Nanda鈥檚 Year in Books

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2024

5,993

pages read

books read

Nanda Reddy

Shortest Book

145

pages

Longest Book

625

pages

Average book length in 2024

332

pages

Most Shelved

1,444,002

people also shelved

Least Shelved

11,708

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Nanda鈥檚 average rating for 2024

5.0

it was amazing

5.0

Highest Rated on 欧宝娱乐

4.46 average

Nanda鈥檚 first review of the year

it was amazing

I went into this novel blind, without reading the blurb. And boy was I glad.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

The novel opens with a POV that鈥檚 as tight as it gets. You鈥檙e in the body of *something* that鈥檚 inside a store. The something has been recently unboxed, and you discover the world as it observes its surroundings. When this thing, called Klara, is placed in the store鈥檚 front window, you try to cobble together meager details through its limited frame to fig I went into this novel blind, without reading the blurb. And boy was I glad.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

The novel opens with a POV that鈥檚 as tight as it gets. You鈥檙e in the body of *something* that鈥檚 inside a store. The something has been recently unboxed, and you discover the world as it observes its surroundings. When this thing, called Klara, is placed in the store鈥檚 front window, you try to cobble together meager details through its limited frame to figure what it is exactly (plant, toy, robot?) and where it is in time & place. It鈥檚 a fun puzzle, and you only get to do this once, the first time you read it.

You soon glean you鈥檙e in some sort of futuristic dystopia where wealthy families purchase 鈥渁rtificial friends,鈥� androids known as AFs, for their teens. Klara is an AF, and a girl named Josie promises to buy her. So Klara waits, making herself seem inferior when other buyers inspect her. As she鈥檚 solar-powered, she begins to worship the sun. She vilifies the Cootings Machine, doing street work in front of her store and creating sun-obstructing smoke and dust. Klara sees a homeless man who appears dead until the sun鈥檚 rays 鈥渂ring him back to life.鈥� This confirms her beliefs, and she prays for Josie to return to her. When Josie buys her, Klara鈥檚 belief system is set.

At Josie鈥檚 home, Klara sees the sun set behind Mr. McBain鈥檚 barn from a window, so she believes that is where the sun lives. We soon learn Josie has been lifted (genetically modified to perform better academically and succeed) and is suffering from serious side effects that may prove fatal, like they had for her older sister, Sal. Klara begins to pray to the sun to save Josie. This singular goal drives the rest of the novel as we learn more about Josie and her family. Klara prays and sacrifices parts of herself to save Josie, believing that Josie will come through. Meanwhile, Josie鈥檚 mother commissions a 鈥減ortrait鈥� that is actually 3D skin for an android that鈥檚 meant to replace Josie after she dies, and though she wants to save her daughter, she seems resigned to her death because she has already lost a daughter.

Because this is a dystopia, I expected to learn how the government and politics might affect Klara. I was curious about Klara growing and changing, and I wondered if she鈥檇 become involved in a resistance movement. But my expectations regarding the dystopian world/government were generally unacknowledged, neither fulfilled or disrupted.

In George Saunders鈥� book on writing鈥擜 Drop of Water in the Pond鈥攈e discusses gauging reader expectations as you write/edit. As a writer, you must consider either fulfilling or disrupting reasonable expectations. Ideally, you balance your plot to avoid boring readers鈥攂y always fulfilling their expectations鈥攐r frustrating them to the point of dropping the book鈥攂y endlessly disrupting expectations. You want to hand them fun surprises, which must always feel 鈥渆xpected鈥� or inevitable afterwards. But this novel veered completely away from my expectations, which frustrated me.

Overall, the plot and growth arcs were quieter and flatter than I鈥檇 hoped, especially with secondary characters. But the author manages to make up for that by forcing my eyes away from the dystopia. He never strayed from the tight POV (Josie鈥檚), so the dystopia becomes just a backdrop. I was forced instead to consider quieter questions鈥攖he nature of being, belief, and sentience.

In Ishiguro鈥檚 other popular novel, Never Let Me Go, I was similarly frustrated, but my reactions weren鈥檛 as positive in the end. In that novel, the main character, Kathy, is a human clone in a more extreme dystopia; the ethical questions in that work directly affect the Kathy鈥檚 life so we expect some rebellion. In this dystopia, Klara is not human, so she is inherently less capable and remains a bystander to the ethics-related issues that affect her. Klara鈥檚 neutral, unfiltered observations are less frustrating than Kathy鈥檚 in Never Let Me Go.

A few other things bothered me about this novel. The dialogue, mostly great, felt stilted and unreal at times. And there were unfulfilled promises made to the reader: some characters, like the father and the love-interest neighbor Ricky, simply disappear even though we expect more from them. The ending let me down, too, partly because it reflected negatively on the other main characters, who seemed essentially unchanged by and unappreciative of Klara. Josie鈥檚 mother saves Klara from an autopsy, but she still puts her out to pasture. Literally. Klara鈥檚 in a junk yard in her final years. But Klara鈥檚 POV never falters. She believes she saved Josie and that she鈥檚 fulfilled her 鈥渓ife鈥檚鈥� duty, so the bittersweet end rang true.

I recommend this to all writers, especially those interested in POV work. I will certainly pull it out again and again to study how Ishiguro constructed his fun, tight POV, a feat that made Klara oh-so-real and unforgettable.

*A possible fun exercise: write a short scene mimicking this novel鈥檚 opening scene, one in which the reader is forced to figure out the world through an extremely limited lens. ...more

狈础狈顿础鈥橲 2024 BOOKS

it was amazing

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo

The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland

it was amazing

What did you read this year?