The Love Makers (MIT Press, ISBN 9781912685844, $29.95) defies easy categorisation.
The novel, Scarlett and Gurl, is described as a philosophical thriller and leans heavily towards the former. It follows a pair of women learning about each other’s lives as they drive to an airport on a Christmas Eve in a near-future in which robots have taken on roles as caregivers and lovers.
‘Scarlett’ (not her real name) is a former banker, now at the head of a tech company. She relies on her partner to take the role of primary caregiver, shunning the ubiquitous ‘I Moms’ for old-fashioned human care. Her partner and friends respond to her insistence on human care with frustration, ridicule and even disgust (imagine how one would respond to a modern mine owner employing a trapper instead of using automation). iMoms are objectively ‘better’ at childcare than the human mothers they imitate. Still, Scarlett can’t put out of mind Harry Harlow’s animal experiments, which...