My thoughts on Clara and the Sun *First, I'll warn you…
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My thoughts on Clara and the Sun
*First, I'll warn you that there will be spoilers here, so for those who haven't read...*
I just read the fifth novel by (my favorite) Kazuo Ishiguro and I want to share my impressions and how I understood this work. So, *Klara and the Sun*.
My first impression after finishing it was disappointment. Or rather, not exactly disappointment, I enjoyed reading this book, but I had some complaints.
First, the ending is emotionally much weaker than *Never Let Me Go* and *The Buried Giant*. There were powerful catharses there, but here it's "a slight sadness that Klara's story is over" and that's it. But okay, catharsis is not a mandatory component of literature. So secondly, it felt like Ishiguro had abandoned everything he had created for almost the entire book.
The first 200 pages were simply wonderful, the author skillfully pumped up the story, creating suspense. I was very curious to see where it would lead. And everything whispered that there would be a strong psychological drama at the end. And then... >!just a happy ending and abandoned themes. What kind of "elevation"? (I didn't read in English, so sorry if the term is wrong) What is going on in this world anyway, why is a father ready to defend his community with a weapon? The psychological sci-fi thriller with a child replaced by a robot was also abandoned.!<
So my first impressions were "not Kazuo Ishiguro's best work," and then I started to think and analyze.
First I realized the "form" of why it is the way it is. Kazuo is not the type of writer who likes to radically change the topics of his works. On the contrary, he writes about the same things, but looks at them from different angles, using new genres and constructions. So I realized that he took Never Let Me Go and did the opposite. If there the whole story >!gave hope and in the end he destroyed it (hence catharsis), here he was setting up for drama and in the end he ended with a happy ending!<.
And also, as far as I understand, Ishiguro constantly works with the following narrative: people never reach radical action, even in the most difficult life situations. Therefore, in all his previous novels (what I read), the main characters do not make the main choice, they are inactive (trying to accept the situation as it is). In Klara and the Sun, he changes this perspective a bit. The characters try to do something, to find an answer to the question "how should they act", but as a result Kazuo >!eliminates the need for them - the problem disappears by itself (so, people still don't decide anything)!<.
So we have a novel in which Kazuo Ishiguro plays around, the whole novel leads to one thing and ends with another. But the question arises - what is the point of this?
And then I realized the following, which is the answer to this question - the whole dramatic story with Josie and her illness is not the main thing in this novel, it is just a tool for implementing the main theme, which is why the author, at first glance, inappropriately throws out what he had planned for the entire novel.
The main theme of the novel - *faith*.
This novel explores faith, the process of its emergence, and asks questions about its importance. And even the title "Klara and the Sun" indicates this - the main thing is Klara's relationship with the sun. And now it becomes clear why Josie >!didn't die!<. Because then the author would destroy the justice of Klara's faith, we have to be left with the open question of "how much influence did Klara's faith have or is it just a coincidence?"
The topic of faith is very relevant in our time. We live in a world where postmodernism has broken all sense. We live in a chaotic world full of questions, but we have no answers, because we now trust no one and see no point in anything.
In this novel we also encounter a complex world where the characters do not know how to act and perceive it. And it is impossible to find truth a priori in it. Therefore, in order to act, to go and choose a life path, you need to take something on faith. And here Ishiguro shows that even a soulless robot comes to faith, because otherwise there is no way (in general, it's a rather interesting idea, among people the most religious is a robot with artificial intelligence).
So, even though I didn't quite understand this novel at first, I ultimately found it to be wonderful and quite profound.
#entertainment
source
*First, I'll warn you that there will be spoilers here, so for those who haven't read...*
I just read the fifth novel by (my favorite) Kazuo Ishiguro and I want to share my impressions and how I understood this work. So, *Klara and the Sun*.
My first impression after finishing it was disappointment. Or rather, not exactly disappointment, I enjoyed reading this book, but I had some complaints.
First, the ending is emotionally much weaker than *Never Let Me Go* and *The Buried Giant*. There were powerful catharses there, but here it's "a slight sadness that Klara's story is over" and that's it. But okay, catharsis is not a mandatory component of literature. So secondly, it felt like Ishiguro had abandoned everything he had created for almost the entire book.
The first 200 pages were simply wonderful, the author skillfully pumped up the story, creating suspense. I was very curious to see where it would lead. And everything whispered that there would be a strong psychological drama at the end. And then... >!just a happy ending and abandoned themes. What kind of "elevation"? (I didn't read in English, so sorry if the term is wrong) What is going on in this world anyway, why is a father ready to defend his community with a weapon? The psychological sci-fi thriller with a child replaced by a robot was also abandoned.!<
So my first impressions were "not Kazuo Ishiguro's best work," and then I started to think and analyze.
First I realized the "form" of why it is the way it is. Kazuo is not the type of writer who likes to radically change the topics of his works. On the contrary, he writes about the same things, but looks at them from different angles, using new genres and constructions. So I realized that he took Never Let Me Go and did the opposite. If there the whole story >!gave hope and in the end he destroyed it (hence catharsis), here he was setting up for drama and in the end he ended with a happy ending!<.
And also, as far as I understand, Ishiguro constantly works with the following narrative: people never reach radical action, even in the most difficult life situations. Therefore, in all his previous novels (what I read), the main characters do not make the main choice, they are inactive (trying to accept the situation as it is). In Klara and the Sun, he changes this perspective a bit. The characters try to do something, to find an answer to the question "how should they act", but as a result Kazuo >!eliminates the need for them - the problem disappears by itself (so, people still don't decide anything)!<.
So we have a novel in which Kazuo Ishiguro plays around, the whole novel leads to one thing and ends with another. But the question arises - what is the point of this?
And then I realized the following, which is the answer to this question - the whole dramatic story with Josie and her illness is not the main thing in this novel, it is just a tool for implementing the main theme, which is why the author, at first glance, inappropriately throws out what he had planned for the entire novel.
The main theme of the novel - *faith*.
This novel explores faith, the process of its emergence, and asks questions about its importance. And even the title "Klara and the Sun" indicates this - the main thing is Klara's relationship with the sun. And now it becomes clear why Josie >!didn't die!<. Because then the author would destroy the justice of Klara's faith, we have to be left with the open question of "how much influence did Klara's faith have or is it just a coincidence?"
The topic of faith is very relevant in our time. We live in a world where postmodernism has broken all sense. We live in a chaotic world full of questions, but we have no answers, because we now trust no one and see no point in anything.
In this novel we also encounter a complex world where the characters do not know how to act and perceive it. And it is impossible to find truth a priori in it. Therefore, in order to act, to go and choose a life path, you need to take something on faith. And here Ishiguro shows that even a soulless robot comes to faith, because otherwise there is no way (in general, it's a rather interesting idea, among people the most religious is a robot with artificial intelligence).
So, even though I didn't quite understand this novel at first, I ultimately found it to be wonderful and quite profound.
#entertainment
source
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