“Hope,” he said. “Damn thing never leaves you alone.” —Paul, p. 219

Welcome to the final episode of Klara and the Sun. In this episode, Shari and Rhea discuss all the motifs and how they bring to life the central question of this novel: What does it mean to be human? They talk about Klara and faith, Klara and friendship, Klara and the human heart, and what Jesus and C. S. Lewis have to say on all these matters. They discuss all the ways in which Klara, disturbingly, seemed throughout the story more human than the humans did. They discuss their own troubled reactions to the story’s ending. They talk about the difference between companionship and friendship. They talk about integration and disintegration, and how every effort at human-like connection with A.I. leads to the later, and never the former. They re-visit the Advent aspect of this story, and what Advent looks like with no Incarnation (God becoming human for us) in the end.

And, Shari reads some poetry by Wendell Berry at the end.

Resources cited in this episode:

* The Four Loves, by C. S. Lewis

* The Gospel of John, Chapter 15

* Klara and the Sun in the Year of ubiquitous A.I. (from Substack MBH4H)

* The Friend Necklace (Oct. 2025 review from Business Insider)

Poetry Rhea was inspired to find and cite after finishing Klara and the Sun:

* The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

* [i carry your heart with me (i carry it in] by e. e. cummings

* The Sun by Mary Oliver

If you haven’t seen it yet, here is R&W’s 2026 Reading List in order with (penciled in) dates:

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Reader & the Writer! If you liked this episode, please give it some ❤️ and pass it along.

The Reader & the Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the literary work we’re doing, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Get full access to The Reader & the Writer at thereaderandthewriter.substack.com/subscribe