This is a fascinating fiction. The story happens in a futuristic setting - when all the rich families are able to afford to genetically modify their kids and get their kids an AF (artificial friend). Klara is one of the AFs and she was picked by a sick girl Josie. The story becomes interesting when it turns out that Josie’s mom has a secret project related to Klara; and Klara has been begging the omnipotent Sun to prevent Josie from dying in odd ways that human cannot understand. (No spoilers so I won’t say too much here :)
The book club had a heated discussion on how we should think about Klara- is she a human? Does she have a “self”? Would you feel sad or not when Klara is abandoned when not in use, or when the AFs are only treated as a “tool” to company the kids? If Klara is “just a machine”, then what about pets? Is it more tragic to end up being emotionally attached to an AI (loving them) or being indifferent and cold-hearted to a loyal AI servant?...
I still don’t have good answers to these questions.
-- Lisa Liang
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