The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

I’m not sure what it is about robot vacuum cleaners but they are starting to pop up as the heroes in a number of stories. In TJ Klune’s In The Lives of Puppets a snarky Roomba called Rambo delivers all of the best lines. In Glenn Dixon’s new novel The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances it is also a Roomba, who names herself Scout (after the character in To Kill a Mockingbird), and emerges as a hero.

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances is set in a not-too-distant future in which humanity is essentially ruled by an AI system known as The Grid. The story centres around a group of semi-sentient household appliances in a home owned by the ageing Harold and his wife Edie. When Edie dies, the Grid determines that Harold’s house should be reallocated. The appliances (fridge, clock, car), led by Scout, rally to try and help keep Harold in his house but there is little they can do until Kate, Harold’s daughter comes. Kate has been separated from her parents by the Grid but now has a chance to make things right and change her own life.

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances tries hard to be delightful and heartwarming but in order to get to that point Dixon has to seriously fudge the world building. None of the way that the Grid acts, considering it is supposed to be a global AI, makes much sense. It does not seem to be beholden to anything but still seems hesitant to do what it thinks is the right thing. And despite apparently controlling everything in the house the Grid only does minor things to prevent the appliances from doing what they feel is right (at one point it punishes Scout by freezing one of her wheels even though it could, presumably completely decommission her, have her removed or replaced, or wipe her memory).

Dixon himself admits that the book was inspired by the 1986 children’s book The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas M Disch. And some of that fairy tale sensibility and wish fulfilment remains here. As does Dixon’s love of classic novels (a number are name checked due to Harold’s hobby of collecting first editions including To Kill a Mockingbird and The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe). As a cautionary science fiction tale The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances is slight at best. But on the more metaphorical level it works as a heartwarming story of courage, friendship and loyalty.

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon

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7.0/10