克拉拉与太阳

A novel

by Kazuo Ishiguro, 宋佥

Hardcover, 392 pages

Chinese language

Published Feb. 28, 2021 by 上海译文出版社.

ISBN:: 978-7-5327-8683-1
Goodreads:: 54112562

(100 reviews)

克拉拉是一个专为陪伴儿童而设计的太阳能人工智能机器人（AF），具有极高的观察、推理与共情能力。她坐在商店展示橱窗里，注视着街头路人以及前来浏览橱窗的孩子们的一举一动。她始终期待着很快就会有人挑中她，不过，当这种永久改变境遇的可能性出现时，克拉拉却被提醒不要过分相信人类的诺言。

在《克拉拉与太阳》这部作品中，石黑一雄通过一位令人难忘的叙述者的视角，观察千变万化的现代社会，探索了一个根本性的问题：究竟什么是爱？

2 editions

lingui5t reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Outstanding.

outofrange reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of 'Klara and the Sun' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I happened to also be reading a Yuval Harari book where he observes that robots and AI in fiction are often just stand-ins for human characters, and that is definitely the case here. Klara's being "artificial" serves to point out ways that people may or may not be artificial, and allows some fresh perspectives on other human characters. It works if you can accept the starting point.

Tsundoku reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Dystopia through the eyes of an android

5 stars

Content warning death, toxic relationships, fascism, white supremacy, general creepiness

I'm trying to figure out how to explain the premise.

The narrator is an "Artificial Friend" a robot made to accompany a child until they move out of their house.

Klara and other AFs are solar-powered, and have superstitions about the Sun being this healing force. they're also pretty anti-pollution.

The story is slow-moving, and I will tell you do NOT skim or get distracted. Kazuo Ishiguro can have some massive paragraphs, skillfully made that make your eyes glaze over if it's a bad time, but it's essential information (though not an info dump). Every time my eyes started skimming, I had to go back and reread because I missed something both subtle and vital.

they keep talking about "lifted children" in the book. It's about genetics (uh oh!). It's not clear to me whether it's like that movie Gattaca where you just make the child artificially with the best DNA possible, or if it's like, Gene Editing.

Anyway, like Gattaca, there is genetic discrimination and that's a big thing in the book.

Just in case it wasn't clear: Kazuo Ishiguro is pretty clear that this is a bad thing.

There's a lot of talk about whether or not AFs can replace humans completely.

It's a nice book, very quiet for the most part. I recommend it.

David Whitmarsh reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Couldnt't believe the characters' behaviour. All of them just content to accept and support Klara's actions without question, making a story that just does not work for me.

benwerd reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

A sort of melancholy science fiction fairy tale about loss, love, loneliness, religious belief, and what it means to be human. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first; by the end I felt acceptance. An example of what I hope for from speculative fiction.

SharonC reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I loved the description of how the AI perceives shifts in visual processing--fascinating concept of reality splintering into boxes. The AI's voice is at once synthetic and very much like an 8 year old girl. Does the Sun heal Josie? Not clear.

The human trade-offs and impacts of genetically (?) enhanced human intelligence are examined through mostly relate-able and well-developed characters.

ManyRoads reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This novel is unique in many ways. It is about love, family, change, giving, and robots (AI). The blending of the themes is both pleasant and surprising. In addition to the thematic devices, the prose is wonderful.

Erin reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I wanted to like this more, I was kind of disappointed. I don’t know that it brought something new to the topic of androids, so I felt like, this was pretty good, and that’s about it. There were also some things about the setting that were touched on and then left hanging unsatisfactorily. Like Paul being called a fascist??

One thing I liked that felt unique was Klara’s vision, especially when the people around her are feeling complex things. My interpretation of the writing is that Klara is visualizing different emotions on human faces at once, reflecting the conflict inside the person. But it was inconsistent, so I’m not sure.

Honestly I think I would’ve preferred a story just of Klara people-watching from the store and experiencing drama between androids!

Author & Reader reviewed 克拉拉与太阳 by Kazuo Ishiguro

Review of '克拉拉与太阳' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I enjoyed the story, the perspective and voice, the subtlety, and even the restraint from becoming clever with a plot twist, but I just didn’t enjoy it as much as Never Let Me Go. My original strong desire to sit down with it faded around the halfway mark. Still, I did finish it quicker than some novels. It’s definitely going to sit with me and I’m sure ideas from it will come up.