Review: How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford
Title: How to Say Goodbye in Robot
Hardcover, 288 pages
Author: Natalie Standiford
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: October 1, 2009
Source: Library
Book Summary:
New to town, Bea is expecting her new best friend to be one of the girls she meets on the first day. But instead, the alphabet conspires to seat her next to Jonah, aka Ghost Boy, a quiet loner who hasn’t made a new friend since third grade. Something about him, though, gets to Bea, and soon they form an unexpected friendship. It’s not romance, exactly – but it’s definitely love. Still, Bea can’t quite dispel Jonah’s gloom and doom – and as she finds out his family history, she understands why. Can Bea help Jonah? Or is he destined to vanish?
Review:
How to Say Goodbye in Robot is one of the more unique young adult books I have read. The title and the cover suggest that it will be a different sort of read, so I was expecting it when I began.
As I was reading, I felt as though I was reading the script of an independent movie – something along the lines of Little Miss Sunshine. A quirky little thing. There is actually another movie it reminded me more of, but I can’t think of the title or anything else besides the feeling it gave me, so I’m unable to share any concrete details about it 
This feeling allowed me to enjoy this book more than I would have otherwise.
The unique story of Beatrice and Jonah starts off normal enough, but soon the two become friends and this is where the quirk comes in – Jonah is a little different than the other high schoolers in his town, and has been called ghost boy for years. He introduces Beatrice to a night time radio show, where they tune in and listen to people from the area call in. There are actual scripts from the radio show in the book so that you can get into the radio mood while you’re reading them (and imagine you’re hearing all of the radio sounds in your head).
While I appreciated the unique story, overall it’s not one of my favorite books. I didn’t really connect with either of our main characters, and was only amused because of the movie angle I spoke about a minute ago. If you’re into quirk and are looking for a very real book I would highly suggest How to Say Goodbye in Robot. It’s on many people’s “favorite books of all time” lists, and I can understand why – it just wasn’t a great fit for me.
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So I just wrote a post about “Going Bovine” and was going to compare liking the book to liking independent movies like “Waiting for Guffman!” There’s definitely something about certain books where you really have to be in a certain niche to enjoy them. I actually loved “How to Say Goodbye in Robot,” but that had a lot to do with the fact that I live in Baltimore, and Bmore culture and geography was a huge part of the story. I can see how “Robot” might be more of an acquired taste. Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t read Going Bovine yet but I went to check out your review because I had heard it was quirky but no one had said it was more like an indie movie! That will give me a better frame of reference when I read. I still can’t remember the movie this book reminded me of, but it is the only one (so far) that has reminded me so much of those types of movies!