From the beginning, I imagined Klara as an adult-sized robot and didn't question it.

I hadn't read the blurb until a decent way through the book, so I didn't even know "AF" meant "Artificial Friend". Once I read it, I was prompted to imagine her as a child/teen, to match her purpose of being a believable friend to children.

Then other scenes got me questioning my assumption:

The interaction meeting where the boys were talking about throwing her around
Richard carrying her on his back
>!The reveal that Klara was meant to 'continue' Josie!<

These scenes make more sense to me if Klara has a child-like stature.

Can anyone confirm either way? If I just missed the mark entirely from the beginning, I might want to reread the book imagining her as a child. TIA!

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the-eyes-on-you t1_j6j62lw wrote on January 30, 2023 at 6:35 PM

#1,622,362

I imagined her as roughly the same "age" as Josie but maybe a bit smaller stature for some reason. There's nothing that suggested to me she was trying to "blend in" and hide the fact she is a robot. As for her mom using her to carry on for Josie - I figured the mannerisms, her walk, speech pattern, etc were more important than her physical resemblance but now you've got me wondering if she would actually be more physically like Josie than I imagined. Hmm...

Breadbp t1_j6jp86v wrote on January 30, 2023 at 8:33 PM

#1,626,967

I imagine her to appear around 15 or 16 since she estimated Josie to be 14 and a half and she said that Josie was shorter (until the last chapter where Josie was a little taller than Klara).

Then again Klara might not be as heavy as a real person, making it easy for Rick to carry her. She was supposed to ‘continue’ Josie but she was going to get uploaded to the body that Mr. Capaldi was creating so her physical appearance didn’t really matter.

I think around 16 makes the most sense but it’s hard to confirm

shelfdiscovery t1_j6jz30o wrote on January 30, 2023 at 9:34 PM

#1,629,296

I pictured Klara as being young-looking simply because her voice (at least in my head / based on how she is written) feels quite childlike, and it made the most sense for me to picture her resembling a child as well.

And by the end of the book, it's mentioned that Josie has to bend down to hug Klara, suggesting she is child-sized (especially since as a sickly child, Josie likely does not grow up to be that tall).

r--evolve OP t1_j6nl9vx wrote on January 31, 2023 at 4:36 PM

#1,666,952

Replying to Breadbp (#1,626,967)

Ah yeah, I forgot about the upload part after I posted, so that bullet might not be relevant.

r--evolve OP t1_j6nm4v9 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 4:41 PM

#1,667,192

Replying to shelfdiscovery (#1,629,296)

Thinking back, it does make sense that her childlike written voice wouldn't have reflected an adult-appearing model meant as an AF. Maybe if AFs were designed more as babysitters, it'd be plausible.

I must have missed/forgotten the height mentions. Your take on Josie's eventual height definitely puts things into perspective. Thanks!