Review of Klara and The Sun

I enjoyed Klara and the Sun, but can’t say that I loved it. Japanese-British writer Kazuo Ishiguro wrote it, and it was published in March of 2021.

Klara is an AF: an artificial friend. A robot. She has many human qualities and exhibits empathy, analytical skills, fear, happiness, and loneliness. The story is told from Klara’s perspective, which I enjoyed, because it was so different.

The story begins with Klara in a storefront window. She can see everything happening on the street and people passing by. She speaks to other AFs in the store, models like her. Klara is special because she has greater perception than the others, as Manager says.

Manager is the woman who runs the store and rotates the AFs in different places of the store. Klara likes it best in the window where the sun shines on her. Slowly, you realize from her thoughts and comments that the sun charges her. She doesn’t see the sun as her energizer, but she feels better in the window. It is also the place where she can see people, which she enjoys.

The author uses these hints and details so Klara which make her more human-like in personality, but I never forgot that she is a robot.

The AFs are purchased by well-to-do parents as companions to their children. Klara notices one young girl, Josie, watching her through the window, and they begin a relationship of sorts as Josie signs to Klara. She lets Klara know she will come back. Klara hopes the girl will take her home.

Josie’s mother finally comes into the store, and Klara hears the manager say Klara is one of the finest but suggests that she might want to look at the newer B3 models. The newer models threaten the older types like Klara, as any new technology does to older ones.

Manager intuits that Klara is hopeful about going home with Josie, and warns her that children always promise to come back for an AF, but she shouldn’t believe it.

The sun is important to Klara, and she begins to think of it as a powerful being. A machine called the Cootings Machine blocks out the sun and spews smoke into the air, leading Klara to believe it must be destroyed. After 4 days of running near the store, Klara’s energy weakens. The fumes make people sick, and its pollution blocks the sun; she wants it gone.

Josie isn’t one of those kids who makes empty promises. She only wants Klara and convinces her mother, so Klara does go to live with Josie and her mother. Klara learns that Josie’s younger sister died and that Josie is also ill.

Because the sun is important and powers her, Klara

believes it can help Josie get better.

The book slowly reveals the characters and their positions. Josie’s mother employs Melania Housekeeper, who doesn't like Klara but eventually realizes Josie and Klara love each other. Klara wants to save Josie, which earns Melania Housekeeper's trust, and she eventually helps Klara in a situation with Josie.

It’s well written, and the descriptions pull you in. I found it curious that the author had Klara estimate people's ages, always in ½-year increments. One girl who came into the store was estimated to be thirteen and one-half years old. When Klara first saw Josie, she estimated Josie’s age at fourteen and one-half years. Over and over, when Klara estimated someone’s age, it was never “about 67”; it was always specific: sixty-seven and one-half. Klara names people with descriptions like Coffee Cup Lady and Raincoat Man.

Klara takes a risk to try and save Josie, enlisting her best friend’s help. These actions give the robot AF human characteristics of love and selflessness. In the end, Josie goes off to school.

Where does that leave Klara? Well, with Josie gone, Mother doesn’t need her. Klara does see Manager one more time, and they have a supportive conversation.

I recommend the book because it is told from the viewpoint of a human-like robot who has keen observation skills and in-depth connections to humans.

3.5 stars. Copyright © 10/17/2026 by Andrea O. Corwin