GoodRead - A Robot In The Garden

I was very kindly sent this for review from Ben at Random House after I watched a review of this book from Sarah Churchill. It's a bit grown up for me, but it sounded cool so was excited to read it.

Set in the near future, Ben Chamber is told by his wife that there's a robot in his garden. So when he goes to investigate, he finds a small robot with a broken tube inside. Instead of throwing the lost and rusty thing away, Ben takes him home. After that, events happen. His wife, Amy, leaves him and, before he thinks about, Ben decides to find the robot's - Tang's - creator.And with that, they go travelling round the world...

Now, this is an interesting read as I am very torn over it. I do like this book, but there are faults.

This book is set in the near future with robots and androids, but I liked that these weren't the driving force. The robot - Tang - acts at times like a toddler or a young child and, at times, you had to actively remind yourself that Tang was a robot, not a child.

Also, while this is set in the future, this was a very human story. The story dealt with a marriage breaking down and the fall out. It touched on a few issues, but it was a light read. It has an Alexander McCall Smith feel.

However, I have issues. Well, one issue really. And that was the adults in this book. Most of them are not nice people. It was the way they acted to our main character, Ben, a man who it took a while for me to warm up. Later in the book, Ben admits that he wasn't the easiest person in the world, but I found it hard to believe that he was ok with how his sister and his wife treated him. They apologise for their actions, but for some reason, I found most of the characters actions (barring Tang and 2/3 adults that should have their own book! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!!!) a bit hard to accept.

This was a light read for me. While I didn't love it, I did like it and I kinda want a Tang. Plus, this would make a wonderful uplifting movie.