The anxiety this causes is exacerbated by the gradual elimination of the country’s white-collar workforce. In addition to the “lifting” process, the society of Klara and the Sun also features highly advanced artificial intelligence so sophisticated in its programming that its mere existence blurs the boundary between human and machine. The robotic narrator of Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel takes us into a dystopian U.S. “Unlifted” children are ostracized by their peers, essentially left to their own devices.

“Lifted” children follow a strict home education and socialization regimen. In this bleak future, parents may “opt in” their children for a risky genetic modification treatment called “lifting” that boosts their social standing and academic prospects. The novel is set in a dystopian United States encumbered by surging social inequality, fascist terrorism and controversial scientific advancements. The book not only lives up to its predecessor’s legacy, but in some respects surpasses it. Klara and the Sun also represents the first return to science fiction for the acclaimed author since Never Let Me Go in 2005. In March, Ishiguro released Klara and the Sun, his eighth novel and first literary work since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017. Still, nothing quite haunted me as relentlessly as Never Let Me Go did-until I picked up Klara and the Sun. Now I find myself gravitating toward his titles whenever I can browse in libraries or bookstores, eagerly losing myself in his engrossing stories and lovely prose. That first encounter with Ishiguro’s writing cemented his place as one of my favorite authors.

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