Klara and the [Italian] Sun

Welcome back! It’s been an interesting few weeks for me with taking extra time between posts and restrictions being tightened again. And, while I don’t love not being able to work (except private lessons), I have enjoyed the time to go camping and to get some extra reading in. Although, I am still in a bit of a reading rut so didn’t get too much done, honestly! Oh well, at least I stayed on track this time. On that note, this week I am reviewing Klara and the Sun by Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro. To accompany the review, I’ll be making an Italian Sun cocktail. Enjoy!

Italian Sun Recipe

2oz Sauvignon Blanc

1.5oz Limoncello

0.75oz Frangelico

0.5oz Lemon Juice

0.75oz Sunny D*

1 Lemon Wheel

*Sunny D is an optional ingredient.

In a cocktail shaker with ice, add all ingredients and shake for approximately 10 seconds. Then, strain into a martini glass and garnish with a lemon wheel.

For my special ingredient this week, I decided to go one step further than the pun and also incorporate the sun into the drink. The sun is practically a character in the novel and is a bit of an obsession for Klara. Because of this, and since it’s Klara’s “nourishment”, I figured the sun would be the perfect thing to add to my drink. So, I decided to add Sunny D. I also switched up the normal garnish from a lemon zest to a wheel to look more like the sun!

Taste-wise, I really liked the drink. Without the Sunny D, the Limoncello overpowered the drink and was all I could taste. (Although, Tom said he could only taste hazelnut?) With the Sunny D, there was a bit more depth to the flavours and I actually preferred it. There was some sweetness from the Sunny D, tartness from the Limoncello, and a hint of nuttiness from the Frangelico. Tom also preferred it with Sunny D, but he could still taste hazelnut so it wasn’t his favourite. But overall, I thought this was a good cocktail that is perfect for sunny weather!

Klara and the Sun Synopsis

(from book cover)

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans.

Review

“‘Sometimes… at special moments like that, people feel a pain alongside their happiness.'”

When I was planning my year in books, Klara and the Sun was the first book published in 2021 that I added to my list. And, I’m happy to say it actually lived up to my excitement for it! This is a really interesting and unique book that beautifully parallels our own lives. It is poetic and thought-provoking, but also easy to read. While I did truly like this novel, there were some areas that didn’t quite do it for me. But, overall this is one of the good ones that I am happy to be reviewing!

First and foremost, I want to talk about Klara. She is one of the most unique characters, and narrators, I have read lately. Ishiguro does a great job of showing a perspective that is at once both intelligent and naive. Because Klara is not human we see her as hyperintelligent, but she also struggles to understand the more subtle and complex things that humans do (at least right away). It was interesting to see her first learn to understand an emotion and then be able to feel. However, there were a couple times things were inconsistent. These were mainly little things that I went “wait a minute didn’t they just say the opposite thing?”, but they still brought me out of the story.

Despite these inconsistencies, I enjoyed Klara as a narrator because she is practically the opposite of an unreliable narrator. Because of her ability to perfectly remember everything and to sense people’s true feelings, it’s almost like reading a third-person omnipotent narrator even though it’s all from first person. It’s so rare to read a first-person narrative that is this reliable (if a bit imperfect sometimes due to Klara’s naïveté). This made the novel more special and is a large part of what stood out to me most.

Klara and the Sun was also special because of how the sun becomes a character. The way Ishiguro had Klara treat the sun as a kind of God was beautiful. And, while it’s not uncommon in novels to have inanimate things become characters, I had never seen it done like this before. Klara’s perspective of the sun was a really interesting reflection on society and religion, especially in a novel like this. I won’t go too deep into this as to avoid spoilers, but it’s amazing how Klara’s relationship with the sun is so metaphorical and does so much for the overall allegory of the novel in such a beautiful and subtle way.

