Girlfriend on Mars

ALEX BEGGS, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Sometimes, a girlfriend needs space. Sometimes, she goes to space. That's the — OK, obvious — premise of Girlfriend on Mars, a novel by the Canadian writer Deborah Willis, who knows what we've wished for from books all along, which is that they were TV instead. Just kidding! But Willis does know how to tell a story with the grip of a good drama series ... While the setup could have made for a breezy read, Willis cuts deep with insight that orbits the age-old, just-took-a-bong-hit question: What does it mean to be real? ... it's our reality that Willis is playing with, and she has fun with it, especially our life on the internet, another unreal place we've come to accept as all too real ... Every detail is sharply placed by Willis, who has a scorching sense of humor and a soft spot for humanity down here on Earth."