-------------------------------------Don’t get me wrong--I love books that fit in the boy-meets-girl/instant love/ teenage relationship mold of literature. They are cliché and feel-good, sometimes instant hits, and they are among my guilty pleasures. But it’s really nice to get to read something different, where a vampire doesn’t make girls swoon, or the cute-but-not-quite-popular-girl gains the quarterback’s affection. Some of those feelings are real, some of the characters are plausible (I’m not quite sold that Edward Cullen exists, actually). However, Natalie Standiford’s How to Say Goodbye in Robot is different: you don’t have to be in love--you can be confused and undecided, or you don’t have to party hard or study the night away--you can choose to take it easy. My favorite part is the narration. It is authentic and sincere--I could easily imagine myself going off on similar tangents. I like being able to see part of myself in the narrator, for once. This book is realistic fiction, revolving around the life of teenagers, and yet--it’s so different from a lot of other novels I’ve read before.
Bea is a senior who moves around a lot and she always counted on her mom for companionship, in the past. Lately, she can’t help but be frustrated because her mom is ignoring everyone, worshipping chickens for good luck, and distancing herself from her family. So Bea starts making friends at her fancy private school. It works out all right. She gets a date and she is sitting with the girls at the popular table--all because she is new, and everyone else has known each other since kindergarten. However, she drops her shiny new status of acceptance for Jonah, a boy who is almost ghostly, who has a secret, and keeps out of everyone’s way. He’s not really what one would consider socially acceptable. That’s why he finds his own world to live in--and decides to give Bea a key to it, as well. Their world is that of radio.
Aptly put by the Buggles, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” However, in some parts of the world, the radio star is far from dead, coming alive at midnight. WBAM in Baltimore, AM 1120, has Herb Horvath as the star from midnight and on. Herb is the host for the Night Light Show, with a large listening audience of insomniacs and people on their late-night shifts. One can call in to talk to Herb, to the world, and to other Night Lights. Under pseudo names Ghost Boy and Robot Girl, Jonah and Bea feel safe to talk to the rest of the audience, content to spend nights falling asleep to the sounds of their radios.
Their world is shattered by Jonah’s discovery about his childhood, and Bea’s life begins to center around her volatile friend. She throws away other aspects of her social life to join him on his escapades, whether or not she is welcome.
Eventually, she is welcomed into Jonah’s world, and they plan their lives together. But Jonah has other plans. The disappearing kind. He's already treated like a ghost--might as well start acting like that. He becomes a ghost--erasing every picture of himself after his infancy. Jonah Tate is gone. A ghost. No one knows where he is, which drives Bea mad. Sometimes, life works out that way and all you can do is feel your way back through the dark.
Go check out How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford from your local library or buy it in the bookstores to find out the whole story. And while you’re at it, keep an eye out for Jonah Tate. Have you seen Ghost Boy lately? His friends and family are very concerned and hoping to hear back from him.
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