Girl Parts

Girl Parts was a fascinating first book from a talented writer. Crisp, punchy dialogue, a truly original storyline, and lots of tender, funny and gut-wrenchingly honest moments. This author understands his characters,both human and robot, and empathizes with their struggle for interpersonal connection apart from technology.

I read Girl Parts a while back. It was part of a package from Candlewick that included quite a few titles. I had many other things that needed to be read at the moment but the cover and synopsis pulled me in and I devoured Girl Parts in a day. John Cusick has a fantastic understanding of teens and the way they live in this technological age. The story albeit fiction was completely believable. You start to understand David through Rose his companion bot. You can see the struggles David is dealing with in every day life even though he is one of the more popular kids in school. I love that Rose even though she is a bot becomes self aware and begins to question everything. Rose's struggle to self awareness is parallel to the struggle of a teen girl trying to find herself. I loved the symbolism in this book. The company that makes Rose and the other models of companions has some secrets to tell. I hope we find out more in the second book! You should really check out the book website. It is full of win. Sakora: Solutions for Life.

Cusick's YA novel synthesizes anxieties surrounding emergent sexuality, morally ambivalent technological advances, and the culture of diagnosis (particularly for teenage boys) into a well told, fantastic tale. The adventurous and romantic story makes for a real page-turner, but there is an undercurrent of sophistication in Girl Parts, which makes it not just a fun read, but one that will stay with you for a long time. Highly recommended!

If you've read Manga, watched Anime, or even caught a few 80s movies you're probably familiar with the basic story of this book - What teenage boys really want is a robogirl with human skin. Okay, that's a over simplification still when the boys in this book become "disassociated" parents and counselors decide that's how you fix them. Give them their own "girl" who will train them on how to make human connections. David and Charlie are two very different boys who both have this form of therapy recommended to them. One gets it, one does not. Still the girl assigned to one crosses paths with both boys and that's really the heart of the story - how she interacts with the two, one she's programmed to be with and one she is not. I'd like to give it the full 5 stars but it felt a little short and as though parts are missing - not in that it's an incomplete story. It's complete. Still it feels as though there was room for aspects of it to really be expanded upon and by not doing so it left it a little weaker of a book that it had to be. Still a good overall story, a fast read - just maybe too fast.

David and Charlie are complete opposites--while David has millions of friends, Charlie is a lonely outsider. But both feels detached from everyone around them. To help David with his "dissociative disorder," his parents get him a hot Companion bot called Rose and David can't resist her. But when he tries to touch her, he gets shocked from the Companions strict intimacy clock. When Rose got separated from David, she turns to Charlie for help. He opens up to her knowing she is just a bot. With the world so open and new, Rose finds who she's really meant to be. This was a hilarious and fun read. To me the humor is a bit like Match Made In High School except Girl Parts is narrated from a boy's point of view. The book's point of view made it especially interesting because I hardly read books with a boy's POV. However, despite the fact that it was an enjoyable read, I was really disappointed with the way it ended. It was the most exciting part and then all of a sudden it just ended. When it did end, I had so many questions in my head that were sadly left unanswered. Nevertheless, Girl Parts with its unique characters and fun, humorous plot is a good read that I very much enjoyed. I'm definitely on the look out for more from this debut author. 4 out of 5 stars [Reviewed by Leslie; ARC provided by the publisher for an honest review.]