Moving away from the narration and the characters, I want to get into the writing. Ishiguro has a beautiful writing style that is formal, but also poetic. The novel flows eloquently and uses metaphors perfectly to help paint the picture of the story. But, Ishiguro never describes too much. I can never fully picture the characters or the world of the story. I get glimpses of beauty and darkness, but never a description of what Klara looks like. This works really interestingly in the story as it pushes me to make comparisons to the current world. It also makes Klara’s descriptions so much more interesting, especially in how she can see every minute emotion in someone’s face at any given moment. So, even though I don’t know what the character looks like in a traditional sense, I experience their appearance on a different level.

Beyond the beauty of the writing, is the intelligence of the writing. I was worried this novel was going to be similar to The Prophets and I’d be sitting there feeling stupid the whole time, but that was not the case. Klara and the Sun was a quick and easy read! It felt accessible for everyone, but not pandering. To me, it’s the type of writing that wants to tell a story and send a message, but also wants to make sure that everyone can get it. And all of this isn’t to say the writing was weak. It just gets its message across in a way that isn’t reliant on the reader having multiple degrees and a deep understanding of the topic, which, in my opinion, makes it all the more intelligent.

Despite this being an accessible novel, there were some areas that had me confused. These are mainly to do with how the novel is laid out and how the intricacies of the semi-futuristic world aren’t immediately explained. But, this lack of explanation was, in my opinion, the author’s intention. It had me wondering throughout the novel just exactly how this society works and how it is similar to and different than ours. And this, in turn, added to the overall symbolism and realism of the story. And, honestly, it added a bit of fun mystery to the novel trying to figure out exactly what certain things meant (though from context most were pretty obvious after a little while).

Speaking of mystery, I truly enjoyed how the novel mixed genres. While overall it is sci-fi, there are also elements of mystery, family drama, and love. This combination of genres reinforces the special qualities of this novel, especially since some aspects of the novel are not fully unique in regard to sci-fi. Specifically, I found a few aspects of the novel extremely reminiscent of Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. (A movie I truly despised as a child because the main character drops and loses his teddy bear, which is a full-blown nightmare for a 7 year old who loves her teddy more than anything.) I also kept thinking of Ex Machina for some reason, but Klara and the Sun is definitely less scary.

Regardless of how similar the novel is to other sci-fi works, I still found it distinctive in how Klara analyzes what it means to be a human. Also, how many books and movies are there about artificial intelligence that aren’t about robots taking over the world? Not many. And, Ishiguro takes this notion and expands it to say, “what if there were robots and they didn’t want to take over, but just wanted to be our friends?” And, while the novel is definitely sci-fi, it reads less dystopian than other novels and more like a fable. Although, can it still be like a fable if the story isn’t about animals? Or is Klara considered non-human enough that it still counts?

Though Klara is technically not a human, the novel at its core is asking what does it mean to be human? And, I think, Klara and her interesting perspective answer that by the end. Maybe not perfectly, but pretty darn close. Speaking of the ending, it wasn’t my favourite. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t overly satisfying either. However, it seemed like the right ending for the novel. I just wish it had been happier. Or maybe sadder? But alas, it just ended in a perfectly metaphorical way. And I love nothing if I don’t love a novel that shows all that’s wrong with society through metaphors and allegory, especially when done so beautifully. So, why am I complaining!

Overall, I really enjoyed Klara and the Sun. I don’t know if it’s going to be one of my favourite books of the year, but I don’t have any huge problems with it. I liked it a lot, and that’s that. It is beautiful and truly makes you think about yourself and society. The parallels to the real world, especially those regarding use, waste, and greed, hit home and add a lot of depth to the novel. This metaphorical nature of the novel alongside its memorable narrator are what make this book a winner for me, even though it isn’t perfect. I definitely recommend this novel to anyone who thinks they’d be interested in it! And, as always, I recommend trying out my cocktail (with or without the special ingredient).

My Rating:

Thanks for reading! And, if you read the book or try the cocktail let me know in a comment, on Instagram, or in person (if you know me). Also, if you haven’t yet read my previous reviews, I recommend reading Fallen Anxious People, The Vanishing Half and Half, and How the One-Armed Sister Clean Sweeps Her House if you liked this one!

Teghann

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