How to Say Goodbye in Robot

Bea is the new girl in a town, a feeling that is not unknown to her. Her current location is Baltimore, Maryland, where she is to start senior year in a fancy private school where everyone has known each other since they were 3 years old. Bea is looking for something, but she’s not sure what; she often imagines herself living in Iceland, working as a hairdresser—it’s been said that Icelandic hairdressers are the happiest people on Earth. Then she meets Jonah, nicknamed Ghost Boy by the rest of the school, who introduces her to the midnight talk radio show the Night Lighters. Listening every night, she becomes immersed in the world of quirky characters, people who are all searching for something in life. There’s Larry who only calls in to play songs, Kreplach, who believes he is from the year 2110, and Don who calls in specifically to piss the other regulars off. Ghost Boy and Robot Girl (aka Bea) form an intense relationship, one that cannot be constrained to the terms of ‘friend’ or ‘boyfriend/girlfriend.’

Yet, Ghost Boy is more lost than the rest. When he finds out that his mentally retarded brother, who he buried, along with his mother, after they died in a car crash 10 years ago, is actually alive, it pushes him farther away from the human world. Can Bea tie him down or will he disappear forever?

How to say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford is filled with quirky, yet likeable and relatable characters. Bea’s first person narrative is sharp and realistic. The Night Lighters are all wonderfully strange and weird, and seeing the actual dialog between them and the radio shows host throughout the book provides a fun break from Bea’s narrative. Everyone is searching for something in their life and can easily relate to the characters of this book. If you’re looking for a fun, quick read, with characters you will think about long after you’ve finished reading, then do not pass this up!