Kazuo Ishiguro is a literary master, and as many have pointed out this must have cut him some slack. Klara is indeed artificial and made to be a friend. Her thought patterns are circumscribed by her limited experience and come out as a dry, detached voice. This is not new territory--many authors have taken on the perspective of an AI with limited resources. To bring it off you have to have something extraordinary going on that contrasts with the dry telling. This book just doesn't have it. So we have a character study of Klara's owner (the Mother) and kid Jodie who the Friend is for, and her neighbor Rick. There is space in the plot for a lot of tension and reflection on societal trends, but Klara is just not connected enough to society to bring off that commentary. A lot of people like it, but for me it was not engaging, nor was it as interesting a piece of literature as The Buried Giant. His work outside of speculative fiction is in a whole other league, and that will be what he is remembered for. I reluctantly round up 2.5 stars.
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