John M. Cusick

Boys/men want women who are as gorgeous as possible, with the body type they most desire, who will agree with them on everything, be utterly devoted to them, and be available for sex at any moment - regardless of how little time they have known each other. That's what I got out of this story. About halfway through this book, I flipped back to the front cover to double-check the author's name. (look) *sigh* (Yep, written by a man. Obviously.) I can't actually imagine a female enjoying this show more book. Reading it just gave me an icky feeling all over.

The premise is that a bunch of kids watch a girl livestream her suicide and they don't contact the police. This could have been a FANTASTIC opening concept in another author's hands. John Green or Jay Asher, maybe. It's never explained why, but for some reason, the new school counselor decides some of these boys are "disassociated" because they spend too much time in the virtual world (all of their classes are online as well). To fix their inability to connect with humans in socially acceptable ways they give the boys expensive, lifelike, artificial intelligence-equipped robots. Teenage girl robots. Ughhhh... see how flawed this concept is already? How is a robot supposed to help someone connect with real people? Especially when that robot (a teenage girl) is programmed to like what the boy likes, agree with what the boy says, wait at home all day for the boy to arrive, and GIVE THE BOY PHYSICAL INTIMACY after an appropriate period of time. Seriously? So, you think teenage boys are going to be BETTER at interacting with real live girls if this is where their expectations lie? And we haven't even gotten to the part about the boys' first instinct being to find a way to get around the mandated timeframe before allowing said sexual intimacy.

Every part of this story is problematic. Why don't they make lifelike boy dolls? Why are only teenage boys given these girl robots? Surely, out of the 175 people who supposedly watched this suicide play out in real-time online there were some females who watched it and did nothing as well. Were they offered counseling? The other main plot point of "teenage boys disassociating" likewise could have been great opening material if handled by a different author. But we never even really see evidence of this supposed disassociation. We have one boy, seemingly sweet, who doesn't have many friends and is bullied by the rich, mean boys at school. And we have another boy, the rich, mean boy, who is just an asshole. That doesn't mean he is disassociated. He's just an entitled jerk.

By the end of the story, the only "person" who has shown any growth at all is the robot. (um, okay) There is no arc of these boys learning how to connect (really there was no evidence of them not connecting in the first place) or growing in their understanding of the female half of the population. There was a sort of side story about the company who made the robots and some sort of nefarious intentions on their part, but that part of the story is never fleshed out, either (a third plotline that could have been good book on its own).

I'm not really sure for whom this book is written. It was short enough and an easy enough read (took me maybe three hours) for middle-grade readers, but the subject matter contains a lot of adult references: smoking, drinking, drunk-driving, sex, and sexual thoughts, so I have to assume it's meant for high school age. Besides the author being a competent writer - grammar-wise, sentence structure, voice of the characters, etc - I really cannot recommend this book to anyone. And please, for the love of future mankind (and womankind), don't buy this book for a teenage boy. show less

Girl Parts opens with a girl committing suicide to a live internet audience. David inadvertently witnesses the streaming video, and his parents become concerned. After a meeting with his guidance counselor they decide a robotic “companion” might be just what he needs. Companion Rose arrives in a box, and David is immediately awed by how lifelike (and hot) she is. Elsewhere is loner Charlie. He isn’t one of the cool kids. He’d prefer to spend his time studying plant life as opposed to show more partying with the popular crowd. When David breaks Rose’s heart, Charlie must help pick up the pieces.

The entire premise of this book was seriously clever. Dark at moments, yet able to make you laugh during others. This is really something special. It has the necessities to appeal to both male and female readers. Two interesting male protags, and a little bit of mushy romance for readers that dig that sort of thing. I was under the impression this would be a quick, light read. While it was fun, and I read it in just a few hours, it packs a punch and makes you think.

Does contain emotionally heavy content (suicide), sexual situations, drinking, and language. I’d be ok with recommending this to my children if they were 14 or older. show less

GIRL PARTS, by John Cusick, centers around two contrasting high school boys dealing with the same "dissociative disorder" that they are diagnosed with. Companions are given to teens who are having face-to-face connection issues to learn boundaries of communication in "real life". In his debut novel, Cusick humorously explores the fate of those who are disconnected from society through technology.

This book was a pleasant unexpected surprise. Cusick molded a story around two totally different show more teens (popular troublemaker versus unpopular nerd) and their link through one not so human Companion, Rose. Both these characters had me laughing out loud during awkward date moments and general male-hormone-driven thoughts.

I liked the concept of the Companions. Through Rose's point of view we are able to see how technologically advanced the Sakora Solutions company really is (it's a bit scary too if you ask me!). Rose started off as pretty stiff in her movements and speech but through her "learning" she eventually looked and acted like any other female. She definitely won my heart with her innocence and downright sweetness.

Overall, this book was definitely different and I think girls and guys alike will enjoy it. It was hilarious, romantic, and definitely bittersweet. I look forward to reading future releases from this talented author. show less

I was kind of turned off by the cover of this book, but the concept was interesting enough that I wanted to read it. First off, this book was definitely, definitely written by a man. There's no two ways about it -- usually it's harder to tell, but it actually worked here (mostly). David is the rich, snobbish boy and Charlie is the bookish nerd, you relate easily to Charlie and you're supposed to. But Cusick does, by the end of the novel, get you to care about David. The main character of the show more book is Rose, the girl who isn't a girl (but becomes one, sort of). She's a companion bot for David, but becomes much, much more. This book is really about compassion and about growing up, but also about how hard it is to be a teen. It's not without flaws (and there are so many), but it's a good, quick read and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. show less