If modern life is rubbish, then future life doesn’t fare much better in Lucy Lapinska’s Some Body Like Me. Set in a future where humanity is dying of disease and pollution, while their android creations are about to become emancipated, the story is told by Abigail, a robot built to replicate Dave’s dead wife.
Lapinska uses this original set-up to explore issues of power and domestic abuse, and the backdrop that AI will live far longer than humanity lends a plaintive air to proceedings.
Once Abigail is freed from her owner, the story swerves into new and fascinating areas, with the narrative subtly asking deep questions about the nature and meaning of life but doing so with a light touch. Beautifully written and thought-provoking stuff.
Some Body Like Me by Lucy Lapinska is out now (Gollancz, £20). You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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