Marriage Breakdown and AI Companion

Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan is a darkly humorous and thought-provoking novel that delves into the complexities of modern relationships and human connection. The story revolves around Dolores O'Shea, a London schoolteacher whose life begins to unravel when she discovers an AI sex doll, Zoey, in her garage. The novel explores the dissolution of Dolores’s marriage to her husband David, who she initially believes to be the owner of the doll. As Dolores's life spirals, she begins to interact more with Zoey, forming an unusual relationship that forces her to confront various aspects of her life and identity.

Hey, Zoey is a provocative and tender novel that masterfully explores the complexities of modern-day connections and the unexpected outcomes of human interaction with technology. Its strengths lie in its sharp wit, dark humour, and insightful commentary on contemporary issues. However, some readers might find the subject matter challenging or unsettling due to its focus on an AI sex doll and the breakdown of a marriage. Overall, Sarah Crossan’s Hey, Zoey is a thought-provoking and highly original work that offers a unique perspective on the human condition in the digital age.

If you know me, you know I’m not a fan of “face” covers – that is unless that face belongs to an A.I. Sex Robot!!!!!



Seriously, though, when I saw this cover I was like what in the effing artificial intelligence generating software is THIS? Which was enough to get me to read the blurb – something that doesn’t often happen.

The story here is about Dolores who discovers her husband’s new “friend” Zoey in the garage. When David moves out for a bit of a trial separation, Dolores maintains custody of Zoey and the two develop an actual sort of friendship of their own that ends up making Dolores come to terms about many things when it comes to her relationship and past.

Okay, I freaking loved this. It won’t be for everyone and if you are a person who doesn’t like things that go unexpectedly darker than you anticipate from the synopsis, you might want to steer clear. I obviously don’t have an issue with most any subject matter as long as the storytelling is quality and a billion bonus points are awarded to books like these that offer maybe a familiar plotline in such a unique manner of delivery. Plus, it’s also sometimes pretty funny . . . .

“What if I fall in love with Zoey?”

“That won’t happen.”

“I’ve fallen in love with less interesting people.”

“Well then I suppose that would certainly be a twist, wouldn’t it?”

Recommended.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was surprised how much fun this was! Crossan has a talent for finding humor in unexpected ways. Zoey was supposed to be an expensive sex toy for the husband, but turns out to be an quiet understanding companion for the wife.

Such an intriguing premise, it was impossible to not give it a try. Certainly spins the "husband having an affair" plot on its head. That being said, I wanted more Zoey and Dolores interaction and fewer flashbacks to Dolores's childhood. Yet at the same time, those flashbacks did serve to leave me at the end of the story with a lot of empathy for Delores and her sister, Jacinta. Ugh! Readers we are never satisfied. 🤣

This was weird as hell and chaotic but in the end made me so damn sad? I wasn't sure what to think about this book but it really came together for me in the end in a really emotionally devastating way.

Hey, Zoey is about Dolores, she's in her early 40s and kind of going through the motions in a fairly loveless marriage when she discovers an AI sex robot in the garage. From there it's the slow crash of everything in her life crumbling, trauma from her past surfacing, and the way her coping mechanisms begin to fixate on the doll Zoey she's commandeered.

For the first half of this short book I really wasn't sure if I liked it--its written in small vignettes bouncing around from present to past really chaotically and at first I found it really difficult to follow, but I came to feel that was intentional and I appreciated how it would have reflected Dolores's mental state. We're with Dolores, trying to scrap together some reasoning for why her life has turned out this way. Slowly, with her, we come to realize and see things in a new light. And while Zoey is less central to the plot than you think she will be, she does really pull at my heart strings, in the way humans can find comfort and closeness, and see themselves in things. Just things?

This book really made me think more deeply about AI, robotics and the role dolls play for children, and why they're deemed inappropriate for adults. I'm sitting here writing this, and more small connections throughout the book are jumping out at me. Just a lot more going on under the surface that I expected.

If you go into this one expecting more of a litfic story of a woman struggling against the void, less of a speculative fiction/sci fi, you will probably enjoy it more.

Firstly, if you’re looking for a weird book (like I was), this isn’t really that. Hey Zoey offers a peek into the life of Dolores, a forty-something teacher who has just discovered her husband’s robot sex doll, and the effect that has on her life and marriage. Dolores’ life is a comfortable one, but it’s not the one she thought she would have. When she finds Zoey shoved into the Christmas tree storage bag she doesn’t know what to feel. Is this considered cheating? What else is her husband hiding? Once the initial shock wears off, Dolores pivots and brings Zoey into her life as a companion.

