Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Very much in the style of some Ishiguro books, this is a very trippy book, one that might put some people off or even way off. I am not one of them, and for me, it gives a context within which to think about artifical intelligence that is both realistic and sisturbing at the same time. It is not so much scary as it is thought-provoking. I am enough of a realist to see that no matter what I think about AI and robotics, the computer tech and the technology will march along without caring all that much what I think. Klara is an artifical friend, a robot for sale in a store. She has what seem to be emotions and the ability to think and learn, but she also imbues the sun with supernatural powers and abilities. In the beginning it looks as though she moght be overlooked, left to remain on the shelf, unbought and unappreciated. She is an outdated model, afterall. Think what your 2013 computer is worth today. One day a girl who caught her eye returns and it seems that she might be just the thing for a family with a sick child and she goes home with them. What follows is the part that the reader needs to contemplate what we might and might not do in the future, and how we might react to it. I highly recommend this writer and this book.