Things we enjoyed about “Klara and the Sun”:
- Unique voice in the text, observant person of their surrounding, sees a lot, perceives many things, different way of seeing things than how humans perceive the worlds, gave it a unique touch
- “I liked it but it was also very strange”
- Glimpse into a bleak future as humanity
- Sun as a God theme brilliant
- Asks relevant questions about AI, digitalisation, computer
- How an AF enjoys nature was wonderful
- Readers need to fill in a lot of information
- We see Klara as a person, novel kinda answers its own question
- Takes it further: Artifical Friend finding religion via the sun
- Mourning tone fitting
- Klara can always find something to be happy about
- Scrapyard ending horrible and so so sad but fitting and realistic
- Humanity and cruelty
- Toy Story vibe but darker, children’s love is fleeting
- If it was a pet, a pet ending up in a shelter is similiar
- How do we treat ‘lesser’ beings
- Loneliness of children
- Loneliness of the Artifical Friend
- Bleak, cold, scary future
- Different reactions to the AF: Rick not happy about it, housekeeper sceptic –> realistic
- Buy friendship, reject their humanity
- Housekeeper: manual labour still exists, different degrees of servitude, scary but realistic
- Strange read but compelling
- Who creates art? Only humans?
- AF lacks so much knowledge: why not give them more? Keep them in a childlike state? Designed for just one specific task? They were not supposed to have any knowledge or any agency or voice –> which is why the narrative voice is so interesting
- Limited knowledge of Klara makes her a compelling focaliser
- Ecocriticist reading: destroy the pollutors, act of rebellion
- Josie’s chronic disease / disability: handled very well, interesting to see grief / loss of a child and how this played into genetic engineering –> conflict of the mother; “lifting” them, it goes wrong, guilt
- Can you replace Josie with Klara? Very dark. Glad it didn’t happen.
- Could’ve gotten even darker: substituting the children, creating your perfect children
- Why do relationships change? Klara’s lack of understanding resonates
- Ecocriticist perspective: negative things like pollution and failed genetic engineering but also Klara who is good and powered by the sun, believes that nature should be saved and that nature can save her humans. Touching environmentalist take –> “maybe the thing I liked the most about the novel”
- Model of Artifical Friend –> perfect level, later models too smart and thus unpopular –> easier to perceive as an object for humans, more toy than person
- Nostalgia for old models of AF
- Body horror vibes in parts
- Overall sense of dread well done
- Surprised that Josie healing with the Sun worked –> “I was convinced it was just some sort of rumour or hearsay” –> what happened?
- Touching depiction of religion coming from an AF
- Klara saw no difference between herself and Josie: if the Sun helps me, it will help Josie. So simple, yet touching. And it worked!
- Strange read but parts also cozy? Weirdly enough?
- Klara did not see the world as dystopian, she found bits of happiness and good things despite everything –> touching
- Cover super pretty, hardcover you could move the sun
- Short and fragmented, “the rest is for us to meditate on”
Things we discussed:
- Childhood friend of Josie & challenges of getting into school etc. didn’t work for one of us, did not contribute to the story in a meaningful way
- Rick not popular, mirror to Josie used to contrast
- Impressive how unlikeable the humans were –> the humans hard to understand, very well written from Klara’s perspective –> only good person is Klara
- Rick’s mother ex boyfriend story weird
- Josie’s family weird
- Humans looming over Klara, all dangerous, capable of anything (kinda good but also puzzling)
- All the kids were cruel too (good but also hard to read)
- Beginning confusing, first fifty pages chaos until somebody starts to explain stuff –> mystery does not work as well
- More information needed about: society at large? hints that people are removing themselves from society, dangerous areas –> not explored at all
- More background might explain more why people react to Klara in various different ways
- Genetic engineering, lifting, what does it entail? What are they doing in detail? Are they lifting intelligence? Would explain class society more
- Perspective limiting on purpose but that’s also frustrating –> you will in the gaps like Klara has to fill in the gaps
- Also fitting that there is no saviour figure for Klara –> would negate the whole point of the novel
- Was it a glitch that Klara saw Rosa being mistreated? Supernatural level? Glimpses of someone else? Visions in distress –> pixelated vision? Fields? Religious vision?
- Are the AF more connected than we thought?
Weird ratings:
- 3.5/5 strange Sun healing powers: “some things I liked, some things I didn’t”, “book that made me think”
- 4/5 surveillance drone birds: “enjoyed it”, might reread some day
- 4/5 robots: “raises interesting questions”
- 4/5 Klara really needs a hug: read it years ago and scenes and feelings and philosophical ideas stayed with me
Bonn Speculative Fiction Group 