Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun is the story of an artificial friend or “AF” as she is referred to in the novel. She is a sophisticated, animated doll with artificial intelligence brought to a level as close to a human as possible—all in a toy for a teenager. The story is told entirely from her point of view. Klara is unusual among the AFs because she can observe and evaluate events that are happening around her on a level that has never been seen before, at least not by the manager of the store that sold her.

Klara sees things we can recognize, but she sees them with the eyes of someone who is totally naive. Most of the time we readers end up shaking our heads and laughing at how Klara thinks in such an odd way. But as the novel goes on some of Klara's observations turn out to be different than what we expected. This lends an interesting, spiritual slant to the novel.

There is also a subplot in Klara and the Sun concerning the people surrounding Klara. This technologically enlightened society has come up with a new form of prejudice. Although this other plot does not directly affect AFs, it is woven into Klara's story in a way that demonstrates the level of empathy Klara has reached.

The humans in the story are well portrayed. Although we see them all through Klara's eyes, we get to know their strengths and their flaws. Josie, the teenager who chooses Klara, is loyal and fun, but she has her moments when she gets jealous or argumentative. Josie is suffering from a health issue that might cause her death. The people around her such as Rick, her best friend, and Chrissie, her mother, are all impacted by Josie's health and show their concern in different ways. Paul, Josie's father, shows up later in the novel and also demonstrates his love for Josie in an entirely different way. The minor characters, such as Henry Capaldi, a portrait artist, are also believable and unique. The relationships between these characters keep the story going every bit as much as Klara's ability to observe and learn.

This is the most imaginative novel I've read since Kazuo Ishiguro's other book, Never Let Me Go. It's SyFy but I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good novel.