Book Review: The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

This is a charming and zeitgeisty novel which has a strong start and fulfils the promise of its blurb. What if your autonomous vacuum cleaner was sentient and was very sad about your wife's death?

It pays obvious homage to the Brave Little Toaster, 100 Acre Woods, Beauty and The Beast, and hundred other what-if-your-toys-came-to-life stories. Along the way we discover what it is like to be a transfem robo-hacker in domestic peril, why clocks are so bossy, and whether art is a cure for grief.

The world-building is a little basic (The Algorithm™ is managing humanity's decline) but the characters are well constructed. A little derivative, it's true. Nevertheless, it is a touching tale, told well, and with a decent pace.