British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun was published by Faber and Faber in 2021. As with many of Ishiguro's novel, Klara and the Sun imagines a future in which humans live in a dystopia. Here, children are genetically engineered and bred to become exceptionally good at school and other intellectual pursuits. In this world, no instruction is provided in person. Instead, the computer provides children with academic instructions. Additionally, children are not afforded the opportunity to make friends; instead, their parents have to buy them A.I. friends (if they can afford it).
This sets the stage for Klara, a young girl from a seemingly upper-class family who lives in this world but strives for more. She's not happy with her life and the world she lives in. Over time, Klara starts to learn about the rest of the world and the struggles many other young girls her age deal with. She also proverbially wrestles with the sun, which is being blocked by human activity.
As with all of Ishiguro's novels, Klara and the Sun received very positive reviews. Maureen Corrigan of NPR called the novel a "masterpiece that will make you think about life, mortality, the saving grace of love: in short, the all of it."
