How to Say Goodbye in Robot

by Natalie Standiford

[Angie]

How to Say Goodbye in Robot is adorable, different, and cracked my heart. It didn't quite break it, but it would have if the ending had gone in the direction I feared it would. But it didn't, so my heart is aching, but in tact. It's all about Bea, whose family has just moved at the start of her senior year. Bea is quirky, but not exactly an outsider, so she's welcomed by the girls at her new school. However, it's Johan--nicknamed Ghost Boy--who becomes her newest and only friend. No one bothers with him, and he doesn't bother with anyone, but he and Bea bond over death and radio.

I adored Bea and her slightly morbid hobbies. She creates death fantasies to help her sleep, and occasionally stages gruesome movie scenes with her mother to photograph. Kind of weird, but I found her interests believable rather than forced in order to make her quirky and interesting. It's her preoccupation with death which gets Johan to introduce her to a late night radio show, where the callers all believe in ghosts. In fact, there's snippets of the radio calls in How to Say Goodbye in Robot and I loved that! I felt like I was listening right there with Bea and getting to know all its eccentric listeners. It was a lot of fun! The radio listeners also wound up playing as amazing supports to Bea and Jonah when things get bad.

While I absolutely loved How to Say Goodbye in Robot for focusing on a purely platonic boy-girl friendship which never turned romantic, I was a bit thrown off by how quickly it happened. Jonah at first shows no interest in making friends, despite telling Bea about the radio show. Then all of a sudden they're attached at the hip and are closer than close. I felt like I missed a pivotal moment, since Jonah went from "leave me alone" to "never leave me!" in no time. But I enjoyed their friendship so much! They are adorable! And then Jonah gets some news. Very, very shocking, life altering news and Bea is beyond supportive! This is also when my heart started crumbling, because, aahhh! Emotions!

How to Say Goodbye in Robot is primarily about Bea and Jonah, and how Bea helps Jonah with his...mission (I don't want to give it away!), but it also shows how Bea and her mom relate, and fail to relate after the move. It is Bea's mother who calls her a robot for not being emotional, while her mother is an emotional wreck. She seems very imbalanced and spends a lot of the book sick, which made my mind immediately jump to pregnancy! Then as things get worse: cancer! But it's neither of those things. It's something far more common, which I'm surprised isn't dealt with more in fiction. I'm glad it was addressed, but I was left underwhelmed by this plot thread, since Jonah's struggles are much more emotional.

In the end, I did love How to Say Goodbye in Robot. It covers one full year of Bea starting over, but keeping to who she is. How she made friends with the friendless boy and tried to help make his dreams come true. That sounds very cheesy, but it's anything but, I promise! It's sooo amazing!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.