How to Say Goodbye in Robot

by Natalie Standiford

Book Overview

From bestselling author Natalie Standiford, an amazing, touching story of two friends navigating the dark waters of their senior year. New to town, Beatrice 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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0545107083
• ISBN13: 9780545107082
• Release Date: October 2009
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 14 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 9 to 12

Customer Reviews

Not a romance - just real people with no easy answers

This book is not about the plot. I don't want to spoil it by giving it away, but there's really not much plot there. Girl moves to new city. Girl's parents are having trouble. Girl meets boy - ROMANCE DOES NOT DEVELOP. OK, maybe that's different. Usually, these teen books involve that aspect of the relationship. The main character is Bea, AKA Robot Girl, who's just moved with her family to Baltimore. The other main character is Jonah, the 'Ghost Boy.' The girl and boy become very close friends. In a strange way, it reminds me of the relationship between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen in Lost in Translation, but these are teenagers, not adults. This book is heavily character driven. Most of the characters are very well developed, even the minor characters. We get to see depth in the other kids in school, parents, even the circle of friends that develop around a late-night radio talk show. There is a tragedy, parents separate, butmanage to get back together. An important character dies. The Bea/Jonah relationship is tested. I am not sure how to classify the ending. Persoanlly, I think it ended well. The 2 main characters never 'hook up,' as young people like to say. There are some references to sex and both of the main characters (HS Seniors - minors) drink alcohol (quite often). There is a reference to an extramarital affair. A major character runs away from home. I think the book is positive. It shows that young people can have important, emotionally significant and meaningful relationships with members of the opposite sex that do not involve romance or sex.

One of my favorites of 2009!

How to Say Goodbye in Robot is definitely on my list of favorites for 2009... if fact, it makes my favorite books ever list! With the amount of books I read, that isn't an easy feat! The story How to Say Goodbye in Robot is painfully realistic at some points, but that just makes it hauntingly beautiful. I loved the old-timer radio show that Bea and Jonah listen to - it made me want to turn on the AM radio and find my own quirky insomniacs to help guide me through tough times. There was something about Bea that I found easy to relate to. Before she found that late night radio show, Bea fantasized about death - not suicide - just the comfort and relaxation of being separate from life. I may not have been quite as instense as Bea, but I've often wondered about death as I lay awake an night too. Bea struggles with showing her emotions; she is afraid to grow attached to people and places because she often has to pack up and move as soon as she makes connections. I undestood Bea's confusion and her ability to accept the fact that, maybe, she is a robot: cold, unfeeling, and hard. I loved Jonah. He was one of those characters that will draw a reader in like a moth to flame. He is so perfectly broken - I can see why Bea would be drawn to him in her own broken state. How to Say Goodbye in Robot is not a love story, but it is terribly romantic. Jonah and Bea have so much chemistry and truly love one another, flaws and all. I found the sappy teenager in me yearning for them to be together as a couple. But Jonah and Bea are never a couple - they are so much more. To me, this novel emphasizes how important connections other than the physical are - and how those ties can run so much deeper. I simply cannot write a review that will do this novel justice! It is one of my absolute favorites that I'll have on my go-to list for recommendations. How to Say Goodbye in Robot is a must read for 2009!

Excellent YA fiction about growing up while different.

Is Natalie Standiford's "How To Say Goodbye In Robot" Chick Lit? Yes and not necessarily. As a middle-aged male, I was attracted more to the title rather than the bright pink cover and as someone who has reviewed several recent YA titles, I'm glad I braved the description. I found myself reminiscing about some of my own high school days, being a bit odd to be fully accepted. Replete with quirky characters, an inward-looking and very personal story, and great descriptions and believable dialogue, Standiford successfully describes one of the most painful lessons of growing up: loss. Centered around Beatrice Szabo, daughter of a college professor whose search for his ideal teaching post has brought his family most recently to Baltimore and a fragile mother who is constantly near tears who early on asks Beatrice how she can be such a robot (without emotion), this is a story of a sensitive girl who has learned to disconnect herself in order to cope with the conundrum many students face, namely how someone who is sensitive and intelligent deals with being surrounded by well-meaning but shallow colleagues while still feeling the painful loneliness of not being understood. Beatrice meets Jonah, a boy whose appearance and manner have given him the painful nickname Ghost Boy; gradually getting to know him, she sees in him someone like herself: while growing up, he didn't want to be lonely, but by high school, he was determined to be alone because he rejected those who had for so long rejected him. The story features a delightful radio program whose host is a friendly, non-judgmental voice in the late night hours, attracting others like Bea and Jonah. These call-in sessions and the real-life get-togethers that Bea and Jonah attend offer a bit of fantasy and escapism from the drudgery of school, but they also illustrate both the prevalence of loneliness in society and the often humorous and sad qualities of those who don't conform. Bea and Jonah both deal with emotionally difficult families and much of the novel's plot concerns Jonah's search for answers about his family and his own identity. By focusing the story on Jonah's difficulties, the author allows Bea to be involved with the difficulties of another person, encouraging her to develop the empathy she had steeled herself against for so many years in order to cope with the loss of friendship during so much relocation. It also is a wonderfully moving story of the love of deep friendship and the author understands the power of subtlety. For example, there is a scene where a classmate expresses a long-standing grudge against Jonah for having invited her over to play when they were children, accusing him of lying. Standiford doesn't spell out the truth for the reader and her gradual disclosure brought a tear to my eye. I do have two minor criticisms. The book's opening chapter is presented in the same matter-of-fact manner that defines Beatrice, but offers no period for the reader to beco

