Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro - 2021







By: Kazuo Ishiguro

Narrated by: Sura Siu

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 03-02-21

Language: English

Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Publisher: Random House Audio

Format: mp3 64/48 stereo







A Booker Prize Nominee



New York Times best seller



Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel from the Nobel laureate and author of Never Let Me Go is “an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures...a poignant meditation on love and loneliness” (The Associated Press).



A New York Times Notable Book of the Year



Good Morning America Book Club pick



“What stays with you in Klara and the Sun is the haunting narrative voice - a genuinely innocent, egoless perspective on the strange behavior of humans obsessed and wounded by power, status and fear.” (Booker Prize committee)



Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: What does it mean to love?



©2021 Kazuo Ishiguro (P)2021 Random House Audio



Reviews



One of President Obama's Favorite Books of the Year



One of Bill Gates' Favorite Books of the Year



One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, Time, NPR, Washington Post, Vogue, USA Today, Town & Country, The Guardian, Vulture, and more



“One of the most affecting and profound novels Ishiguro has written.... I'll go for broke and call Klara and the Sun a masterpiece that will make you think about life, mortality, the saving grace of love: in short, the all of it.” (Maureen Corrigan, NPR)



“A delicate, haunting story, steeped in sorrow and hope.” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post)



“It aspires to enchantment, or to put it another way, reenchantment, the restoration of magic to a disenchanted world. Ishiguro drapes realism like a thin cloth over a primordial cosmos. Every so often, the cloth slips, revealing the old gods, the terrible beasts, the warring forces of light and darkness.” (Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic)



Editor's Pick



Ishiguro’s triumphant return to sci-fi

I love Kazuo Ishiguro because he’s a literary writer who is not afraid to venture into genre fiction—in fact, he embraces it, elevates it, and shows just how meaningful and insightful it can be, as he did with previous novels Never Let Me Go (sci-fi) and The Buried Giant (fantasy). His latest novel takes on the very sci-fi themes of AI consciousness and free will (I’ll admit, sold. Anything to do with robots, sold). But these Big Ideas are ultimately couched within the story of a girl who just happens to be a robot named Klara—and her self-determined mission to save the girl who chose her as an AF, or “artificial friend.” Ishiguro unfolds the layers of his stories organically in a way that somehow satisfies even as it rips your heart out (in the best way). And narrator Sura Siu only adds to the experience with her vibrant performance. I didn’t realize how much I’d been searching for that feeling Never Let Me Go gave me years ago, but I think I’ve found it once again. —Sam D., Audible Editor











24/7 Seedbox Support