![]() ![]() Klara and the Sun received favourable reviews, with a cumulative "Positive" rating at the review aggregator website Book Marks. ![]() The novel debuted at number six on The New York Times fiction best-seller list for the week ending 6 March 2021. Klara and the Sun was published on 2 March 2021 by Faber and Faber (UK) and Alfred A. The manager of her old store visits, and Klara tells her of happy memories and of the Sun's great kindness towards Josie. She is no longer able to move around, but says she is content with her spot in the yard and declines to socialise with other AFs. The novel closes with Klara settled in a yard for scrapped AFs. Josie leaves for college, and says goodbye to Klara. Klara worries that she has misled the Sun and Rick comforts her, explaining that although his and Josie's paths in life may differ, their love really was genuine and they will always, at some level, be together. Josie seems better immediately, and over the following months recovers her health.Īs Josie grows older she starts to drift away from Rick. Several days later as Josie seems near death Klara suddenly sees the dark clouds part, and the Sun sends his special nourishment flooding into her sick room. Klara returns to the barn to make another plea, reminding the Sun of Josie and Rick's genuine and everlasting love. But Josie's condition worsens and the Sun does not respond. When Klara next accompanies Josie into town, she finds and destroys a Cootings Machine, sacrificing in the process some of the P-E-G Nine solution she carries in her head and accepting that the loss may result in a reduction in her abilities. She intends that Klara will integrate her intelligence into it if Josie dies, becoming not simply a facsimile but Josie's true continuation. The mother regularly takes Josie to sit for her portrait, although unknown to her daughter the artist is making not a painting but a highly-accurate AF body. Josie's mother unexpectedly asks Klara to imitate Josie, which due to her exceptional powers of observation she can do almost perfectly. She offers in return to find and destroy the pollution-creating Cootings Machine. Although surprised to find the Sun's resting place is not actually in the barn, she pleads with him to pour his special kind of nourishment onto Josie and to save her life, as he did the beggar. 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. ![]()
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