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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
This is a beautifully written book about a girl who, at the age of 16, slowly begins to disappear. People begin to forget her, teachers, friends and eventually even her family no longer recognise her and eventually every time she meets someone it is the first time. She becomes a thief out of necessity and boredom, baffling to the police because she is brazen, never tries to hide her identity during a crime, they can’t understand it but nor can they catch her. One day Hope decides to make her life mean something by seeking to destroy the sinister lifestyle app Perfection, setting in motion a violent and destructive chain of events and her dawning realisation that only by acknowledging the consequences of one’s actions and accepting accountability can there be freedom.
Full of fascinating questions about the nature of identity, of how we define ourselves by the impressions we leave on those around us and what is left when you have no past, no future and no consequences, this book is like nothing I’ve read before.
Full of fascinating questions about the nature of identity, of how we define ourselves by the impressions we leave on those around us and what is left when you have no past, no future and no consequences, this book is like nothing I’ve read before.
This is a beautiful story and absolutely recommended for everyone who liked 'The first fifteen lives of Harry August'. It's also a perfect fit for everyone who liked 'The Circle'.
The Sudden Appearance of Hope features yet another 'weird' protagonist, but instead of the rather straightforward story of 'Touch', Claire North captures the same detached but extremely gripping atmosphere that was also present in her first novel. At first, 'being forgotten' seems almost the same as 'being able to become someone else'. North sidesteps this completely by focusing on the direct consequences of being forgotten after just a few moments - going to a restaurant, visiting a doctor, it all becomes impossible when they forget about you as soon as you're not within visual range anymore.
It's a very pleasant read. It makes you think, it's suspenseful, but it doesn't just end right after the story arc ends. At times, it can be a bit preachy, but I liked it, as I've just struggled my way through 'To save everything, click here' - The Sudden Appearance of Hope covers all its major points and then some.
The Sudden Appearance of Hope features yet another 'weird' protagonist, but instead of the rather straightforward story of 'Touch', Claire North captures the same detached but extremely gripping atmosphere that was also present in her first novel. At first, 'being forgotten' seems almost the same as 'being able to become someone else'. North sidesteps this completely by focusing on the direct consequences of being forgotten after just a few moments - going to a restaurant, visiting a doctor, it all becomes impossible when they forget about you as soon as you're not within visual range anymore.
It's a very pleasant read. It makes you think, it's suspenseful, but it doesn't just end right after the story arc ends. At times, it can be a bit preachy, but I liked it, as I've just struggled my way through 'To save everything, click here' - The Sudden Appearance of Hope covers all its major points and then some.
Full review here: https://civilianreader.wordpress.com/2016/06/10/review-the-sudden-appearance-of-hope-by-claire-north-orbit/
It was fun. I had fun. I stumbled a bit somewhere in the middle but I generally enjoyed it. Idk why I kept on expecting Hope would somehow become queer.
When Hope was a teenager, her little sister got deathly ill. In all the fear and effort surrounding her sister's medical treatment, Hope started getting overlooked. Not neglected, but outright forgotten. People started forgetting conversations they had with her; her teachers stopped calling on her; eventually even her parents forgot they even had an elder daughter. Without a home to stay at or any way to get support from friends, family, or the government (since within minutes of not looking at her, she was entirely forgotten), Hope became a homeless thief. Through sheer force of will and dedication learned from her parents, she saved herself from starving or going mad with loneliness, and by the start of the book has become one of the world's best and most elusive thieves.
On the eve of her latest job, one of Hope's marks kills herself. The family covers it up, but Hope is sure that a new lifestyle app called "Perfection" drove her to suicide. And so Hope not only steals what she came to steal, she does it in such an audacious way that it shames the family that owns Perfection and creates a worldwide manhunt for the mysterious thief. As clever as she is, Hope can't stay one step ahead forever...even the most forgettable woman on Earth can be caught, after all.
The first half of this book is fantastic. It had everything that I expect from a North/Griffin book: a unique, likeable but not overly sweet main character, a really cool plot hook, innovative and exciting action scenes. But after Hope had been on the run for a while I started getting a bit bored. I'm not sure exactly why, whether it was the dialog that tended toward stream-of-consciousness monologues, that there were so few characters and (due to Hope's inability to be remembered) there was so little connection between them, my sense that Perfection got way too powerful and ubiquitous way too fast, or just the number of pages devoted to this one book. And then the end felt kinda slapdash and forced, and I was left feeling quite let down. I actually forgot I finished this book because the ending was so forgettable. If there had been far less on Perfection and the trio after Hope and far more between Hope and her sister, I probably would've kept on loving this. As it was, I would've rated this book 4 stars at first and 2 stars at the last, so I've averaged it out to 3.
