Eros, Philia, Agape

The beauty of this short story is that it provides a lot of information in a way that it never overwhelms you. It is a whole new world, a different time, a different relationship and yet it all seems to work somehow.

Loved reading it.

Love/Hate?: Love times infinity
Rating: 5/5
Did you finish?: Finished, reread, finished again!

One-sentence summary: Poignant break up of a marriage. (Ha, that's my sneaky summary.)

Why did you get this book?: Free sample from the Sony eReader store

Do you like the cover?: N/A

First line from book: Lucian packed his possessions before he left.

Review: Oh.My.God. I didn't know what to expect from this short piece of fiction but wow -- what I got just blew me away. In just a brief number of pages (31 on my eReader), Swirsky created a story that touched upon so many themes: marriage, abuse, heartbreak, parenthood, AI, soul ... Her writing is so readable, one just inhales the pages, and then suddenly, I was at the end, very nearly screaming for show more the story to go on. No wonder this was a Hugo and Locus finalist. So good. show less

Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky is a short story (about 35 pages according to my kindle edition) that can be read for free at http://www.tor.com/2009/03/03/eros-philia-agape/ . It is the story of a young woman who is looking to change her life after her abusive father dies. She decides to purchase a robot for companionship. Eventually she falls in love with the robot and they marry and have a daughter. However, eventually the robot begins to question their love and if he could truly love his family or is it all programing. To find out who he is, he must leave his family. This is a beautifully written story that chronicles the end of a marriage and the meaning of love. Like real life, you can feel sorry for the characters and the show more situation...wish they chose different, but understand that they couldn't do it differently. The story is more about their relationship and the meaning of love than the often explored story of artificial intelligence developing sentience. It is also an example of a short story that is the perfect length. Although I want to know what the future holds for the characters, I did not feel like I was reading only part of a larger story. show less

A rather good short story. This was a unique take on an otherwise typical plot about AI/is-it-human/etc. It'd be a mistake to call this a love story. It's more a story of one sentient being deciding to strike out on its own and discover itself, and the effect this has on the woman that fell in love with him and the child he leaves behind.

This was a such beautiful story. All the layers of being human and feeling love. Gorgeous.

Adriana is a rich girl, who adopts a daughter and buys herself an android husband, whose artificial personality is still developing. After a confrontation with her pet parrot Fuoco, things start to unravel. A superb story.

An interesting story for sure. I do like an author who can write a full story in around 75 pages. I am glad that I was able to locate this story, it has sparked a desire to read more short fiction.