Mini, spoiler free review of *Klara and the Sun*, by Kazuo Ishiguro
In an unspecified but not too distant future, classrooms give way to individual instruction on mobile devices and children are more isolated. “Artificial Friends” (AFs) - androids designed as companions - become more popular to help reduce their loneliness. Klara is an AF, bought for a very sick young girl. Though Klara is especially clever and observant, her knowledge of how the world works is very limited. This is a wonderful but very slowly paced story - if you're looking for something action packed, it's not here. I really enjoyed the way Ishiguro gives us a constant trickle of information about the future he's created, and I enjoyed Klara’s joyful nature.
8 replies
Started reading this earlier in the week, in preparation for the movie adaptation (which came out today?). First time reading Ishiguro, and wow I'm blown away by his minimalist style -- gives me enough to fill in the details and understanding, I love when an author treats their reader as intelligent. Sadly, I don't imagine the movie will be able to capture the same quality, by the nature of a visual-first medium. Alas, I've reconciled the matter by sering the movie as it's own thing; can't be disappointed if you have no expectations lol.
I actually saw the movie last night. It wasn't as terrible as I anticipated from the reviews, but it wasn't great. They made a lot of really strange changes to the book - not just things to simplify, condense, or translate to the screen. Most of them didn't seem to work very well to me.
Oh interesting, glad it wasn't terrible but yeah I'm not surprised I suppose. It's how i felt with Project Hail Mary; a lot of the interaction moments that made me care for the characters and their relationships which brought so much delight, didn't find it's way into the adaptation.
I got that one a little more though. I mean, how long does it take to read a novel? Maybe 8 hours? You just can't put it all into a 2+ hour movie.
But in Klara they actually added stuff (that was bad).
Ohhh wait, wtf...they added stuff?! oh dear 💀
And pardon, yeah I recognize time of a movie vs a novel is different as a factor. Completely valid however I'm still being salty haha.
Yeah, weird adds and changes. Strange decisions.
Damnit, it's truly spooky season. Glad I'll be watching on a cheap ticket tuesday then.
I'll mention that I was one of the tiny minority of people who didn't really care for Never Let Me Go, one of Ishiguro's prior books that collected lots of accolades. I didn't hate it, but in that one we're halfway through the book before we start understanding what's going on. It was impactful by the end, but the pacing felt off to me. This one is also slow to fully explain what's going on, but has a much more satisfying pacing with just as much impact by the end.