Rating:

Becoming Woman

Author: Sierra Greer

After Doug’s failed marriage, he brought Annie home. She is a specially designed, sentient robot, with the best technology and artificial intelligence can offer (and the hefty price tag to prove it.) The design is so immaculate, you’d think she was human, especially if Doug decided not to tell you otherwise. She looks like his ex-wife (but with bigger boobs and a lighter skin color, of course), but she is built to please. She wears sexy outfits of his choosing, cooks extravagant dishes, and adjusts her libido to match his moods. She learns to flirt and play, to read his desires and calibrate clever responses, and she feels pain whenever he is slightly displeased. The only problem? As she tries to learn, to become more real for him, her robotically engineered perfection becomes more ephemeral, and she takes on the human qualities she sees, like betrayal. Like lying. Like secrets. Like autonomy.

Annie Bot is a short, but strangely impacting read. It’s the kind of sci-fi that is so close to our own world, we can imagine it happening, especially for the uber rich. And Doug . . . he’s exactly the sort of man to ditch the troubles and disagreements of real-world relationships and tailor make himself the perfect playmate: human enough for sex, robot enough to never, ever disagree with him. Of course, his own desires are at war, and as we watch through Annie’s eyes, we see his psychology of shame transform into abuse. All the while, Annie tries to figure it out, to name his displeasure and change. Her algorithms churn. One night, Doug’s friend tells her the answer is to become more human. And so, she does. But Doug is less happy, just as Annie is discovering more, discovering the truth about her perfect owner, and starting to have a very real human emotion: fear.

Image by gt39 from Pixabay

In this upside-down world, Annie is the more human of the pair. She is, of course, the stand in for everywoman, growing to realizations and maturity as she examines the paradoxes in the world around her and tries to figure them out. Annie defines herself by her relationship, by Doug’s pleasure and fulfillment, only to slowly become aware of her own desire for personhood and autonomy. She learns about deception, about comfort, about toxic love, and about her own yearning for freedom. Her growth is gradual, confused, but entirely human, entirely recognizable. As Annie is born, it is Doug who languishes, who becomes a creature of patterns and habits, who refuses to grow and change. The moral is obvious, impactful, but well played. It feels, for lack of a better word, organic.

I found myself racing through Annie Bot, refreshed and engaged, enjoying the elements of Annie’s operation while finding myself enthralled with her personality, her heart, her strength, and finally, her daring. This book has it all: imagination, heartache, sex, betrayal, friendship, secrets, independence, evolution, and escape. Highly recommended.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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