Klara and the Sun

‘This is a waterfall.’

‘Yup. You ever seen a waterfall, Klara?’

‘Yes. I saw one in a magazine in the store. And look! You’re eating, right in front of the waterfall.’

‘You can do that at Morgan’s Falls. Have lunch while the spray covers you. You’re eating your food then you realize your shirt’s soaked at the back.’

‘That can’t be good for you, Josie,’

Klara is one of many Artificial Friends (AFs) in a store. She waits patiently to be picked out and taken home, but Klara is neither the latest nor the most sophisticated model. Despite her obvious limitations, the store manager knows that Klara stands apart from the newer range of AF models in a special way. Klara notices details about human beings, and she cares about what she sees.

Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro says that the initial idea for Klara came from a short story he wrote for small children. He was advised that the idea of an android would be too frightening so he extended the idea into a novel for adults but retained the viewpoint of a young child. Klara, as an outsider narrator, focuses on specific aspects of life. Her commercial purpose is to aid with loneliness and this is the lens through which she sees the world.

Kazuo Ishiguro published his first novel, A Pale View of the Hills, in 1982. In the years since, he has written only seven more. He says that writing is not easy for him and that his primary aim as a writer is to create works that stay with the reader long after they have finished reading the book. Although Ishiguro accepts the categorisation of a Science Fiction writer, he is less comfortable with the reductive element implied by the categorisation of fiction into ‘genre’ writing. In his 2017 Nobel acceptance speech, he said: “Good writing and good reading will break down barriers. We may even find a new idea, a great humane vision, around which to rally.”

JOINING DETAILS:

• Four meeting study led by Nicky von Fraunhofer and Jane Wymark on Zoom
• Wednesdays 6-27 August 2025, 6.00 – 8.00 pm (BST)
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, 2021, paperback, Faber ISBN 9780571364909
• £160 for four meetings
• Please use this link to share details