Ishiguro at his best

I loved this book. Ishiguro once again explores where technology may take us. Artificial beings that learn and their interaction with humans, told by Klara herself. Some reviews haven’t liked the ending, but for me it was right, and left me thinking long after the story had finished.

One fault-the narration. For the most part it is just right, but one character is supposed to be English. As the story is told by Klara with her incredible ability to learn and imitate, she would have been able to produce a credible English accent, unlike the narrator. Don’t let this stop you reading this, but I found it irritating.

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4 people found this helpful

Solar Powered Doll Wears Out

- my title is the whole plot.
The SPD Klara is brought in so that Josie will not experience loneliness. Isn't that a strange idea? Why should we not be solitary sometimes; is loneliness such a fearful thing? Not as bad as genetically enhancing your children which is the norm in this society. The boy Rick, her actual human friend, hasn't had this treatment. Hang on isn't that the plot of Brave New World?
Klara thinks the sun is a god that can influence things. Her language is horribly simple. Unfortunately because of this she just sounds like an ordinary American girl. She does give away some of her brain chemicals at one point but since that doesnt affect her or the plot, is it so interesting? Not really.
I think this book is benefitting from the kind of new clothes that a mythical emperor stood out in; it's simplistic, plain and obvious, and all drama is flattened and avoided.
Just a note, chapters run in to each other horribly. Surely we can have a pause between one and another?

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2 people found this helpful

I wanted to love this book

I got to the end of this book and thought ‘what! That’s it? What did that mean’
So much left to guess about, with no clarification.

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1 person found this helpful

All round brilliant

Another brilliant story from this author, Even when I feel I know what's coming the author has a way of still surprising you.

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Interesting

Started off well as the story made you wonder what exactly was going on. It was intriguing and the narrator was superb. However I felt the story lost its way in the second half. It stretched credulity to believe Paul would take criminal action on the advice of a robot. Worth reading but not as clever as "Never let me go".

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Thought provoking

This was a fascinating story to listen to and I found it both thought provoking and surprisingly moving - a book that will stay with me for a long time.

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Beautifully written and read

Unlike many audible books there was a decent pause between each chapter or section. The reading was clear and seemed to reflect the characters well
The only issue was Miss Helen’s English accent which was terrible! I’m not sure why the author had to set the book in the US when he is British

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Absolutely brilliant

10/10 book 100% recommend this! Such a beautiful story and amazing characters and written in such a clean, elegant way.

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I ran out of steam..

I found this a little hard going and in the end gave up. It may have been the narration as the other members of my book group enjoyed reading it.

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Kudos for addressing current realities !

There is a prescient quality to this novel that addresses the reality of artificial intelligence and kudos to Ishiguro for acknowledging this…. and incorporating into a storyline albeit w some both bizarre and macabre events. There is subtlety in his style, with relevant contemporary references, but sections that were simplistic and tangential events extraneous to the plot.

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