Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro

(7/11/22-7/12/22)

JN:
       Klara sat near the front of the store, longing to be near the window so that she could absorb all of the sun. One day, a mother and her daughter entered, and her daughter went straight to Rex, who sat by the window. The girl pleaded with her mom to buy Rex, but her mother was concerned about solar absorption issues that were known to occur with Rex’s model: the AF B2 (some sort of robot). Eventually, Klara and Rosa, whom Klara always sat next to, had their turn by the window, and unlike Rosa, who stared at the same spot all day, Klara looked out the storefront at everything she could see. People, especially children, occasionally came up to the window and looked at Klara and Rosa, and Klara wondered about the grimness of some of them. At the end of that day, Klara asked the manager about their sadness, who explained that it came from their longing to have an AF like Klara or Rosa (Toy Story vibes). 
       Several days later, a girl approached Klara in the window and struck up a conversation while her mother was busy. Klara responded to her questions by shaking her head yes or no. When the girl’s mother came to take her, the girl promised she would come again to take Klara. Later that day at the window, Rosa brought up the fact that rarely saw other AFs. This and another sight made Klara realize that not all children love their AFs. From then on, Klara became much more observant of the outside. On one cloudy day, she saw a homeless man and his dog seemingly dead, but she, fortunately, saw them smiling the following day, cementing her belief in the sun’s power. The girl, Josie, came back once more to check on Klara but didn’t come back the day after as she said she would. 
       Klara and Rose then got stationed in mid-store, and for several days, a machine shot out smoke outside, blocking the sun and making all of the AFs feel weakened. When it stopped spewing smoke, everyone immediately recuperated. A couple of days later, a girl entered the store and chose Klara, but Klara didn’t acknowledge her in hopes of Josie returning, which meant that the manager showed the girl another AF - a new B3 model. After the girl left, the manager chided Klara, revealing to her that children rarely keep their promises. Following that incident, the store changed dramatically. Rosa and Rex were both purchased, and B3s took over the window and didn’t mingle with the older models. Surprisingly, despite the newer models, the manager gave Klara a week alone in the window, which served her well as the store sold more units that week. The next week, when the manager placed Klara in the back of the store, Josie and her mom entered the store. When the manager showed Klara to Josie, Josie's face lit up with excitement. Josie's mother asked about Klara's abilities compared to those of the B3 models. On top of answering, the manager praised Klara specifically as being very observant compared to the other AFs, or Artificial Friends (and wow is that term disturbing) (as can be seen by this intersection, the children treat the AF as more friend than artificial and the parents treat them more artificial than friend). In the end, Josie's mother agreed to buy Klara. 
       The first few days with Josie involved getting to know the house and what was important to Josie, such as seeing Josie's mother in the morning and during supper. One night while Klara and Josie watched the sunset, Josie, who was fourteen, talked about Rick, her best friend, apparent soulmate, and shoulder to lie on whenever she got sick. Several days later, after Josie finished her online tutoring, she took Klara outside for the first time in her existence (life?) to meet Rick. Klara watched as Josie made Rick promise as he played with mechanical birds to come to some meeting. That meeting turned out to be an interactive meeting that the mothers set up, so their kids received ample  interaction with other kids before college. On the day of the meeting, Klara came down the steps and followed Rick into a room where she saw the kids breaking off into groups and talking about Rick, for he was different from these children. Josie then introduced Klara, and many of the kids began issuing commands to Klara, which overwhelmed her to the point that Klara just froze. Rick came to her aid by pointing out that one of the kids berating Klara wore an object that dealt with anxiety. An argument broke out, and the mothers got involved, which wasn’t supposed to occur. To lessen the tension, everyone went outside except for Rick and Klara, and Rick expressed his concerns about Josie hanging with that group of kids. Following the meeting, Klara was pleased to learn that Josie didn’t feel any animosity toward her after she froze up. 
       One night, Klara raised the alarm after finding Josie sleeping in a weird position. Fortunately, everything was fine, and Josie's mother promised they would go to a place called Morgan Falls if Josie was healthy. A couple of nights before they went to the falls, Josie's mother took Klara aside, praised her on her work with Josie, and advised her to take caution with Josie at the falls. The morning they went to the falls began fine enough until everyone settled into the car. Then, Josie's mother told Josie to stay home because even though Josie denied it, she knew her daughter was sick. Despite Josie staying home, Josie's mother opted to still go to the falls with Klara. During the trip, Josie's mother vented about how she loathed leaving Josie. From this, Klara learned that Josie's mother and Josie's father were separated but still in touch. At the falls, Josie's mother had Klara imitate Josie (as if her daughter wasn’t sick and was with her), but stopped after Klara (as Josie) promised that she would get better, which reminded Josie's mother too much of Josie's sister who died from a different illness. Several days later, Josie's health took a further turn for the worst, leaving her bedridden. While the maid sat by her all day, Klara tried to figure out how to make the sun’s nourishment help Josie the same way it did for her. 
