THE REMINDER

Neither Daisy nor her father can leave dead well enough alone. Daisy’s mother, Rose, has been dead for three years, and Daisy thinks of her daily. Daisy’s father, an expert in cybernetics, has built a working—and talking—model of Rose’s head with which Daisy has unsatisfying “conversations.” The stress of having to be a part-time parent to her little brother, plus her father’s dating again, becomes difficult for Daisy to handle, even with the help of her therapist. When her father, dissatisfied with the robot-Rose project, puts the head in storage, Daisy, nearly insane, steals it back. An incident at school involving the head brings Daisy and her father to a joint therapy session, where the truth of Rose’s death is revealed. Poor pacing and superficial treatment of Daisy’s emotions ruin this heart-wrenching tale of loss. Much of the important part of the story is crammed into the final pages, and Daisy has almost no personality outside of her grief. Unrewarding, even for those looking for a fast read. (Science fiction. 12 & up)