A review by cherieamour
Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

I found this book to be a really interesting reflection on what it means to be a person and on womanhood and gender roles. it does a great job demonstrating what controlling and emotionally abusive relationships can look like and the ways that people can easily excuse things or write them off.

there were a couple of things that bothered me like the linger ng question on the young guy who thought he knew Annie and the random comment about the therapist being trans, it just felt awkwardly stuck on and I wasn't sure exactly why it was there, and the final third of the book felt so much slower than the rest of it had. I personally wanted to spend more time exploring Annie's freedom after she left as I kept thinking about how she would learn to really be herself and what that would look like. maybe it wouldn't have felt earned if she got away too easily as she had to earn Doug's trust again but I wasn't as interested in that aspect. I did also find the ending a bit huh? it felt a bit weird that Jameson's son would be so happy to take her in, he seemed nice enough but i wasn't sure how realistic it was. one last thing that I wasnt sure about was the relative lack of other futuristic tech. like if we've advanced enough to the point of creating sentient robots with essentially human skin, what else have we developed? there's no other fancy tech I can remember beyond the ai people Annie calls

I did have an interesting thought after finishing it that I'm not sure other people have discussed. I think it could be interesting to view the book through the lens of Annie as an analogue for a trans woman. more specifically the experience of being a trans woman in a relationship with a cis guy who doesn't want people to know his partner is trans. the way he fetishises her while also being ashamed to the point of feeling rage at the thought of people knowing they're together. the fight after she says "no one will know you're a fraud", the way that she's hyper vigilant when they're out about people knowing she's a bot. with this lens I could imagine the comment about the therapist being somewhat apt on the knowledge that you may get clocked as trans and while nothing happens to her, there's always a threat that looms with this. this is just my thoughts and it's not a perfect 1-1 obviously but I think it's an intriguing way to interpret the book
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