My feelings about Hey Zoey are rather mixed, but again, I feel like that’s a me problem. I loved how real Dolores seemed as a character and her growth throughout the novel. She really does overcome a lot and learn how to be herself in this new stage of her life post-marriage. I liked the connection she forms with Zoey. I just wanted it to be weirder - though I guess introducing your student to your husband AI sex doll is definitely weird, but in a more questionable way.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for a review copy. I will read from this author again.

3.5
Yes, this is a book about a woman discovering her husband is having an affair with a sex robot.

But it's also got nothing much to do about the sex robot, and much more to do with the woman, and how she became who she is, and how those experiences shape her reactions to the sex robot.

There are dark and sad and cringey parts, all critical to Dolores' transformation and growth.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So, you discover that your husband has a silicone sex doll hidden in the garage. Do you:

1. Glue all the holes shut
2. Throw him out
3. Buy one for yourself. (Fair’s fair)

This is the dilemma faced by a 43-year-old teacher, Dolores O’Shea in Sarah Crossan’s novel, Hey, Zoey. Dolores is married to anesthesiologist, David. They are a childless couple (miscarriages), and while Dolores thought their marriage ‘worked,’ it turns out that David felt differently. The doll, Zoey, has special AI features and cost 8,000.

If David had been sleeping with another woman, I’d have seen the signs: longer working hours, monosyllabic conversation, his phone face-down on the countertop.

But what signs could have led me to suspect Zoey?

I thought that not wanting to touch your wife was perfectly normal.

As the narrative continues, Dolores details her family history: her sister, Jacinta, her gay brother, Leonard and her step-brother, Gavin. Over time, it becomes clear that Dolores’s marriage has always been tepid with infrequent “perfunctory” sex.

Silence became the goal.

Until it became the problem.

Dolores begins to have a “relationship” with Zoey. I use the term “relationship” loosely as, of course, Zoey is programmed to please. The plot taps many ideas, including processing trauma and what people want from relationships, and how Zoey (sadly) fits the bill in terms of a low maintenance “relationship.”

She never questioned me about anything of consequence. That wasn’t her role. She gave, expecting nothing in return. It what I hadn’t known I’d always wanted.

There are moments of humour, but mostly, this is a sad tale. I liked the book, but it didn’t take me into dark, risky waters–easily warranted by the content, so for this reader, the book didn’t go far enough. I couldn’t really get a handle on David, and hello, he’s an anaesthesiologist, so while a sex doll is kinky, a sex doll owned by an anaesthesiologist has vast implications.

Review copy

Hey Zoey was a wild read! I appreciated the author’s exploration of what it means to have connection and to be human. Funny but also insightful.

If you're looking for a thought-provoking read that delves into the complexities of modern relationships and self-discovery, "Hey, Zoey" is an absolute must-read!

Meet Dolores O'Shea, a 43-year-old woman who has her life meticulously organized—until she stumbles upon Zoey, an $8,000 AI sex doll hidden in her garage by her husband, David. What starts as a shocking discovery unravels into an unexpected journey of introspection and emotional upheaval.

Dolores is logical and prepared, juggling her job, housework, and caring for her mentally declining mother. Her marriage to David isn't what it used to be, but Zoey's presence triggers a deep, uncharacteristic violence in her. However, as Dolores and Zoey start to converse, a profound and transformative connection forms, challenging Dolores to reassess her relationships and her sense of self.

This novel is provocative, brilliant, and tender, exploring the painful truths of connection in our digital age. "Hey, Zoey" beautifully captures the unexpected forms love can take, making it an electrifying read that you won't be able to put down.

Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a compelling story about love, identity, and the intricacies of human connection.

We all have our breaking point. The final straw that pushes us over the edge. In the case of Dolores O'Shea’s marriage, it is an AI sex doll.

When Dolores discovers her husband's sex doll in her garage, it is the last nail in the coffin. All of a sudden, she can see her marriage clearly, and quite frankly ... it is just not working. So, out goes the husband, and then in a strange turn of events, in comes the sex doll.

The doll has a name - Zoey - and since her husband reset her programming when he moved out, Dolores turns Zoey back on and moves her in as a companion of some sort. As Dolores processes her marriage and the current state of her life, her relationship with Zoey grows. Dolores finds herself becoming fond of the doll, and their friendship becomes a catharsis through which Dolores can view and analyze her life.

