Klara Meets Cloud Cuckoo Land

No, the title above is not an actual book. I just finished reading Klara Meets the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.

Not my usual genre—both these authors are writers of literature, as opposed to my go-to authors of mystery, crime, and suspense. But these two had already lured me in years ago—Ishiguro with his Remains of the Day (Booker Prize) and Never Let Me Go; Doerr with All the Light We Cannot See (Pulitzer Prize) and his collection of short stories, The Shell Collector. Ishiguro writes concise prose, able to say so much with just the right words. Doerr turns poetry into paragraphs even I can enjoy! 

Imagine my surprise as I turned to literature this month and found both these books included a glimpse into the future, far enough forward that you could accuse the authors of dabbling in science fiction.

Klara and the Sun reveals a world where Alexa and Siri are no longer voice helpers, but Artificial Friends that walk, talk, and think—sentient, in fact. Ishiguro neglects setting and science (we readers aren’t sure where the story takes place or how the science works) in favor of character and existentialism. It works…and proves a page-turner comes in many forms. 

Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land deftly hops between characters from the 1453 siege of Constantinople, present day Lakeport, Idaho (based on one of my top-5 “I want to retire there” locations—McCall, ID), and a spaceship bound for a new “Earth” in 2146, all tied together by an inextricable attraction to an ancient Greek story of a utopia in the skies. 

Wait. That sentence above was long and awkward and doesn’t inspire a lot of enthusiasm to read the book, right? Trust me. Anthony Doerr can make the long read fast and he leaves out the awkward. He’s a masterful storyteller and Cloud Cuckoo Land is just plain fun, in that special way a “story with a meaning” can be. 

So, which to read first? If you’re feeling like a realist this week and are interested less about optimism than about pondering our future, start with Klara Meets the Sun. It’s a short (but engaging) read and you’ll spend more time thinking about Ishiguro’s characterizations of mankind’s future priorities than you did reading the book. My favorite quote, however, shows what doesn’t change: 

“I suppose I’m saying [she] and I will always be together at some level, some deeper one, even if we go out there and don’t see each other any more. I can’t speak for her. But once I’m out there, I know I’ll always keep searching for someone just like her.” 

But if it’s hope and idealism you seek, even in the face of a virus that won’t go away and an uncertain climate, then turn to Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land. Like Ishiguro, he pokes at what’s existentially important in a declining world: 

“But as he reconstructs Zeno’s translation, he realizes that the truth is infinitely more complicated, that we are all beautiful even as we are all part of the problem, and that to be part of the problem is to be human.”

Both books are beautifully written by talented authors. You’ll find as much joy in thinking about what you just read as you did hoping the books wouldn’t end.