       As did the doctor, Rick frequently came by to cheer Josie up. During these visits, Josie sketched something as Rick filled in thought bubbles, which would often strike up a conversation. During one session, Josie asked Rick why his mother, Helen, didn't enter society and why she didn't get Rick lifted (the term lifted describes a genetic alteration to make the person smarter) and came up with her own answer. After accusing him of not working toward their plan, his next thought bubble involved making fun of her illness. He left before they could talk about it and didn’t come again. Without Rick, Josie grew cold and unmotivated. One day, Josie, hoping for reconciliation, made a special drawing, and Klara delivered it to Rick. The drawing pleased Rick, but he still was uncertain about going back to Josie after her remarks about Helen, who was also sick. As they continued talking, Helen ended up coming down and talked about a time she allegedly saw Josie's mother outside with Josie's mother's  dead daughter. She then changed the topic to Rick's education, much to his dismay, and how he needed to be one of the few unlifted kids whom the college accepted. After Rick stormed out, Helen begged Klara to persuade Josie to continue persuading Rick to work on his education. Klara happily agreed, and on her way out, Rick announced that he would come by the following day. That night, Klara made a trip to a barn where she thought the sun went every night. To her chagrin, it only appeared that way from the window in Josie's room. Alas, she still entered the barn and pleaded with the sun to heal Josie. From her one-sided conversation with the setting sun, Klara believed that if she destroyed the pollutant machine, the sun would heal Josie. The following day, Rick came over and made things right between him and Josie. 
       Not long after that exchange, Josie's mother spoke with Klara to inform her of a trip to the city where Josie was having her portrait done. Before the trip, the maid warned Klara to keep an eye on Josie as she believed the painter, who was doing the portrait, to be a creep. After arriving in the city, Josie's mother dropped off Rick and Helen at their destination and picked up Josie's father, who was late for their appointment. During the next portion of their drive, Josie's mother and Josie's father kept up a strained conversation while Klara looked out the window and saw that her store had been relocated. Arriving at Mr. Capaldi, the artist’s place, Josie's mother and Josie's father’s tension worsened. While they talked, Mr. Capaldi had Klara complete a questionnaire in another room to test her knowledge of Josie. After completing it, she snuck into the room where Josie's portrait was and saw that the portrait was actually an AF of Josie. She went to talk to Josie's mother about this, as Josie's father stormed out with Josie, and learned the full extent of her plan. After Sal, Josie's sister, passed away, Josie's mother made a doll of her, but naturally, it wasn’t the same. When Josie got sick, Josie's mother knew she couldn’t go through it again, so she ordered the creation of the AF and hoped that if Josie faced the same fate, Klara would enter the body of the Josie AF and become her (Coroline style. The literal embodiment of denial right here). 
       Josie's mother then drove to where Josie and her father were having food and switched places with him. Then, Klara and Josie's father went to destroy a pollutant machine using some fluid inside of Klara's head, which Klara found slightly decreased her mental abilities. After they completed that, everyone met up at a sushi restaurant before Rick and Helen left to meet up with Vance, Helen's previous partner, whom Helen hoped would give Rick an advantage in the admissions process. Josie's mother wanted to talk to Josie in private, as she knew Josie had suspicions about the project Mr. Capaldi was working on, so Klara joined Rick, Helen, and Vance as they walked to a booth. Rick began by showing Vance his diagrams for the drones he was working on, which impressed Vane considering that Rick was unlifted. The conversation suddenly took a turn for the worse when Helen began pleading with Vance to show favoritism toward Rick. This brought up Vance and Helen's past and all the times that Helen wronged Vance (which turned out to be a pretty long list). Rick did his best to interrupt the downward trajectory but failed, and Vance soon left. 
       On the drive home, Klara knew the sun hadn’t come to treat Josie yet, and as she looked out the window, she knew why: there were more pollutant machines. A week and a half after they arrived home, Josie's health worsened once more (the illness seemed to be a side-effect of the genetic alteration). One day after Rick visited to watch Josie sleep for a little bit, Klara requested his help once more to take her to the barn. There, Klara pleaded again with the sun to make Josie better. Another day, when the sky was particularly dark, Klara overheard Josie's mother ask Rick if he felt like he won by not becoming lifted and suffering the same fate as Josie (probably the single-handedly worst thing she could’ve said). In response, Rick gave her a message from Josie saying she J loved her mother and was happy to be lifted (probably the best thing he could’ve said). Before her mother could appropriately respond, Klara interrupted as she saw a portion of the sun peering through the clouds. She immediately gathered everyone and ran to Josie's room, opening the blinds to let her bask in the sun’s light. As everyone watched, Josie woke up and miraculously found that she did feel a bit better. 
       From then on, she slowly grew stronger and eventually got to a point where her illness became the past, and college became the future. Rick, however, wasn’t in the picture anymore as they had chosen to go their separate ways (as many teens do before college). As Josie began to receive more visits from actual friends (also coincidently an acronym for AF), Klara minded her own business and happily looked out of a window in a closet. Mr. Capaldi did come by one day asking for Klara to help him in a movement to fight against AF prejudice, but Josie's mother put a stop to that. On the day of Josie's departure to college, she embraced Klara with bittersweet excitement and then left, moving on to the next chapter in her life.
       A long time later, Klara sat in a yard reserved for old AFs. She could no longer move her body but was content to just observe. One day, her manager came by, which emphatically pleased both of them. Klara told her some about Josie and said that after all was said and done, she didn’t believe that she could’ve imitated Josie if she died, as no matter what, she couldn’t imitate the love others felt for her (the main moral of the story if you ask me). They continued to talk about Klara's memories and the sun for some time, and then the manager left Klara alone once more to continue relishing all of her precious moments. (And that’s all for this strange and thought-provoking book. Enjoy your day and let's hope we can refrain from autonomous friends for a long time!)