Klara and the Sun

by Kazuo Ishiguro

I’m

‘Thank you, both of you,’ she said, and reaching out, touched us gently in turn. ‘Thank you so much.’ Even so, I sensed something had changed – that we had somehow disappointed her.

Wtf? “Boxes?” Was Klara’s actually eyesight changed so she imagined seeing these “boxes,” or were there actual boxes there? At first I thought there wear actual boxes in the store, but they just disappeared at the end, so… wtf? Is this a software bug in Klara’s model of AF?

‘I’m very sorry, Manager.’ ‘I supported you this time. But I won’t do it again. It’s for the customer to choose the AF, never the other way round.’

Fucked up.

Sometimes the sky would become divided into a series of squares, each one a different shade of purple to its neighbor.

What is the deal with Klara’s seeing these squares all the time?

Such a shame a boy like that should have missed out.’

?? What did Rick “miss out” on?

‘I wouldn’t even have known,’ another voice said. ‘He presents himself so well. Is that a British accent he has?’

Something rather bad has happened to the young people, it seems. And are not they all British?

‘What’s important,’ the food blending woman said, ‘is that this next generation learn how to be comfortable with every sort of person. That’s what Peter always says.’ Then as other voices murmured in agreement, she asked the Mother: ‘Did his folks just…decide not to go ahead? Lose their nerve?’

Maybe a disease killed or disfigured many young people, and there are fewer young people now, so they don’t get as much social interaction as people did before…?

‘It’s our worst fear,’ a firmer voice nearby said. ‘Every one of us here.’

Ok, wtf happened that’s “everyone’s worst fear??”

There were young people everywhere and their bags, jackets, oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces. What was more, the room’s space had become divided into twenty-four boxes – arranged in two tiers – all the way to the rear wall. Because of this partitioning, it was hard to gain an overall view of what was before me, but I gradually made sense of things.

What a fucking trip, how this partitioning of her vicinity happens with Klara.

But Mum and I like the old movies. Everything was so different then. If you watch those movies, you can see the way restaurants were once. The clothes people wore.’

Restaurants are different now. And clothes… like Mother’s official suit…?

‘I suppose they have a point though,’ he said. ‘I don’t belong here. This is a meeting for lifted kids.’

“Lifted” kids? WTF does that mean??

I’d begun to understand also that this wasn’t a trait peculiar just to Josie; that people often felt the need to prepare a side of themselves to display to passers-by – as they might in a store window – and that such a display needn’t be taken so seriously once the moment had passed.

We do this, indeed, don’t we?

But you’ll have to get well or none of this works. You understand, Josie?’

You have to get well or none of WHAT works?

what was becoming clear to me was the extent to which humans, in their wish to escape loneliness, made maneuvers that were very complex and hard to fathom, and I saw it was possible that the consequences of Morgan’s Falls had at no stage been within my control.

Klara’s once again provides insight that even we humans do not.

My mom drives too fast. But at least she’s got courage. It goes wrong with Sal, but even after that she finds the courage to go ahead with me all over again.

Did Sal die in a car wreck? But I thought she was really sick…?

The fields were no longer divided into boxes, so I could see a single clear picture all the way to the horizon. Despite the altered angles, Mr McBain’s barn was where I expected it to be, though now a slightly changed shape to the one from Josie’s rear window.

Klara has a weird perspective problem. Is this somehow the key to her insights?

He was squinting up at me, partly on account of the Sun’s pattern on his face,

She also refers to sunshine as “the sun’s ’pattern.’” As if, once again, she’s got some sort of grid overlaid on her eyesight.

I knew too that despite Rick appearing to be within touching distance, he was not in reality so near because of the fierce border separating our boxes. Even so, he continued to reach out towards me, and where his arm crossed into my box, it appeared elongated and bent. ‘Klara, come on!’

WTF is all this weirdness in this passage? Such a trip, a creepy trip, and it makes me feel sorry for Klara that she has these weird boxed perspective problem, and yet still pushes through so bravely. And another thing: it seems that *every* character has at least one pretty big life challenge: divorces, kids dying, social miscues, sickness, Klara’s software glitches…

saw you from my window. Are you okay?’ ‘Yes, everything is fine again. The field posed more problems than I expected.’ ‘I suppose these little ditches can get tricky. I have to say, from up there, you looked like one of those flies that buzz around blindly on the window pane.