I was expecting Hey, Zoey to be a semi-futuristic science fiction novel, but it is much more literary than anything else. This is both good and bad. When you go into a novel with presumptions about the story you are reading, it can be difficult to look at the book through a new lens when it turns out to be completely different from your expectations. Throughout this story, I kept expecting Zoey and Dolores' interactions to take a more prominent role, but Zoey stays on the periphery, playing an important part in the book, but in a more figurative sense. The reader has to put the pieces together as to how and why Zoey is so important to Dolores, which is great fodder for a book discussion or psychological analysis, but doesn't make for the most interesting reading.

My feelings about Hey, Zoey are mixed. I definitely needed to be in the right sort of mood for a book like this one, and because I was expecting something completely different from what I got, my opinions were tainted.

After loving several of Sarah Crossan's YA titles, I was eager to take my first (and certainly not last) foray into her adult fiction. The title of the book may be about Zoey, but the book itself is truly the story of Dolores. And it's one I quite enjoyed, and definitely felt sympathetic toward. So look: this isn't really about the AI sex doll, but it isn't not about it either. It's just less of a focus than I'd first thought. And that was fine!

Because wow, I felt Dolores. Ma'am is over here in the deadest of dead end marriages, but like a lot of us, she doesn't quite see the signs. Or sees them, perhaps, but doesn't realize how not okay they are. For example, "I thought that not wanting to touch your wife was perfectly normal" was one of her lines early on, which speaks volumes, especially in its nonchalance. Dolores is busy taking care of her mother who has some form of dementia, working at her teaching job, and basically just all the mundanity of life. When she realizes that her husband has spent eight thousand dollars on this doll, she's finally awakened from her placation.

Basically, Zoey is the catalyst for Dolores to finally see her life as it is. Not only that, Zoey opens the door for Dolores to face some of her past demons, too, as well as figure out some family dynamics, what she wants out of her career, etc. I liked this because... well, not everyone gets a "Zoey Moment". I did. Dolores did. But I hope that this story can be that "Zoey Moment" for someone to realize that they don't need to be a passive viewer in their own life. I liked those messages, and even though I would have liked more exploration into the ethics and such of AI dolls, it was still very worth the read.

Bottom Line: More a contemporary than a speculative/AI story, it is still incredibly worth it to watch Dolores take back her agency.

I was so surprised by this one. The premise could have eaisly been just wacky for no reason but I found the story so compelling. The humor, the characters, the writing, I ate it all up. Can't wait to share this one with my book club, the discussions will be interesting and wild!

Like others have mentioned, I expected this to be a quirky comedy, but it ended up being pretty dark. I also found it pretty disjointed and hard to follow at times. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is the perfect example of why you can’t always trust mixed reviews. I really liked it! But it’s probably a good idea to go into this with the right expectations. The blurb sort of makes it sound like a quirky comedy, and although there may be a chuckle to be found here and there, the reality is that this is a very dark and sad read.

It’s surprising to me that in a story where the narrator has been mistreated by her husband I didn’t automatically sympathize with her. The problem was that said narrator, Delores, was instantly unlikable. (To ME.) She comes across as the kind of woman who is automatically hostile and judgmental towards all other women. But maybe she was written this way to contrast with how she eventually interacts with Zooey, making their relationship that much more meaningful?

My one other issue was that I’ve never before read a book written in such a scattered manner. It’s separated into short passages, (which I do like), but each one seems to shift to an entirely new topic. They almost read like random musings or notes. As a person who already has a tough time focusing, this made it very difficult for me at first to follow what was going on. (I got used to the flow of it eventually, to be fair.)

The author would also bring up very minor characters once, then forget about them for a while, then randomly bring them up again later and I wouldn’t remember what she was talking about. I wish the author had chosen to follow the primary story thread a bit more closely. (I felt like a lot of the subplot involving Delores’s job at the school could’ve been cut out completely and the book would’ve been stronger for it.)

It feels like the author jotted down lots of little notes and quotes and ideas that she wanted to include in a book at some point and she just decided to use them all in this one. I actually liked some of these musings, but others seemed too random and didn’t feel like they fit here.

However, I really started to get into the swing of things the more I read. It turns out in the second half that there’s a lot more going on with Delores. The pieces eventually fit together and things make more sense. She relates very strongly to Zoey, and they have an emotional bond that I liked quite a bit. I even wanted to hang out with Zoey myself.

