Book Review: Set My Heart to Five by Simon Stephenson
An endearing android, a haunting novel.
“Set my Heart to Five” by Simon Stephenson. Harlequin Audio, 2020. 11 hours (approx.). Narrated by Christopher Ragland, Rachael Louise Miller and Lance C. Fuller.
“Set my Heart to Five” is about a robot named Jared who miraculously develops feelings. The Bureau of Robotics considers this a malfunction and would have him destroyed. But Jared flees. He becomes a screenwriter and falls in love with a waitress. He writes a movie about robots falling in love with the aim to convince humans that bots should be appreciated as people, not things. However, a slime-ball producer turns Jared’s heartwarming tale into a killer bot flick. Meanwhile, it is revealed that his girlfriend is also a robot. The Bureau captures her and erases her memory. The disgruntled Jared takes his amnesiac girlfriend to San Francisco where he hopes their “mother” (i.e. the programmer who built them) can somehow fix everything. She cannot. But the mother does urge Jared to write his life's story as a book; that Jared's book might do what his screenplay could not. Jarred takes this advice, but he is still a wanted bot slated for a memory wipe.
Jared hoped his story would make the reader weep. It did not make me weep. In fact, I suspected the bitter-sweet ending from the first scene. The foreshadowing was too strong. Nevertheless, I am forced to ask, “Why am I haunted by this book?”
The answer, I think, lies with the characters. Particularly Jared, our protagonist and narrator. He is naïve in the most endearing way. His simple but profound observations of humanity ring funny and true. And let us not forget his catch phrases such as “BTW” and “Humans. I cannot!” Also, Jared was so Jared throughout the novel even during the finale, which is drastically different in mood from the rest of the book. That level of consistency takes talent.
No small portion of the credit must go to the voice actor who played Jared in the audio book. He captured the aforementioned naivete in every word’s tone and timbre. The audio production brought in additional actors to voice the various parts. Others have done this, but because this book is written as part novel, part screenplay it works particularly well.
Overall, I would recommend it. It's a bit long at 11 hours and there were a few times I said, “Get on with it, Simon!” But that Jared, guy...You should meet him.
Look for the movie adaptation in 2022.