wonderful

I really, really enjoyed this book. Truly didn't want to put it down and stayed up way too late reading it (and I'm a 26 y/o girl). Bea is new in town, which is nothing new to her. Her father, a professor, moves around a lot. Things are odd at home with her mom, but Bea kind of ignores it and goes on with life. At a Baltimore private school, the kids are nice enough to her (they've all known each other for so long, outsiders are welcome), but she feels drawn to a loner named Jonah who is called Ghost Boy by the others. Eventually the two become very close (more than friends, but not boyfriend/girlfriend, they are unable to find words to describe it), partially bonding over a late-night radio show (where Bea calls herself Robot Girl because she has a hard time understanding emotional situations at home) they both call in to occasionally, and Bea helps Jonah on an important personal quest. The book's ending is sad, happy, thoughtful, and satisfying. I saw part of the end coming (the part alluded to by the masks) but not all of it. I think I enjoyed this most because I found the characters to be very real. The high school kids aren't sad stereotypes and pretty much all the characters in the book seem to be generally likable and sympathetic. Even the jerky heartthrob really isn't a bad guy - and that's probably the truth in most situations. I was glad the author didn't make everyone "out to get" Jonah and Bea because they were "different." On the contrary, Bea is able to pretty successfully hang with the rest of the crowd and still be known as the outcast's BFF. I suppose this may be a little unrealistic in the opposite direction, but it was at least a refreshing change from the "mean girls" mentality. I was also relieved that the bit about Jonah's lies turned out to be a red herring - plot thickeners like "ZOMG he was lying the whole tiiime!" drive me insane. The only part I did find a little outlandish was that the kids were always alone out in Baltimore. I'm from Maryland, and I don't see 17 year old kids being allowed out late in B-more on a regular basis without someone knowing a lot of details (crazy parents or no). But that didn't really affect the story for me - Jonah and Bea are mature, so you get over that quirk (I see evidence of this quirk in the suggested tags - though Baltimore seems like it could be tagged as a "small town" in the book, um no it is not). FYI, there is cursing in the book and a whole lot of under-age drinking (but responsible under age drinking - no one ever gets really drunk and there is no drinking and driving), but there is no sex. I really enjoyed this one and will be keeping my eye on the author.

darn good stuff!!!

There's been a lot of really good writing in the young adult fiction genre over the past few years, and "How to Say Goodbye in Robot" belongs at the very top of the list. It's not what I'd call a plot-driven book... the story is about a girl, Bea, who's family has just moved for the millionth time. It's her senior year of high school and Bea is definitely a bit on the unconventional side; for fun, she and her mother put on costumes and pose like characters from old movies and then photograph themselves. At the new school, Bea meets Jonah, known to his classmates as Ghost Boy in part because of his pale hair, flour-white skin, and eyes that are "gray as pond ice." As the story progresses, Bea gets to know Jonah, Jonah gets to know Bea, and they share a number of slightly surreal adventures together. Part of what makes this book so good is that it avoids all the easy cliches that one so often encounters in this genre. Neither Bea nor Jonah are popular kids, but we aren't subjected to scenes of high school humiliations; it's their senior year of high school and everyone has sort of outgrown that kind of cruelty. Also, author Natalie Standiford manages to maintain a fine balance between the bleak and the fun. Here's a brief excerpt to give you a sense of the writing: I turned a corner and came to a small church. There was a head-stone near the path leading to the church's wooden doors. I stepped closer to read the headstone. It said FOR THE UNICORN CHILD. That is so cool, I thought. What a funky town this was. I imagined a neighborhood Legend of the Unicorn Child, about a one-horned little boy who'd died tragically, hit by a car or shot by a mugger or maybe poisoned by lawn pesticides. The story of the Unicorn Child was so real to these people they'd erected a stone in his memory. Then I read it again. The stone didn't say FOR THE UNICORN CHILD. It said FOR THE UNBORN CHILD. ---- Reading "How to Say Goodbye in Robot" feels like hanging out with a couple of really interesting good friends, making each other laugh and sharing thoughts and experiences and occasionally feeling a little bit melancholy together. It's a mighty good thing and I recommend it completely.