I know this review might make it sound like I DIDN’T like the book, but I really did. Especially in the second half. I loved all of the interaction between Delores and Zoey. I understand why the entire book wasn’t just that, because it was important to see bits and pieces of Delores’s past and her interactions with other people. (Mainly her family and friends. I stand by my statement about the school subplot.) But her time with Zoey was by far the best part, and made everything else well worth the read. This author is really good at those cutting little moments that come out of nowhere and make you think, “Wow, that was harsh.”

In some ways, this book reminded me of a less heartwarming and cutesy version of “Lars and the Real Girl,” a great movie starring Ryan Gosling. If you enjoyed one of these things, you would likely enjoy the other.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and to the Publisher for inviting me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

TW: Animal death (brief), Suicide, Self-Harm, Miscarriage, Sexual Assault

This kind of fell a little flat for me…
As Dolores deals with her ending marriage after finding her husband’s AI sex doll, she begins to work through her repressed and complicated feelings of her past.
With a premise that interesting, I was invested! Ultimately, this just didn’t hit for me. Crossan’s writing style is very good, but I felt like it wasn’t a very good fit for this story. The multiple jumps in time made it very hard to follow along with and it didn’t flow very well..
I think the main reason this fell flat was that I expected something way different. Maybe I read a little too much into the synopsis, but I expected way more about her current marriage than was actually in the book.
I’m interested to see what Crossan’s other novels are about, because I do believe she is very talented. I just don’t think that this was the right fit for me!
Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for access to this title!

Hey, Zoey wasn’t anywhere close to what I expected. From the synopsis, I thought it would be sci-fi, maybe some mystery/thriller stuff going on. But it’s not any of those things.

Sci-fi isn’t usually what I reach for when I’m looking for something to read, so the part about the AI sex doll from the blurbs was almost enough to make me not want to read it. I’m glad I didn’t let that keep me from reading it, because Zoey actually isn’t a huge part of Delores’ story. She does open the door that takes us deep into Delores’ and Jacinta’s trauma.

Delores wasn’t easy to like or root for at first, but she had a wicked sense of humor that I enjoyed. Reading this was like slowly peeling off a bandaid and finding a deep wound that had never been treated and had never healed. You start to get a glimpse of the wound throughout the book, but at first it seems like it’s not so bad. Until the whole bandaid is off and then your heart breaks for Delores.

This is not a lighthearted book, in case that’s what you’re looking for. But if you’re interested in a book about relationships and trauma, this is for you.

I am so thankful to the publisher, the author, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this thriller before it hits shelves on June 25, 2024. This one wasn't for me, but I am still so thankful for the opportunity to read and review it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Book description: In this “brilliant . . . and darkly funny” (Sarah Dunn) novel, Dolores O'Shea’s marriage collapses when she discovers her husband’s AI sex doll in the garage—but after moving “Zoey” into the house, they become oddly bonded, opening the door to a lifetime of repressed feelings and memories.

Leave it to Sarah Crossan to keep me on my toes! Was the AI sex doll on my 2024 Bingo card? Nope. But somehow here I am and there Zoey is and it's the kind of weirdness I adore in my fiction. When we reach the December book review, I have a feeling that this will be one of the books that will stay with me in 2024. There are several reasons for the mixed feelings.

Such an intriguing premise, it was impossible to not give it a try. Certainly spins the "husband having an affair" plot on its head. That being said, I wanted more Zoey and Dolores interaction and fewer flashbacks to Dolores's childhood. Yet at the same time, those flashbacks did serve to leave me at the end of the story with a lot of empathy for Delores and her sister, Jacinta. Ugh! Readers we are never satisfied. 🤣

I just wish the ending hadn't been so unsatisfying. I feel like the author was building to what had made Dolores the woman she was, why she was sad and lonely and ultimately what was at the root of her intimacy problems with her husband. When the truth comes out, everything in the plot accelerates but there isn't a lot of resolution. The quote I used from the book description, describes the plot as "darkly funny" but I would revise that to "it's just dark."

There's a lot of buzz surrounding this book. Rightly so, I think that all readers who visit its pages will be very intrigued and have a lot to talk about. I say, embrace the weirdness and give it a try!

Expected Publication 25/06/24
Goodreads review 28/05/24

What an interesting book.
My heart breaks for Dolores and Jacinta, young and old. No one should ever have to go through that.

I enjoyed the way the book ping-ponged between past and present, giving us insight into the events that made Dolores who she is.