Girl Parts by John M. Cusick

Girl Parts takes place in the real world...mostly. The only different thing is that a company called Sakura has figured out how to manufacture robots so lifelike that they can pass for real people, especially after their AI/learning positronic brains get a handle on their environment.

Basically, Cylons.

In an adult novel, the story would be about these robots. Can they be trusted? Are they people? Should they be destroyed? Which country’s army will control the technology? Do they, in fact, dream of electric sheep?

Cusick doesn’t care about any of that. This isn’t science fiction. This is teen fiction. The robot conceit exists solely for the purpose of exploring teenage boys’ perceptions of girls and relationships, as well as what it means to find a connection with someone.

Girl Parts revolves around two boys growing up in a small town. David, popular and rich, lives on one side of a lake. Charlie, introverted and quirky, lives on the other. Their worlds, though close, rarely connect. But when David’s parents purchase him “Rose”, a hot girl robot designed to treat his “dissociative disorder” (depression-lite), things change. David finds that he can’t treat Rose like other girls, largely because she gives him an involuntary electric shock every time he tries to put the moves on her. Rose is designed to need to please David, though, and thus their relationship begins to form around awkward conversations and a distinct lack of physicality.

But David grows restless before Rose grows ready, and he rejects her as flawed (after finding out she lacks the titular “girl parts” he’s most interested in), leaving her on her own. Charlie saves her from a robo-suicide, and finds that talking to a robot is a lot easier than talking to a human. Rose, for her part, has to discover if her programming can be overcome, or if she will be doomed to forever focus on David, who has rejected her, or if she can learn to be her own person.

Teen angst isn’t always enough to keep a story rolling, however, so Cusick throws in a little suspense in the form of shady Sakura thugs and a high school councillor who may not be what he says he is. There’s another thread too, as Rose hunts for a rogue Sakura engineer who can make her “complete”.

There’s a whole lot going on in this book, including an almost comic level of obsession with sex on the part of the male characters. They’re described as sophomores in the novel, which struck me as a bit young to be as sexually active as they are described. But then, I’m old and possess the morals of an 18th century matron, so who am I to say if it’s realistic or not?

The general acceptance of pleasure-bots is just as doubtful, though Cusick’s point is to satirize our own desire to literally forge connections with others through technology. The book is most certainly teen-oriented, as both the topic and the events of the story will be too intense for less mature readers. Cusick actually opens the story with a grisly depiction of a YouTubed suicide, establishing early on that he’s interested in discussing how people choose to connect via technology. Girl Parts is a solid first novel, and should hook boys who may not otherwise read for fun.

(Note: this review originally appeared on the now-retired Tumblr blog Little Librist, which I ran while working as a children’s bookseller.)