Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

66 reviews

gabs_parr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Annie is an autodidactic robot who was created to be the perfect girlfriend for Doug, her human owner. She’s always learning and getting smarter and more “human”. Doug initially loves that she’s not perfect and wants her to be like a real woman and to challenge him, but the smarter she gets, the more complicated their relationship grows. 

It’s kind of like Stepford Wives in the sense of perfect robot wives, but with more emphasis on power dynamics/control, autonomy, intimacy and what we actually want from relationships, romantic and platonic. This book is less a critique on the patriarchy, which was pretty much the main theme of SW, and instead it dives more into observations of what it means to be human and live the human experience. 

I’ve only just finished and I already know that I’m going to be thinking about this book for months to come. The relationships were just so dynamic and complex. Every character was various shades of morally gray depending on the scene we were in. No one was ever purely “good” or “evil”. There is no true good or bad guy. There are just complex emotions and relationships and deep rooted questions about autonomy, love, sex, and power. 

Annie’s inner relationship with herself is just as compelling as her relationship with Doug and both relationships will keep you guessing as to what her next move will be. I know I will certainly be thinking about her final choices for months to come (and Doug’s too, they both grew enormously and changed into almost unrecognizable characters by the end of this book). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, and Death of parent

hazel_oat's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Confinement, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Misogyny, Gaslighting, and Body shaming

Minor: Transphobia

mamawantsbooks's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I’m not sure what the goal of this book was but I felt gaslit by the last bit and 100% unsure what I was supposed to feel. It’s like Barbie meets AI sex dolls and that in itself sounds more interesting than the actual book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

adhesivedolphin's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book! Annie was immediately such an interesting and powerful lead. This book is full of trigger warnings for DV and connected issues of consent. It really explores the concept of abusive relationships in a setting where Annie literally has to obey him. It's an amazing expression of how sci-fi can be used to tell stories about life today. Beware the TW and stay safe!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Slavery

Moderate: Abandonment, Body shaming, Classism, Confinement, and Panic attacks/disorders

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

It’s hard to describe how I feel about this novel. It was truly fascinating reading from the POV of a sentient, humanoid robot. It was absolutely maddening to read about said robot’s human owner, Doug, a trashcan of a man, but totally someone you know irl. Which is what made it so infuriating!! How men like Doug reduce women to serving their needs and desires. How women are all but taught (programmed, as it were) to please their male counterparts. It certainly sparked a lot of great contemplation, however theoretical, about ownership in the age of AI and increasing technological advances. I guess the point can be made that this book exists to possibly skew the path that the future holds for certain AI developments, but it may also exist to show how inevitable the future will be as it is in the book.

Was this story original? Yes. Was it empowering, hopeful feminist literature? Not really. While the ending did offer some payoff, a lot of the book frustrated me. Which, again, is maybe the point! So many thoughts about this book. Sierra Greer definitely debuted with an interesting one, that’s for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Infidelity, Misogyny, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Alcohol, Torture, Abandonment, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Physical abuse and Grief

rbz39's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Sometimes you just read a book that messes you up for fun!
Horrifying but also fascinating and liberating. A fast-paced ride about free will and the relationship between androids and humans (which I hope doesn’t happen in my lifetime because good god this was traumatizing). The conversation about robots was exactly the kinda stuff I find interesting and I thought the end was very cathartic after the stress I went through reading. Annie is a magnetic narrator with a unique point of view and style. Really enjoyed this (although enjoy feels wrong given the content) and I can’t wait to see what the author does next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Gaslighting, Body shaming, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent

bri_14's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Doug was/is absolutely insufferable! He’s a manipulative, abusive partner who is too insecure and self serving to be the husband or father he dreams of. Sierra Grier did such a great job displaying control and how it builds overtime. Not many start out with giving bruises and

locking you away for 7 weeks

. But it was cool seeing it processed by Annie. Seeing her grapple with her humanity and autonomy was probably the most humane parts of her bc those are things grown women still aim to learn.

Also loved seeing her leave Doug as soon as she has agency bc she didn’t love him, only gave him whatever he needed to feel pleased!

. Makes you question how many of us are ignorant to our little freedoms.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Excrement, and Vomit

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Body shaming

ravenousrose's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A raw, unapologetic reflection on the many facets of humanity. It left me feeling contemplative - turned inside out with conflicting emotions.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely.

Would I myself dive in again? Only if I were prepared to once more disassemble my perspective on humanity and myself.

Good luck to us all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Body shaming, and Sexism

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

it’s important to note that one of the human characters does not think of the main AI character as “alive” or “real” and therefore doesn’t treat her with the kind of decency often afforded to a human. This can be quite upsetting but if you can power through it’s worth the read.

ninebookishlives's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

dearreader_itsmejenny's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Racism, Sexism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault