Klara and the Sun

CLASS DISCUSSION

GENERAL OPINION

1. How did you like the novel?

2. What are the main themes (i.e. central ideas) of Klara and the Sun?
3. How realistic do you find the characters and situations in this novel? How does the world shown in this
book compare with yours?
4. Explain the title of the novel. Do you think it is a good title? Can you think of a different one?
5. How well are the characters developed? Are they convincing or stereotyped?
6. What is the climax of the novel? How well do events in the plot build to the climax?

PLOT AND CHARACTERS

7. The novel leaves out many details around the setting, Josie’s condition, and what it means to be ‘lifted’.
How did this affect your reading of the book?
8. Would you describe the relationship between Klara and Josie as one of love? Why?
9. What is Klara's relationship to the sun? To nature? What does Klara’s connection to the Sun suggest
about the nature of her inner world? Is her understanding of its power based mostly on what seems to
be the plain facts of her existence — that she is powered by solar energy — or something deeper?
10. Who´s who in the novel? Match.
a) Beggar Man 1) solar-powered artificial friend (AF) B2, fourth series
b) Coffee Cup Lady 2) Klara’s AF friend
c) Henry Capaldi 3) manager at Klara’s store
d) Josie 4) teenager who buys Klara
e) Klara 5) Josie’s mom
f) Manager 6) Chrissie’s ex-husband
g) Melania Housekeeper 7) woman who Klara sees embracing Raincoat Man
h) Miss Helen (Helen) 8) a homeless man Klara can see from the store window
i) Rick 9) person who works for Josie and her mom
j) Rosa 10) Josie´s best friend
k) Sal 11) Rick’s mother
l) The Father (Paul Arthur) 12) Josie´s late sister
m) The Mother (Chrissie Arthur) 13) artist creating a portrait of Josie
n) Vance 14) an ex-partner of Helen’s
11. Do you think Klara is a reliable narrator? Why? What do you think the advantages are of reading this
story from Klara's point of view? If you could get the point of view of any other secondary character,
whose would you like to explore?
12. In her quest to understand the world around her, Klara misunderstands some aspects of reality. What
are some of the things she forms incorrect assumptions about? In what ways does this contribute to
the story?
13. Occasionally, Klara’s vision becomes a series of boxes. What do you think these boxes mean and what
does this tell you about how Klara processes information?
14. In what ways are the lives of Rick and his mother different from those of Josie and her family, and how
does this shape their stories?
15. How would you characterise the relationships between these characters?
a) Josie and Rick
b) Josie and her mother
c) Rick and his mother
16. Consider some of the ways that the characters in the book socialize: the Mother and Josie´s quick
coffee, the kids’ interaction meetings, Josie and Rick’s drawing meetings, and the sessions Josie has
with Mr. Capaldi. How do you like these moments of interaction? How do the relationships that
children have with their artificial friends differ from those with their human ones?
17. Discuss the scene at the diner with Helen, Rick, and Vance. How is it similar to and different from what
happens in your society?
18. During Josie’s interaction meeting, when the boys want to throw Klara around to test her coordination,
one of the girls says that it is “evil” and “nasty” to handle an AF that way. What did you make of the
children’s different sentiments toward AFs? What about Klara’s response?
19. When Klara encounters the bratty children, she thinks that they may not be unkind by nature, but that
loneliness is driving their actions. What did you think about her assessment and about the behaviour
of the children?
20. What did you make of Klara’s visit to Morgan’s Falls with the Mother? Did it change your opinion of
either of them?
21. What is “the bubble game”?
22. Why do you think Josie recovers from her illness? Did you find this an unexpected twist to the plot?
23. At some points in the novel, Josie seems torn between being the type of person that society expects
her to be and being who Rick wants her to be. Do you think she handles this well? Why?
24. Who do you think loves Josie and in what way/s does their love for Josie show?
25. What do you make of Klara’s “slow fade”? Do you think she is happy with it?
26. Sal, Josie’s late sister, is said to have died from a disease when the girls were younger. What shadow
does this loss cast on the family and over the novel as a whole?

