what you need to know about Annie Bot
books | book review
prologue
When I found this specimen of a novel, so delightfully Glinda-coded pink in cover, amongst the shelves of the my nearest Goodwill thrift, I was elated!!!
I’ve only heard great things about this book, I was hot on robots after watching the film Companion, and I felt that this duo sounded eerily similar. At least the sleeve description of the Sierra Greer novel in comparison to the film.
But now having read the book, I promise you they are not one in the same, if anything they are companion pieces…and the film is a “what if” things got a bit more sinister and extreme.
spoiler-free review of Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
At its core, this a story about an autodidactic robot (mainly created for sex, cleaning, “house duties”). I know, I KNOW…sounds misogynistic, but stay with me…
Annie Bot is owned by this man named, Doug, who at first, does not appear to be too sinister, but he is her owner.
Own=control (one in the same to me)
From that single notion, you can gather that what he requests of her, sexually (read: sex robot) and domestically (read: she’s a robotic trad wife)…again this is not a spoiler, its all over the sleeve/online description.
BUT…
What the descriptors won’t tell you is that Annie is essentially on a journey of self-discovery and learning, similar to a human, but is she really a human? That is the central theme of the book!
Can she be a human, when in fact she is a ROBOT?
The novel is great at capturing the nuance and range of human thoughts and emotions and assessing whether or not Annie is able to feel those.
I found this refreshing…yet frustrating at times because obviously you want to root for the “hero” of a novel, in most situations, and this is one of those situations.
read if you…
Like a novel that’s thrilling, a “thinker”, and if you want to know what the heck happens to Annie Bot you have to read along…
I’m also craving a rewatch of Ex Machina…
tl;dr (too long didn’t read) spoiler fiesta
If you want to watch a video of my spoiler filled, read-along featuring live reactions of my journey through this book, check out my YouTube video below.
Love & light,
Marco (Your Friendly Obsession)