unrest develop further so that AFs stopped being manufacturered. Still not totally sure what ‘lifting’ meant but Josie did eventually survive this process. Klara herself, I assume just remained in the dumping ground until she finally ‘died’. As an AF she seemed to have been programmed to have assumed many human emotions ,her discard by the family felt immoral and heartless but then they all came across as being selfish individuals .

Masterfully written science-fiction fairy tale with deep psychologism. Great listen

I really enjoyed how this story unfolded. My interest was held as the author subtly and cleverly narrated the events as seen through the eyes of an artificial being. Very original.

Quite a fascinating read - part science fiction, part dystopian. Ishiguro masterfully captures the thoughts and sentiments of an AF (Artificial Friend). The humans in the book are depicted as humans tend to be: flawed, selfish and inconsistent. Highly recommended.

This is a beautifully imagined, touching novel that moved me to think about the way we define humanity and what we value. I think it magnifies the dangers of adhering too tightly to rationalist and materialistic worldviews so deeply engrained in Western thought today. I also sensed perhaps a downstream influence of post modernism, where there is no real clarity about human identity and where we see boundaries increasingly blurred between humanity and technology. The holistic essence of 'being human' is depleted and in some ways, humans are dying off. In my mind, the novel traverses broad, big thoughts around the pitfalls of artificial intelligence and biotechnology when driven by this materialist dogma. As we already know, humans don't/can't engage particularly effectively in developing ethics or boundaries in technological progress because development and profit overide and are in overdrive. The novel also explores the fragility of human 'love' and grief and loss and how people look to avoid the unbearable pain these can bring through artificial and material solutions. Humans lack 'nourishment' and are disconnected from any universal collective purpose or unifying source of faith in the higher good for humanity - areas symbolised in the novel by Klara's fascination with real love and in her consistent faith in the Sun. It's most certainly worth a read.

I enjoyed the idea of this book, but some parts of the book felt underdeveloped. I get that it was supposed to reflect Klara’s limited understanding of the world around her, but as a reader, I needed to know more about some of the issues raised.

I thought it was OK. The middle is interesting after a big plot twist, but overall it was just fine.

Al principio venía muy bien, me estaba encantando. Luego tomó un rumbo un poco desordenado para mi gusto, de todas maneras es un buen libro del cual se puede disfrutar

Interesting reading. Good for reflecting on the human nature as well as AI.

I enjoyed Ishiguro's turn of phrase, always solid and good.
The story was good, I enjoy dystopias. However, I could not get pulled in like in other stories of his. I just could not relate to the AFs, even though I was feeling sorry for them the whole time.

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https://www.sharanhats.com.np/

An exquisite look at Human Nature and our relationships with one another told with colour and design from the perspective of artificial intelligence

The beginning was great, Klara's observations and minimum interaction with the other AFs while she was at the store were the only thing I liked, which didn't last long of course.
I didn't find the book ground breaking or worth the hype, in fact it might have been better as a short story, I was bored most of the time, and only managed to finish it because I listened to the AB.

La variedad de libros con la que cuenta y la manera tan sencilla de poder acceder a ellos.

Beautifully read, so poignant, touching, moving, profound, and so prescient Ishiguro in his genius raises so many moral questions about our place in the world and our relationship with technology and progress and love. Wonderfully moving story.

This is the first book I’ve read of this# author and I loved it.

Writing:
- Ishiguro has (as ever) zero ear for dialogue.
- his sentences sound deliberately repetitious and flat (being, in theory, more about the cumulative effect of repetitions)
- on the plus side, the novel has such a great premise, it gets by. Loved the Robot God stuff and the AI argot, all the wrong deductions Klara makes trying to rationalise the world

Vocal performance:
- The British accents are ridiculous, and for one character (Rick) inconsistent (the novel indicates he should sound American)
- The recording booth could have used some “dampening”, as there’s some vocal reverb that’s weird with headphones
- On the plus side, all the narrator’s breaths have been removed (which makes sense for a robot narrator) and the diction is very clear

Unfortunately the narration is terrible. There are a couple of British characters in the book and the American narrator absolutely cannot do an English accent, it’s so difficult to listen to. It’s not just a bit ropey, it’s all over the place. She has absolutely no idea. Sorry but they need to source better actors for these things. Aside from the accent, she was getting her emphasis quite wrong in a lot of places and almost sounded like she didn’t understand some of the sentences she was reading.

I love Ishiguro’s novels and I was really enjoying this story. But I just gave up about halfway in, because of the awful narration. What a shame. I will buy the paper book and finish the novel with my eyes.

I didn't like Klara at first or in the middle. I never thought I would cry over an AI like that. That just adds to how Kazuo Ishiguro was successful in delivering his message. I didn't know how anyone could possibly get attached to an inanimate object such as an AI, but it reminds me of how I fail to replace my old phone with a new one easily. Also, it reminds me of something that happened to me when I was just a kid. My mother was going to buy me this baby doll for 1 Euro, but she got carried away in a conversation with the seller that another woman with a kid in his carriage took advantage of my mom and the seller's distraction. Knowing I wanted the doll, she took it, left the Euro on the table, and left off quickly. I tried to get my mom's attention before the woman left but failed, and I got really upset and threw a tantrum. When I told this tale later when I grew up I still felt hurt and wanted to shed some tears, and even now when I tell it, I still kind of feel a bit upset. An inanimate object it was, but that didn't matter to me. I think this doll I have never been able to own was surpassed by many, better ones, but, to this day, to my mind, it remains the best I could have owned.

Audiobook narrator has a pleasant and easily understandable voice. The book on the other hand is a little bland.

Could have been a great short story but instead felt long and drawn out