This unique new novel by the British Nobel laureate (The Remains of The Day), is set in some indefinite future in some anglophone country that is not England, and is narrated in the first person singular by Klara, a solar-powered AF (artificial friend) robot sold as a toy to a sickly young girl with a poorly defined illness. The various sentient, mobile, observant models of AFs are able to talk, learn, and experience deep human emotions, but most of their owners seem to have lost much of their human social skills. Klara addresses everyone, even herself, in the third person proper in stilted English, usually calling them by their occupation or some characteristic rather than a name.
When Klara’s teenage owner becomes deathly ill, Klara appeals to an anthropomorphized Sun that is capable of granting requests for healing and answering prayers. The limitations of AFs are demonstrated by their restricted speech and Klara’s vision which is often is broken into discrete boxes or overlapping pictures. Unlike later models of AFs, she lacks any sense of smell. There is some vagueness in the plot twists and ethereal musing on the part of Klara as she attempts to understand and help the real humans around her.
I referred to the vagueness of the setting and dates. Although there are references to Wisconsin and California, the scenes with cars appear to be in some country with the drivers on the right side, a la British and Europeans, and there is nothing to indicate that cars have become autonomous.
As science fiction, not my favourite genre, this is as good as it gets. Some aspects of the story are not far from where artificial intelligence has already taken us, witness David Nussbaum’s realistic, life-sized, 3-D, talking hologram-like reproductions of real people on his Portl. platform.
Thanks,
Michelle.
The Passionate Reader 