-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
A Novel
by Glenn Dixon
In a near future, where even the smallest of appliances are sentient, a young Roomba vacuum sets out to save the humans of her house from a rising technological power in this compelling, original novel.
In a self-running, smart house, a young and sentient Roomba listens as her owner, Harold, reads aloud to his dying wife, Edie. Mesmerized by To Kill a Mockingbird and craving the human connection she witnesses in Harold's stories, the little vacuum renames herself Scout and embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
But when Edie passes away, Scout and her fellow sentient appliances discover that there are sinister forces in their midst. The omnipresent Grid, which monitors every household in the City, seeks to remove Harold from his home, a place he's lived in for fifty years.
With the help of Adrian, a neighborhood boy who grows close to Scout and Harold, as well as Kate, Harold and Edie's formerly estranged daughter, the humans and the appliances must come together to outwit the all-controlling Grid lest they risk losing everything they hold dear.
"Dixon spins an enchanting speculative story...Readers will be endeared by this inspired domestic drama." —Publishers Weekly
"The plot is tender and suspenseful as Scout begins to grasp love, grief, and resistance. Readers who enjoy stories that mix an intimate domestic setting with big questions about AI and control will find this both moving and surprisingly hopeful." —Booklist
"An incredibly timely and charming novel." —Library Journal
"'Futuristic Roomba' must rank high on the list of most unlikely protagonists, but Dixon's characters are calculated to delight without ever tipping the narrative into feeling cynical...This heartfelt fable for the digitally automated age is smart in more than one sense of the word." —Shelf Awareness
"The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances is not just one of the all-time greatest book titles, but it's also a fantastic book. One that makes us think, feel, and appreciate the ways in which we humans, our technologies, and our love of literature intersect." —Evan Friss, New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop
"Quaint, wistful, and profound, Dixon's novel pits scrappy innocence against a pitiless, totalitarian future. This is a deeply satisfying read at exactly the right time." —Sierra Greer, award-winning author of Annie Bot
This information about The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Glenn Dixon is an author, documentary filmmaker, and musician. His book Juliet's Answer was The Globe and Mail national bestseller and has been published in twelve countries and translated into German, Spanish, and Chinese. He has travelled through seventy-five countries and written for National Geographic magazine, the New York Post, The Walrus, and The Globe and Mail (Toronto).
If you liked The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances, try these:
by Joyce Hinnefeld
Published 2025
Hinnefeld's web of characters are bound by legacies, genes, philanthropy, and chance but gravitate largely around Charlie, a rich, white, college graduate who ends up in Venice.
by Jennifer Egan
Published 2023
From one of the most celebrated writers of our time, a literary figure with cult status, a "sibling novel" to her Pulitzer Prize- and NBCC Award-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad - an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the quest for authenticity and meaning in a world where memories and identities are no longer private.
by Siri Hustvedt
Published 2020
A provocative, exuberant novel about time, memory, desire, and the imagination - the story of a young Midwestern woman's first year in New York City in the late 1970s and her obsession with her mysterious neighbor, Lucy Brite.
L.A. Women by Ella Berman
Two ambitious writers in 1960s LA face betrayal when one writes a novel based on the other's life.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
