reading with my ears

I drove down to South Houston yesterday, spent today talking about YA books and SpeakLoudly to librarians and then drove back home this afternoon. All of that time in the car meant I had the chance to read with my ears. I selected this audiobook because Gail Giles talked about it recently on her blog or Facebook or somewhere as a book that surprised her. She's right, of course (never argue with a woman from Texas who has also lived in Alaska--dangerous!). John Cusick's GIRL PARTS (Candlewick, 2010 with audio from Brilliance) was funny, clever, ironic, and totally perfect as an audio as well.

David Sun, whose father is wealthy and whose mother is, well, impotent comes to mind, is diagnosed by his shrink as having disassociative problems. The shrink proposes a new treatment: the purchase of a companion robot. Rose arrives boxed up and ready to activate. David is immediately struck by her beauty and reaches in for a clinch right away only to be shocked. Rose, it turns out, has an intimacy "clock" which permits only a handshake for now, maybe more as the two get to know one another. Meanwhile, there are others at David's school diagnosed with the same disassociatve disorder. After all, some of his classmates were among the hundreds who watched a classmate mix herself a deadly cocktail and commit suicide without thinking to call for help.

Charlie is another classmate. He did not witness the suicide but was out on one of his nightly bike rides. However, after David discards Rose, it is Charlie who helps her back from near "death" or decommissioning. However, she is intended only for David. What can she do if he rejects her? <417>

Cusick explores the nature of relationships and connections in this remarkable novel that is certain to cause some eyebrows to lift (perfect for this end of BBW, after all). His commentary is not blatant, but it is hard to miss what is there about overreliance on technology, about how we do and do not connect, and what it means to be human.