The LILA Gazette examines Kazuo Ishigurgo’s masterpiece Klara and the Sun and dives behind the true meaning of dystopian literature

By Belén Haberman – 7th grade.

Kazuo Ishiguro:

Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan on the 8th of November, 1954. At the age of five, he moved with his family to Britain for his father’s research projects as an oceanographer. Throughout his childhood, Ishiguro aspired to become a musician because of his passion for songwriting and keen interest in well known artists such as Bob Marley and Leonard Cohen. This ambition, though not exercised in the future, inspired Ishiguro’s style as a novelist throughout his career. His first books, A Pale View of Hills and An Artist of the Floating World were influenced by Ishiguro’s unique perspective as a young Japanese man living in British society; a main aspect found in these books include Japanese identity. Later he won the Booker Prize in 1989  for his novel Remains of the Day. 

Review:

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is a dystopian novel that tells a unique story through the point of view of Klara, a robotic Artificial Friend. This book explores boundaries of love and what fear can push us to do in times of loss. Weaving elements of a dystopian society throughout the plot, Ishiguro adds complexity to each character and allows for a dark but eerily realistic setting to be established. I found this novel to be very impactful because it offered me a new perspective on how a dystopian society can be portrayed. Throughout the year, my class has been studying dystopian literature, examining the works of authors such as Ray Bradbury and Lauren Oliver. In these chilling tales, dark themes such as restricted love, overly developed technology and warfare are explored and are main factors in the plotline.  Additionally, literary classics such as Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451, and The Giver also adopt these nightmarish themes that appeal to so many. These authors present and incorporate harsh science fiction tropes into their dystopian stories,  leaving the reader disturbed but reassured by the distance between the ominous worlds depicted and his own. However, in Klara and the Sun, Ishiguro’s interpretation of a dystopian world was more subtle and complex with deeper meanings behind each Orwellian component. The way Ishiguro weaved the idea of enhanced technology into the storyline made his version of a degrading society much less far-fetched. This effect was quite frightening as it led me to realize that new inventions such as Artificial Friends, through the continued development of AI software, could be discovered and implemented into our daily lives in the near future. This is a main reason why Klara and The Sun stood out to me, as the novel’s setting more closely mirrors today’s ever-evolving world, emphasizing that Ishiguro’s dystopian society may be the future we’re heading towards. 

I also enjoyed the characterization of Klara throughout the novel. The personality of Klara, a robot programmed by AI, is expertly depicted and, as the reader, we almost mistake her for a regular adult. The differences between her thoughts and those of a human being are not overt, allowing for a genuine connection to grow between Klara and other human characters despite their fundamental differences. However, we can understand that she is emotionally limited and sometimes cannot properly interpret human interaction, shown through Ishiguro’s use of formal vocabulary and the constant questions flowing through Klara’s mind. The author elegantly conveys Klara’s constant curiosity and her unique understanding of emotions, allowing the reader to enjoy a story told from the perspective of a robot without confronting stereotypical motifs often found in works representing futuristic societies.

Indeed, the true magic of Klara and the Sun emanates from Ishiguro’s successful attempt at humanizing a machine. Even if science-fiction isn’t your favorite genre, don’t let it stop you from picking up this novel because it is nothing short of a masterpiece.