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Review | In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro examines what it is to be human – and humane
- The Nobel laureate’s latest sci-fi novel is cleverly meshed, tightly structured and fast-reading, sitting at the philosophical end of the genre
- Its android narrator proves to be more human – certainly more humane – than many of the humans in the novel
Reading Time:3 minutes
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Klara and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Knopf
Philip K. Dick titled his famous 1968 sci-fi work on the status of artificial humans – later made into the film Blade Runner – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Should we worry about robots becoming too human? Should we forgive them?
Klara and the Sun is a cleverly meshed, tightly structured and fast-reading novel, sitting at the philosophical end of sci-fi, far removed from detailed accounts of the technical aspects of robotics and artificial intelligence.
If its title were a question, it might be, “Do Androids’ Prayers Come True?”
Bernard Cohen is an award-winning novelist, based in Sydney, Australia. He is also Director of The Writing Workshop, and has taught creative writing to 100,000 young people. His latest book is the short story collection When I Saw the Animal (UQP).
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