4.5 stars

I love Ishiguro's writing. This felt so heartwarming at its core, though there were definite moments where things felt creepy, uncomfortable, and somewhat hostile. The premise was great and the development of Klara's character was magnificent. I loved that the entire book was viewed through her somewhat naive eyes. It made descriptions a little bit different and definitely created a new way of looking at the world.

I do wish that the plot was taken further. I feel like there was so much potential in this story and Ishiguro just grazed the surface. This is definitely more of a character study and a literary fiction approach than a sweeping sci-fi adventure. The atmosphere was well constructed and there was some great worldbuilding, but again...there was just a surface level exploration of these things. I didn't feel like I wholly grasped the world. The writing about it was great and I enjoyed those pieces, but the narrative made it clear that the intent is to focus almost solely on Klara.

There is a lot of societal commentary laced within the text and I can understand why there is such a dichotomy of ratings. This isn't a "something amazing happened" kind of book. There is plot activity and there is character development as a result, but things are constructed in kind of a steady, slow, removed kind of way. It has a quiet presence and something of a creeping pace. And yet, there is some kind of essence there that just impacted me strongly. There is an emotional component to the text and to the relationships between Klara and the humans that surround her. The study of human interactions and what it means to be human were so craftily teased out that i truly felt Klara's confusion and limited scope of understanding about the things occurring around her. There is a lot that remains vague, unknown, or unexplained, but the impact to Klara is clear. And that hit me right in the feels.

The ending wasn't quite what I wanted, but it worked once I sat on it for a bit. There was a lot that was present in this book to love and there is a lot absent that created some disappointment. I was left with a feeling that I wish things would have been explored in a more sweeping way and I would like to know more about the world, but I also felt like I was given a fantastically complete picture of Klara. My heart was a bit scarred by the journey, but I still very much enjoyed it.