When he'd posted his question - about children really understanding what it meant to love - I believe he was already sure of the answer and was simply raising the question for my benefit.

Meh?

I am torn on how to review this book. On one hand it was casually engaging and probably had some deep hidden meaning, but on the other it was a bit dull.

I can enjoy a slow burn or character story, but I need a reward for my patience. In those situations I can fall into a well described and immersive world, or have the author deliver such amazing prose that the most mundane becomes interesting (Guy Gavriel Kay is a master at writing and making the ordinary become a thrill). Lacking that little extra the story failed to hook me and bordered on tedium.

Ishiguro subscribes to the "show don't tell" method of crafting a story but there is so much withheld that it was frustrating. I can appreciate when authors decide not to spend chapters explaining the history and origins of the world but the alternative is that what little is revealed should mean something. Without some context or something to anchor the story then casual reference to genetically modifying kids or AI dolls used as companion don't belong. Remove the science fiction elements and this could be a story about two isolated kids who become friends and grow up.

Leave our Klara be. Let her have her slow fade.

I enjoyed elements of the book, particularly the first "Part" with Klara's observations within the store. The story became bogged down in the narrative with very little progress and my interest began to fizzle.

Around the 60% mark little reveals began to form and the focus of the story became clear, but it continued to take the same slow and deliberate pace to the end. I was expecting an "a ha" moment or some insight into relationships or warning about our future, but there was none of that.

In the end Klara and the Sun isn't an entirely unique concept and suffered from not having any reason for it to stand out amongst the others of this ilk.