Klara and the Sun

A humanoid AI tells the story of her life from department store to her role as service companion to a young adolescent. Klara's relationship with the Sun is central to the story but remains enigmatic, almost spiritual. I was waiting for more technical explanations but Ishiguro appears to prefer to leave the reader with philosophical and spiritual questions.
This story muses on what it means to be human, to have hope and reminds me somewhat of the Simone Weil phrase that “attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity”.

This story reminded me a little of the Kogonada film After Yang, which has a similar premise.

I felt Klara and the Sun had potential to embrace and explore greater complexity, but I also appreciated Ishiguro's focus on simplicity.