Sometimes amid a flood of fantastic fantasy novels featuring dragons and superhuman abilities and heart-racing dystopian adventures full of thought-provoking doom & gloom, I crave a story grounded in our so-called 'real world.' At the right moment, there's really nothing better than a solid piece of contemporary realistic fiction. Natalie Standiford's lovely novel How To Say Goodbye In Robot goes beyond solid realistic fiction into the realm of brilliant stories. Behind its quirky title and deceptively pink cover hides a raw and emotionally resonant story of two people searching for connection during that bizarre period bridging the end of high school and beginning of real life.
When Beatrice started her senior year at a new school, she assumed she’d find friends among the many average, cheerful, and friendly girls she met on her first day. But alphabetic destiny pairs Beatrice up with the class loner Jonah—AKA Ghost Boy. At first being assigned a locker and a seat beside the guy whose name has apparently become synonymous with 'weirdo' seems like a simple bit of bad luck. But Bea soon discovers that she and Jonah have more in common than their ajoining positions in the class roster.
Bea & Jonah are destined to be friends. But their relationship is not going to be an average friendship, bound by shared gossip, parties, and hobbies. Bea & Jonah forge an intense connection based on secret truths, daring adventures, and late-night calls to the same old-time radio show. As unconventional and undefined as their relationship might be, their connection is painfully, powerfully real. It’s not quite romance—but it’s definitely love. The kind of love you never forget.
This lovely novel is both heart-warming and heart-wrenching and it stands out as one of few book that explores the tangled, consuming, wonderful, and painful realities of friendship. I would especially recommend this novel to fans of The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and John Green's novels (especially Looking For Alaska).
Check out Natalie Standiford's How To Say Goodbye In Robot, on display now in the library's fiction section!
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