This is a very thought-provoking read. I am still kind of absorbing the various messages. It is, to put it most simply, an inspection of the human soul... or heart. Are we as unique as we wish to believe? Or is there a scientific explanation for our love.

Sounds like every philosopher’s question since the beginning of time, right? Boring! However it’s the way this story is narrated through the perspective of Klara, essentially a help-robot. An objective, logical being, concludes that there is in fact more to the human heart, that being the connection to other humans. An important message I think we easily forget sometimes: we are stronger and happier together. If only we could agree ...

which leads me to the other issues ever so lightly touched upon by the author. Climate change, the fear of AI and tech, class division in every sense, political unrest, ethical issues around genetic enhancement... it’s actually pretty insane to think he threw all this in there but the story isn’t really about any of that. What I think caused the most impact on me personally is the way Klara “worships” the Sun, because he is her energy source. To have a robot respect the power of the sun over any human in the story is quite the banger, isn’t it?