DEBATE

27. Mr. Capaldi says to Josie’s mother: “The trouble is, Chrissie, you´re like me. We´re both of us
sentimental. We can´t help it. Our generation still carry the old feelings. A part of us refuses to let go.
The part that wants to keep believing there’s something unreachable inside each of us. Something
that’s unique and won’t transfer. But there´s nothing like that, we know that now.” (p. 210) And later,
Josie’s father says to Klara: “Do you believe in the human heart? I don´t mean simply the organ,
obviously. I´m speaking in the poetic sense. The human heart. Do you think there is such a thing?
Something that makes each of us special and individual?” (p. 218) How would you answer Paul
Arthur´s question?
28. According to this novel, what seems to be the uniqueness of humans? How does it relate to AFs?
29. Do you think Klara has feelings? Would you like her as your AF?
30. The setting of Klara and the Sun is sometime in the future, when artificial intelligence (AI) has become
more integrated into human society. Which elements of the novel felt familiar to you at the time of
reading, which felt hard to imagine, and which were easy to imagine as a possibility for your lifetime?
31. Do you ever treat artificial intelligence in your world (for instance, a smart speaker) as a human? What
do you see as the benefits and the concerns of forming human-like relationships with artificial
intelligence?
32. Does the term “Artificial Friend” resonate at all with you now, as a contemporary reader in the age of
social media and the internet?
33. When Mr. Capaldi asks if Klara would be willing to be taken apart so that he can study her inner
workings, Josie´s mother feels that Klara deserves better than that. Do you agree with Chrissie?
34. What was your reaction upon reading the plan that Klara was to “become Josie”? What are the moral
implications or Mr Capaldi’s project? Do you empathise with Chrissie’s choices? If things had gone
differently and Josie’s parents had carried their plan through, do you think they would have accepted
Klara as Josie’s replacement?
35. What are your thoughts on the society depicted in the novel in which “lifted” children are afforded a
different lifestyle from those who are “unlifted”? How does this compare with the world you currently
live in?
36. While Klara is sitting in the yard, she talks about her memories and says, “(…) When such composite
memories come into my mind, I remain conscious of their rough borders — such as might have been
created by an impatient child tearing with her fingers instead of cutting with scissors.” (pp. 301-2)
Have you had an experience similar to Klara’s composite memories? How true to life do you think your
memories are? Do you see them? Feel them? Hear them? What is a memory to you?
37. What are your views on the following extracts from the novel?
a) Klara says, “(…) I tried to find the beginnings of such a feeling in my mind. It was useless, though
(…) Still, there were other things we saw from the window — other kinds of emotions I didn’t
understand — of which I did eventually find some versions in myself, even if they were perhaps
like the shadows made across the floor by the ceiling lamps after the grid went down.” (pp. 18-
19)
b) “(…) People often felt the need to prepare a side of themselves to display to passers-by — as
they might in a store window — and (...) such a display needn´t be taken so seriously once the
moment had passed.” (p. 84)
c) On the drive to Morgan’s Falls the Mother says to Klara, “‘It must be nice sometimes to have no
feelings. I envy you.’” (p. 97)
d) “Until recently, I didn´t think that humans could choose loneliness. That there were sometimes
forces more powerful than the wish to avoid loneliness.” (p. 154)
e) “Mr Capaldi believed there was nothing special inside Josie that couldn´t be continued. He told
the Mother he´d searched and searched and found nothing like that. But I believe now he was
searching in the wrong place. There was something very special, but it wasn´t inside Josie. It
was inside those who loved her.” (p. 306)

RESEARCH

38. Who is Kazuo Ishiguro? When was he awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature?
39. You may enjoy listening to the audiobook: https://www.audiobooks.com/m-audiobook/klara-and-the-
sun/440998 .

EXPLORATIONS

40. At one point Klara wonders how she might react if she were reunited with Rosa. Based on what we
know of Klara, how do you think she would react? Act the scene.
41. Klara and Paul share a moment of concern and consideration regarding Klara´s ability to learn Josie’s
heart, which he describes as: “Rooms within rooms within rooms … No matter how long you wandered
through those rooms, wouldn’t there always be others you’d not yet entered?” (p. 219). What do you
make of Klara’s response about the finitude of such metaphorical rooms? Would you say, in your own
experience, you’ve been able to explore and learn all the rooms of your own heart, or another
person’s? Write a short piece or summarise your opinion orally.
42. Write an essay relating Klara and the Sun and the following materials:
 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/robots-human-relationships/583204/
 https://www.ted.com/talks/anne_scherer_why_we_re_more_honest_with_machines_than_people
43. Change the ending or some other part of the story.

Sergio F. Rodríguez - 2022