Girl Parts

by John M. Cusick

Overview

From a debut author! What happens when a robot designed to be a boy’s ideal "companion" develops a will of her own? A compulsively readable novel.

David and Charlie are opposites. David has a million friends, online and off. Charlie is a soulful outsider, off the grid completely. But neither feels close to anybody. When David’s parents present him with a hot Companion bot designed to encourage healthy bonds and treat his "dissociative disorder," he can’t get enough of luscious redheaded Rose — and he can’t get it soon. Companions come with strict intimacy protocols, and whenever he tries anything, David gets an electric shock. Parted from the boy she was built to love, Rose turns to Charlie, who finds he can open up, knowing Rose isn’t real. With Charlie’s help, the ideal "companion" is about to become her own best friend. In a stunning and hilarious debut, John Cusick takes rollicking aim at internet culture and our craving for meaningful connection in an uberconnected world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763649302
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	08/10/2010
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	HL590L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

John Cusick is a 2007 graduate of Wesleyan University. About Girl Parts he says, "It is easy to feel lonely, despite the immediacy of technological connection. This is a story about human connections, how they catch us by surprise and challenge who we are." A literary agent of books for children and teens, he lives in Brooklyn.

Editorial Reviews

In a very near future America where 750 viewers watch a teenager commit suicide online and do nothing, are humans more human than an android who looks and acts the part? With an almost anthropological eye, first-time novelist Cusick digs into the connections people make--physically, emotionally, and technologically. After David Sun’s parents learn that he witnessed the local girl’s death and didn’t intervene, they grow concerned that he has become “disassociated” from life, due to an overreliance on technology. The solution? More technology, of course, in the form of Rose, a Companion bot, which “dissuades dehumanizing behaviors and encourages healthy human interaction.” Rose is a redheaded bombshell, and while there are the requisite moments of misunderstood slang and other faux pas, she’s no more lost than the teenagers she meets, like scruffy loner Charlie. It’s Rose’s growth, with Charlie’s help after she’s brutally rejected by David, which forms the emotional core of this bittersweet and prescient novel, and which make the teenager-as-robot metaphor work so well. “He’s the whole universe,” Rose says of David, who alone she’s programmed to connect with. “What am I supposed to do?” Ages 14-up. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Literary agent Cusick’s debut is a funny, touching, near-future science fiction tale that explores teen relationships and what it means to be a “real” person.
—VOYA

A quick, pleasant read and will work well with male reluctant readers
—Library Media Connection

With an almost anthropological eye, first-time novelist Cusick digs into the connections people make—physically, emotionally, and technologically.…It’s Rose’s growth, with Charlie’s help after she’s brutally rejected by David, which forms the emotional core of this bittersweet and prescient novel, and which make the teenager-as-robot metaphor work so well.
—Publishers Weekly

This modern fable about the breakdown of interpersonal communication skills in the computer age is also a keenly observed and timely take on relationship building, gender roles and the qualities that make us human.
—Kirkus Reviews

Cusick's first novel is charming and witty, peppered with satirical jabs at the irony of being lonely and isolated in an increasingly connected world.
—Horn Book

Rose, programmed to be naïve, hopelessly romantic, and cheerful, is achingly endearing as she struggles to find her own self under all of the assigned cues. There are moments of absolute raw examination of what it means to feel alone while networked with millions that may shock readers into considering the depth of their own connections.
—Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books

From the Publisher

Gr 9 Up—With cold detachment, David views a classmate's video blog while she deliberately downs a toxic cocktail. He and his peers seem unfazed having witnessed her online suicide. The adults, shocked out of their reverie, notice that their children are "disassociated" from the real world. David's father, a techno tycoon, teams up with the school counselor to intervene. Enter Rose, an attractive robot girl designed to befriend David. She is beautiful, with silky hair and warm downy skin, and programmed to please. Electronic Rose will teach David how to love and feel again. No joke! Meanwhile, classmate Charlie is the antithesis of David. He and his botanist dad live off the grid on the outskirts of town. Charlie, a disheveled loner, rides a broken-down bike, and the school counselor labels him as depressed. He first suggests drugs and then a Companion, like David's. Rose generates much desire in her boy, but no substance. He remains a selfish, spoiled jerk addicted to surround monitors that flow constant communication among friends, all the while simulating suggestive images. When David discovers that Rose is more Barbie than girl—she is without "girl parts"—he casts her aside and breaks her "heart." Soon she takes up with Charlie and romance ensues. When the story digresses to Rose experiencing tender feelings and desiring "girl parts," the narrative stumbles. David remains artificially connected, Rose develops contrived humanistic drama, and Charlie falls for her. What began as a smart and sexy cautionary tale is ultimately disappointing.—Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY

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