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Summary
Summary
Told with Andrew Smith's signature dark humor, Rabbit & Robot tells the story of Cager Messer, a boy who's stranded on the Tennessee-- his father's lunar-cruise utopia--with insane robots.
Cager has been transported to the Tennessee , a giant lunar-cruise ship orbiting the moon that his dad owns, by Billy and Rowan to help him shake his Woz addiction. Meanwhile, Earth, in the midst of thirty simultaneous wars, burns to ash beneath them. And as the robots on board become increasingly insane and cannibalistic, and the Earth becomes a toxic wasteland, the boys have to wonder if they'll be stranded alone in space forever.
In his new novel, Andrew Smith, Printz Honor author of Grasshopper Jungle , will make you laugh, cry, and consider what it really means to be human.
Author Notes
Andrew Smith is the author of several novels for young adults, including Winger , Stand-Off , 100 Sideways Miles , and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book Grasshopper Jungle . He lives in a remote area in the mountains of Southern California with his family, two horses, two dogs, and three cats. He doesn't watch television, and occupies himself by writing, bumping into things outdoors, and taking ten-mile runs on snowy trails. Visit him online at AuthorAndrewSmith.com.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 10 Up-Cager and best friend Billy, along with their faithful assistant Rowan, are headed to space on the luxury ship Tennessee to escape the multiple wars the United States is waging and to seek treatment for Cager's increasingly dangerous Woz addiction. The boys' fathers are the inventors of Cogs, artificial intelligence beings that are created to serve humans, as well as the creators of Rabbit & Robot, an extremely popular television show rooted in the principles asserted by their fathers. After unfortunate events strike Earth while they are on the ship, Cager, Billy, and Rowan are thought to be the only humans left alive. Cager struggles with his Woz detox and Billy starts to deal with his new life on the ship. A worm makes its way onto the ship and infects the captain (who is also a Cog). This infection spreads to the rest of the Cogs, which makes them cannibalize one another in increasingly graphic ways. Unbeknownst to everyone, humans Meg and Jeffrie are stowaways. Smith's trademark humor and gonzo storytelling is on full display here. Much of the universe is set up within the first half of the book, although it is revealed somewhat confusingly at a leisurely pace (sometimes to the detriment of the narrative flow). Meg and Jeffrie mainly serve as objects of desire or affection. The narrative attempts to tell a story about what makes us human and whether it really matters in the end. VERDICT Purchase where Smith has a following. Others may find this story inaccessible.-Christopher Lassen, BookOps: The New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
On Cager Messer's 16th birthday, Rowan and Billy sneak him aboard a lunar cruise ship, the Tennessee, to save him from his addiction to the enhancement drug Woz. Cager and Billy have lived lives controlled by their parents, powerful figures in their technologically advanced and war-ravaged version of Earth, where most humans work as coders ("Robots") or soldiers ("Rabbits"). On the ship, it becomes clear that war has destroyed what's left of planet Earth; cogs-robots that experience heightened human emotions and drives of joy, sadness, and arousal-begin to devour each other; and the boys begin to suspect that other humans might be on board. Absurdist characters and scenarios abound, from a kind, French-speaking giraffe, released from the ship's zoo when gravity fails, to a constantly horny valet with a distinct lack of boundaries. Readers will enjoy unraveling the meaning within this provocative jaunt by Smith (Grasshopper Jungle), which dissects society, technology, othering, and what makes humanity human. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In Smiths gonzo, sardonic version of future America, humans are practically obsolete. All work is done by uber-realistic robots called cogs; the only working-class human occupations left are Coder (robot programmer) or Bonk (professional soldier). Public education takes the form of a viral show called Rabbit Robot, which plays inane songs to teach Coders their tasks and requires viewers to ingest a drug called Woz in order to concentrate. Bonks are kept busy fighting the twenty-seven simultaneous wars slowly obliterating the planet. Two sixteen-year-old best friends, Cager Messer and Billy Hinman, are heirs to cog fortunes: their fathers companies produce cogs and Rabbit Robot, in addition to super-luxurious spaceships named for U.S. states. Billy tricks Cager, a Woz addict, into hijacking the Tennessee, effectively forcing his friend to quit the drug cold turkey. On board, they are surprised by cannibalistic, lascivious cogs; rude aliens; and two cute female human stowaways. Sober, Cager is suddenly forced to question everything hes ever been taught about being human. Smiths (Grasshopper Jungle; The Alex Crow, rev. 5/15) ambitious world-building, which features extended metaphorical riffs on consumerism, class, social media outrage, sexual harassment, and violence, is wildly creative, if somewhat exhausting in its repetition. Hand this to politically astute teens with a healthy sense of the absurd. jennifer hubert swan (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Two overly privileged teens unwittingly escape Earth's last days on a luxury spacecraft.Cager Messer's father has made a fortune from the eponymous Rabbit Robot, a television show devoured by the masses yet one Cager and his best friend, Billy (beautiful, bisexual, and equally wealthy), are forbidden to watch. The secondary Messer fortune was made from lunar cruise ships, one of which Billy, along with Cager's caretaker, Rowan, hijacks to get Cager off drugs. Like all best-laid plans, everything goes awry: Two human girls stow away disguised as robots, a loss of gravity leads to chaos, and Earth might very well have imploded in their absence. Reading as a nonlinear diary, Cager grapples with his secrets, his should-have-dones, and what it means to be human, all while simultaneously begrudging and wielding his own social standing. Intermittent third-person omniscient chapters reveal the tandem story of the two stowaways as they slowly form bonds with Cager and Billy (spoiler alert: romance). Just like any journal, some thoughts are deeper than others, with the content meaning more to the writer than the reader. Cager is a drug-addicted, privileged kid on a stolen playground without any supervision, and the book reads with as much depth as his situation portends. The cast is presumed white save for a royal family of liquid blue life-forms.A scattered sci-fi romp with occasional fun parts but a passable whole. (Science fiction. 14-17) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* With nods to Vonnegut, Bradbury, and Burgess, Printz Honor winner Smith has woven an unpredictable, gross, and prescient rumination on modernity, media consumption, and machine-aided communication. Cager Messer and his best friend, Billy both sons of wealthy industrialists have stolen upon a luxury space cruiser along with Cager's ever-faithful servant, Rowan. Aboard with them are cogs humanlike android attendants programmed with unsettling, occasionally dangerous emotional instabilities. Then the latest (and last) in a long line of world wars breaks out on Earth below, and Cager and company believe that they're the last humans in the universe. But before the true horror of that can set in, they must figure out how to defend themselves from the cogs, who have developed a penchant for robotic cannibalism. Under the surface of this absurd tale are commentaries about how a society can disintegrate. For example, Cager fights an internal war between his lifelong privilege and the social costs affording him that luxury. He also struggles with what human companionship is and how empathy complicates simple decisions. Those delving into Smith's zany dystopia will find much to laugh and gasp at, including comedic and serious musings upon sex and violence. But most of all, they will find many deep, essential questions worth pondering.--Suarez, Reinhardt Copyright 2010 Booklist