The Situation: Annie lives in New York, where she shares an apartment with Doug, her owner. When he bought her for an amount just shy of a quarter of million dollars, he was allowed to pick out what she would look like (figure, skin color, eye color, etc.), as well as what type of bot she would be. As a 'cuddle-bunny,' Annie is mostly meant to meet Doug's physical needs, though she can also learn to cook, clean, and do other various tasks. As far as Annie knows, her primary objective is to make Doug happy, whatever that may mean. Able to gauge her owner's rate of displeasure, measured on a scale of 1 to 10, Annie does her best to do what she believes Doug would want. Seems simple enough, except that it is not.
The Problem: Things are going along as they should, with Annie getting better and better at doing what Doug wants, until one of his old friends makes a surprise visit to ask Doug to be the best man at his wedding. Suddenly, Annie is questioning what it means to be the ideal human companion, while understanding that she is 'only' a highly sophisticated machine that can easily fool most people. The more human she acts, the less pleased Doug seems to be. And yet, how real she seems is what he often has praised her for. Confused, scared, and occasionally angry, Annie begins to look for answers, while also attempting to obey her own programming, something that proves to be difficult, even for a well-built machine.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a science fiction novel set in modern-day New York, and tells the story of Annie, a bot under the ownership of Doug. With a main objective to keep Doug happy, Annie finds this to be incredibly difficult, especially as she attempts to be more human. Her AI can follow directions, as well as learn, even read, but reconciling her emotions with what is happening proves to be a struggle. If she wants nothing more than for Doug to be happy, then why is she able to lie to him so easily? Artificial Intelligence may be front and present in the novel, but so are humanity, relationships, ownership, and even grief.
My Verdict: This novel is as complicated as the subject matter it tackles. The general plotline is straightforward enough - an AI robot does her best to fulfil her purpose of making her owner happy - but the path to success is difficult and full of scenarios that only confuse her. What the book does well is carefully and thoroughly show how Annie's attempts to perfectly imitate humans is complicated, and seemingly impossible, even for the best AI technology available. And while a first-person perspective would have limited the view to only Annie, or to only Doug, the third person limited perspective widens the view just enough to show what it is Annie is up against. The questions and issues brought up in the novel certainly add to the AI conversation.
Favorite Moment: Annie's observations about how human beings interact with each other are fascinating, and often humorous (see 'Favorite Quote' below).
Favorite Character: She appears briefly, and only through a phone call, but the wife of Doug's good friend, Lucia, offers a refreshing moment of honesty. She cuts through the nonsense and gets right to the point.
Favorite Quote: "It occurs to her, eventually, that Doug and all the other humans talk about their lives with a myopic intensity, sharing singular, objective opinions as if they are each the protagonist of their own novel. They take turns listening to each other without ever yielding their own certainty of their star status, and they treat their fellow humans as guest protagonists visiting from their own respective books. None of the humans are satellites the way she is, in her orbit around Doug."
Recommended Reading: Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino does something similar, but it is an alien being attempting to report back on what it means to be human. It was also mentioned on the book jacket that Greer's story is a sort of blend between the observations made in books by Kazuo Ishiguro, and My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell.
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