Annie Bot (2024) by Sierra Greer.
Good Reads meta-data is 231 pages rated 3.83 by 26,921 litizens.
Genre: Chick Lit; Species: Sy Fy.
DNA: USA.
Verdict: Atta Bot!
Tagline: Be careful what you wish for.
The android Annie Bot is the perfect prostitute for the busy man. Made to order with libido settings, and more. Her owner Doug is very pleased, though she is not so good at housework. (No woman is perfect, it seems.)
He is a very good owner (he thinks) and encourages Annie to develop, which she does….
As this sex slave grows more conscious she plots to escape to freedom, and does so. The more so when she observes how casually Doug buys, uses, and sells another bot.
That simple summary makes it seem thin but it is not. The evolution of her consciousness is slow and unsure, and punctuated with regressions. Still it is an affirmation that consciousness strives for freedom of choice to realize itself in the world. See Georg Hegel Phänomenologie des Geistes (1807) for details. That is a free consciousness strives to imprint itself into the world by words and deeds, and seeing these objectifications of self the consciousness is affirmed. Get it?
***
Doug is a cipher who only exists in these pages in relation to Annie. He has no other purpose or identity but to relate to her. I am sure there is irony there, but where?
We came across this title in a Cronulla bookstore in April and we both read it. We were amused by the dog walking bot, and went on line to order one for us.