Why did I love this book?
Klara is an artificial friend, a child robot/AI, who is bought as a companion for a sick child – her role is to observe, and prevent loneliness. I really enjoyed the idea that Klara looks to her own God (made me think of Silicon Heaven in Red Dwarf). Like me, she spends her time between hyper-rational and quasi-spiritual – not what you would expect from software, but perhaps the closest to me as a human that I have seen in an AI in literature. And this is literature - the author has a Nobel prize as proof.
20 authors picked Klara and the Sun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
*The #1 Sunday Times Bestseller*
*Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2021*
*A Barack Obama Summer Reading Pick*
'A delicate, haunting story' The Washington Post
'This is a novel for fans of Never Let Me Go . . . tender, touching and true.' The Times
'The Sun always has ways to reach us.'
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…