Would human technology ever achieve not only General Artificial Intelligence but Emotional Intelligence? Would AI be able to love? This novel looks into these questions through the eyes of an android specialised in caring for young people. Unlike other novels I’ve read in which AI narrate the story with machine-like language Klara seems for most of the time human. Of course we always know “she” is a machine programmed to be good to people. We know that “she” does not have real feelings but sometimes we wished she had them. Klara is a wonderful character. Not only is she multi-dimensional: she is curious, she wants to learn, she wants to do her job right and she is capable of sacrificing “herself” to help others, but “she” provides an original lens to explore humanity. Though the story takes place only in a small geographical area, mostly a store and Klara’s owners house, the wider world is implied through glimpses in conversations Klara witnesses.
And the topic of the sun is super interesting. Klara gets her energy from the sun. She believes the sun can also do good to people. Not only by providing warmth and vitamin D but by “doing” things to people.
There isn’t much action in the novel. It is slow paced and only in p200 (out of 307p) there is a turn, a shocking revelation. However the writing is griping, it sucks you in a gentle way. Read it.
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