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diamondxgirl 's review for:
Boy Robot
by Simon Curtis
I am so glad this book exists.
It’s difficult to put into words what I felt reading this book. So many tears for both the tragic and happy parts of the story. I found myself aching for the allegorical (and literal) references to homo- and transphobia, told through the eyes of Isaak and a group of "others" (youth who find out at age 18 they are robots, through no choice of their own) who are out in force throughout the book. To the obvious hate crimes and the metaphorical ones for those born different due to something out of their control. There was also a message of hope and love, of friendship and ally-ship. Simon does a fantastic job of describing the emotions, and head on collisions, the characters experience, positive and negative.
BOY ROBOT, a YA sci-fi metaphor about what happens when we start hunting people for being "other" and denying their humanity. https://t.co/19UWFRIZym
— Simon Curtis (@simoncurtis) November 9, 2016
Books like Boy Robot are what we need to see discussed in our youth English classes and book clubs, to be available in our libraries, and accepted rather than labeled “controversial.” Exploring social constructs in a sci-fi world makes Boy Robot an attractive option for teens. This book was clearly written for the young adult audience and I appreciate that. It examines what it means to be human.
As a bonus, the book itself is gorgeous. I remember being at YallWest this year, where a publisher reached out to me and said, "You want to be back here at 1:30pm because the book we are giving away will be the best you will read this year." My immediate reaction was a skeptical eye and to ask, "What book?"...As you can imagine, the title stuck with me over the months. And they weren't kidding...You need this book in your life.
Simon Curtis, thank you. Thank you for sharing your experience and message of hope. Thank you for sharing the stories of so many of our youth.
As a cisgendered, straight woman, I default to the LGBT community for their thoughts over mine so I encourage you to seek their reviews, too.
It’s difficult to put into words what I felt reading this book. So many tears for both the tragic and happy parts of the story. I found myself aching for the allegorical (and literal) references to homo- and transphobia, told through the eyes of Isaak and a group of "others" (youth who find out at age 18 they are robots, through no choice of their own) who are out in force throughout the book. To the obvious hate crimes and the metaphorical ones for those born different due to something out of their control. There was also a message of hope and love, of friendship and ally-ship. Simon does a fantastic job of describing the emotions, and head on collisions, the characters experience, positive and negative.
BOY ROBOT, a YA sci-fi metaphor about what happens when we start hunting people for being "other" and denying their humanity. https://t.co/19UWFRIZym
— Simon Curtis (@simoncurtis) November 9, 2016
Books like Boy Robot are what we need to see discussed in our youth English classes and book clubs, to be available in our libraries, and accepted rather than labeled “controversial.” Exploring social constructs in a sci-fi world makes Boy Robot an attractive option for teens. This book was clearly written for the young adult audience and I appreciate that. It examines what it means to be human.
As a bonus, the book itself is gorgeous. I remember being at YallWest this year, where a publisher reached out to me and said, "You want to be back here at 1:30pm because the book we are giving away will be the best you will read this year." My immediate reaction was a skeptical eye and to ask, "What book?"...As you can imagine, the title stuck with me over the months. And they weren't kidding...You need this book in your life.
Simon Curtis, thank you. Thank you for sharing your experience and message of hope. Thank you for sharing the stories of so many of our youth.
As a cisgendered, straight woman, I default to the LGBT community for their thoughts over mine so I encourage you to seek their reviews, too.