So, Klara really does have a problem understanding geometry in the space around her. Again, this could also enable her unique insights.

The grass was still too high to see Mr McBain’s barn in the distance, but Rick was looking straight in its direction, a hand shielding his eyes, and it occurred to me he was tall enough to see it.

Klara is the size of a child! Why have I, up to this point, assumed she was as tall as an adult?

Even so, it was a discouraging thought that the Sun was about to descend not into the place I was making such an effort to reach, but somewhere further away still.

Oh my… Klara perhaps wants to talk with the sun, to beseech him to heal Josie… :*{

Peering over the hay platform, I now saw, fixed to this wall and running all along it, the Red Shelves from our store, complete with the ceramic coffee cups displayed upside down and in a line.

WTF???

‘Please make Josie better. Just as you did Beggar Man.’

Oh my… :*}

Oh and we may well have passengers. In the car I mean. Our neighbors are needing a ride.’ ‘Rick and Miss Helen?’ ‘They have some business of their own in town and she doesn’t drive any more. Don’t worry, there’s room enough for us all. You won’t have to travel in the trunk.’

The Mother has little regard for Klara… even considering that she could ride in the trunk!

‘Housekeeper,’ I said. ‘I have a plan, a special plan to help Josie. I’m not able to speak openly about it. But if I can go to the city with Josie and her mother, I may have the opportunity to carry it out.’ ‘Plan? Listen, AF. You make things worse, I fuck come dismantle you.’

Lololol!

then we moved through an under-bridge area full of shadows, puddles and jump-skaters.

Jump-skater?? I keep looking for clues that this is a different planet. Maybe one here?

‘Until today,’ I said. ‘Until just now. I believed it was my duty to save Josie, to make her well. But perhaps this is a better way.’

Yeah. A pretty major turning point.

We drove past a large creature with numerous limbs and eyes, then even as I watched, a crack appeared down its center. As it divided itself, I realized it had been, all along, two separate people – a runner and a dog walk woman – moving in opposite directions who for an instant happened to be passing one another.

She has difficulty with depth-perception! Does she have only one eye??

‘Should you get a chance to talk with him, Paul, I think you’ll find you have certain things in common. For instance, he too has fascistic leanings.

wtf? Josie’s dad is a fascist???

‘Nearly time, Rick darling. I suppose we ought to go out there now.’ When I heard her say this, a fear filled my mind; I was no longer certain that the effects from what had occurred in the yard weren’t growing more pronounced with the passing minutes, and that my new condition wouldn’t become obvious to everyone if I attempted to negotiate the unfamiliar terrain outdoors.

Goddammit. I hate that Klara is continuing to make sacrifices for everyone else, even if that’s her role.

I thought the theater people were trying to circle around the streetlight in a previously agreed formation, but then their pattern dissolved and I saw that the crowd’s shape was shifting randomly.

Klara is a patterner: creating and organizing and seeing patterns all around her.

‘Rick’s turned into a fine young man. I hope he’s able to find a path through this mess we’ve bequeathed to his generation.

“This mess we’ve bequeathed to his generation?” Which mess?

didn’t feel I knew Mr Vance well enough to sit beside him. Also, he was sitting midway across the seat intended for two, and I could see I wouldn’t be able to take my seat without disturbing his comfort. So instead I sat down alone in the neighboring booth across the aisle.

Goddammit! Klara is a nobody… All the humans are self-involved. The most considerate people are Rick and Josie, the two kids.

For several seconds none of them spoke. I looked towards Diner Manager, wondering if he had been listening, but he was staring out into the darkness beyond his windows, with no sign of having heard anything that interested him.

Is the Diner Manager a robot? The other customer staring out the window— is she also a robot?

now knew why the Sun hadn’t acted, and for a moment, I might have let my posture slump and my head hang down. Josie, leaning forward in her seat, looked at me. ‘See, Mom,’ she said, ‘you’ve upset Klara too. And she was upset enough, what with her store moving away. We need happy talk right now.’

So many misunderstandings… :-(

any case, whatever the nature of the images on each glass sheet, as I looked at them collectively, the effect was of a single face, but with a variety of outlines and emotions.

So cool.