Yet again, another book I underestimated. I loved this book. It has the basics for a teenage fiction: high school, parties, romance, but it's not like that at all. It's far from what I was expecting. A quick read. An easy read. But better. I wanted to be the characters in this book. I wanted to find a radio station to listen to at 2 in the morning. I wanted to ride on a magic carpet down to Ocean City. I wanted to skip prom for a crazy night on the boardwalk. I wanted to escape into their world. Wonderful, yet intelligent book. “Sweet, sad, wonderfully quirky, and delightfully original, Natalie Standiford’s beautifully honest book made me laugh in surprise, nod in understanding, and wish that I were part robot so that my heart would stop breaking.” – Libba Bray(this blurb pretty much sums up the book perfectly but I’m going to ramble on a bit myself now because I can)First off, quirky. Yes. This book is so quirky. As I love quirky, it’s one of the things that drew me in in the first place. Just a cute little story, right? Then, somewhere along the way, I went from simply interested and amused to irreversibly emotionally involved, and I’m still not entirely sure how that happened.Bea starts out as a pretty apathetic character. Since her family moves around a lot, she’s learned not to get too attached to things. She’s a little strange, and she doesn’t care too much about what other people think; there isn’t really anyone she cares about, period. And then she meets Jonah. Quiet, pale, and disliking most humans in general, Jonah (also known as Ghost Boy) hasn’t made a friend in almost ten years. The two misfits end up joining together, and their friendship grows more than I think either of them could have predicted. This is one of those rare books that shows a deep, complex, true friendship between a boy and a girl, and (even rarer) doesn’t try to turn it into something else. (platonic relationships FTW.) And the thing is, it /worked/. I loved seeing their friendship grow. It wasn’t perfect; there were many rough parts, and some very selfish behavior, but it felt /real/ to me.I loved Bea. I didn’t have any strong feelings either way about her at first; I thought she was interesting, but not much more. However, like the rest of the story, she slowly grew on me, until I cared about her so much that she felt like a part of me. Maybe it’s one of those things that comes down to personal preference and experience, but I just connected with her, and although I didn’t expect to, as the story progressed I found that I could actually relate to her in a lot of ways. She may be apathetic near the beginning, but she isn’t really emotionless. As the story unfolds, you see her reaching out, growing attached and showing her emotions more, going from a robot girl to a true, living one, and it’s both beautiful and painful at the same time. I loved the Night Lights show. I loved the friendship. I loved the way Bea saw the world. I loved the boardwalk prom. I loved all the little quirky details and the events that all wove together and came up later in ways you wouldn’t have guessed. Although many of the situations in this book aren’t things that most people would have experienced, the emotions and feelings all rang true, and that’s what’s important. I felt Bea’s happiness. I felt her heartbreak. I understood the emotions, even if I haven’t experienced them to that extent yet. I know this book is going to stay with me a long time.DISCLAIMERS/content warning (because I would feel guilty about recommending this book without at least mentioning these things sorry) : Several F-bombs. Casual mention of drugs and smoking. Drinking. Nothing too explicit, except for the swearing. (Honestly the content is pretty much the only thing keeping me from giving this book five stars right now because while that stuff still does make me uncomfortable, I really, really loved this book. ;-; )
What do You think about Como Dizer Adeus Em Robô (2013)?
very interesting characters. loved theradio show and all the funny people they met through that.
—sandritta
This was such a wonderful random little book. I am sad I didn't read it sooner than I did!
—ashley89
Really well written. BUT... I was practcally crying at the end.
—kooter
Kelly McCallum, this one's for you... #highschoolthrowback
—buki
