With Rick's help, she makes her way there one evening across the grasslands. In spite of this, Josie and Rick have always known that they will be together forever.įrom Josie's bedroom Klara has a good view of the Sun's progress across the sky, and comes to believe that he goes to his nightly rest within a farmer's barn that stands on the horizon. Although academically able, Rick has not been lifted and faces discrimination and reduced career prospects. Josie's only near neighbour and childhood friend is Rick, a boy of about her own age. Soon after joining them, Klara learns that the lifting process carries some risk: Josie's older sister Sal had earlier died, and Josie herself is gravely ill. Klara is chosen by 14-year-old Josie, who lives with her mother in a remote region of prairie.

Klara comes to fear and hate what she calls the 'Cootings Machine' (from the name printed on its side) which stands for several days in the street outside, spewing out pollution that entirely blocks the Sun's rays. It seems obvious to Klara that they have died, and she is surprised the next morning to see that they are living and that the Sun has with his great kindness saved them with a special kind of nourishment. On one occasion she notices that a beggar and his dog are not in their usual position they are lying like discarded bags and do not move all day.

As a solar-powered AF, the Sun's nourishment is of great importance to her. Although Klara is exceptionally intelligent and observant, her knowledge of the world is limited.įrom the window of the store in which she is for sale, Klara learns about the world outside and watches the Sun, which she always refers to as 'he' and treats as a living entity. The book is narrated by one such Artificial Friend (AF) called Klara. As schooling is provided entirely at home by on-screen tutors, opportunities for socialization are limited and parents who can afford it often buy their children androids as companions. The novel is set in a dystopian future in which some children are genetically engineered ('lifted') for enhanced academic ability. The novel was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize. in an unspecified future, the book is told from the point of view of Klara, a solar-powered AF (Artificial Friend), who is chosen by Josie, a sickly child, to be her companion. Klara and the Sun is the eighth novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British writer Kazuo Ishiguro, published on 2 March 2021.

Klara and sun