"Hello, David. My name is Rose. It’s a pleasure to meet you. We are now entering minute two of our friendship. According to my Intimacy Clock, a handshake is now appropriate…"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 to encourage healthy bonds and treat "dissociative disorder," he can’t get enough of luscious red-headed Rose — and he can’t get it soon. Companions come with strict intimacy protocols, and whenever he tries anything, David gets an electric shock. Severed 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 uber-connected world.

From School Library Journal

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
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

David, a typical empowered alpha teen, and Charlie, an introverted social fumbler, are cast here as two ends in the spectrum of dissociative disorder. David’s parents, at the behest of a guidance counselor, import an experimental “companion” (a lifelike robot girl designed to create a healthy relationship with her target human) named Rose from Japan. Of course, she is absolutely ravishing, and David can’t wait to get her clothes off. But when he finally does, he discovers that, anatomically, she is “a Barbie doll,” and he unceremoniously dumps her. Rose, who has by now developed her own personality, is crushed, and though she is programmed to love only David, she learns how to love Charlie. Readers will have to construct a pretty heavy-duty lattice to suspend disbelief, and there are plenty of potential eyebrow-raisers (par-for-the-course drinking and drug use and, yes, frisky business with robots—all handled tastefully). Nevertheless, this manages to balance outrageous adolescent wish fulfillment with a perceptive, provocative exploration of teen social, sexual, and identity issues. Grades 9-12. --Ian Chipman

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