On the eve of her latest job, one of Hope's marks kills herself. The family covers it up, but Hope is sure that a new lifestyle app called "Perfection" drove her to suicide. And so Hope not only steals what she came to steal, she does it in such an audacious way that it shames the family that owns Perfection and creates a worldwide manhunt for the mysterious thief. As clever as she is, Hope can't stay one step ahead forever...even the most forgettable woman on Earth can be caught, after all.
The first half of this book is fantastic. It had everything that I expect from a North/Griffin book: a unique, likeable but not overly sweet main character, a really cool plot hook, innovative and exciting action scenes. But after Hope had been on the run for a while I started getting a bit bored. I'm not sure exactly why, whether it was the dialog that tended toward stream-of-consciousness monologues, that there were so few characters and (due to Hope's inability to be remembered) there was so little connection between them, my sense that Perfection got way too powerful and ubiquitous way too fast, or just the number of pages devoted to this one book. And then the end felt kinda slapdash and forced, and I was left feeling quite let down. I actually forgot I finished this book because the ending was so forgettable. If there had been far less on Perfection and the trio after Hope and far more between Hope and her sister, I probably would've kept on loving this. As it was, I would've rated this book 4 stars at first and 2 stars at the last, so I've averaged it out to 3.
The internet gave us all the power of speech, and what did we discover? That victory goes to he who shouts the loudest, and that reason does not sell.
Alright, listen up, folks, because this book was fucking amazing. After the utter disappointment that was [b:The End of the Day|31408829|The End of the Day|Claire North|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484652403s/31408829.jpg|52102281], which was so sad after how much I adored [b:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|20706317|The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|Claire North|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407712314s/20706317.jpg|25807847], I was going into this book a little nervous, but I needn't have worried.
Hope Arden is forgettable. If you take your eyes off her face, for sixty seconds, you've forgotten you've met her. She can go anywhere, do anything. She has the freedom to be whatever she wants, to reinvent herself at the drop of a hat. She is unbearably lonely.
What follows is an exploration in true Claire North style of what it means to be human and what impact our actions have on those around us. Also there's a scifi/dystopia plot and a diamond heist. You know. As one does.
This book reminded me a lot of [b:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|20706317|The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|Claire North|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407712314s/20706317.jpg|25807847] in terms of the themes explored. Claire North ruminates on the meaning of humanity in such an interesting and clever way in both these novels. After all, what meaning might you have in someone's life if they can't ever remember they met you? Only the consequences of your actions can be seen or remembered.
North also explores what it means to be perfect, to live a life others envy, and what people might give up to have such a life. She talks social media and the transparency with which we live our lives in the modern day, up on a platform for others to judge, by taking this book into a scifi/dystopian direction that I absolutely did not see coming.
This novel is truly a treasure and will remain one that I turn to again and again when I want interesting and thought-provoking speculative fiction.
Alright, listen up, folks, because this book was fucking amazing. After the utter disappointment that was [b:The End of the Day|31408829|The End of the Day|Claire North|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484652403s/31408829.jpg|52102281], which was so sad after how much I adored [b:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|20706317|The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|Claire North|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407712314s/20706317.jpg|25807847], I was going into this book a little nervous, but I needn't have worried.
Hope Arden is forgettable. If you take your eyes off her face, for sixty seconds, you've forgotten you've met her. She can go anywhere, do anything. She has the freedom to be whatever she wants, to reinvent herself at the drop of a hat. She is unbearably lonely.
What follows is an exploration in true Claire North style of what it means to be human and what impact our actions have on those around us. Also there's a scifi/dystopia plot and a diamond heist. You know. As one does.
This book reminded me a lot of [b:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|20706317|The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|Claire North|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407712314s/20706317.jpg|25807847] in terms of the themes explored. Claire North ruminates on the meaning of humanity in such an interesting and clever way in both these novels. After all, what meaning might you have in someone's life if they can't ever remember they met you? Only the consequences of your actions can be seen or remembered.
North also explores what it means to be perfect, to live a life others envy, and what people might give up to have such a life. She talks social media and the transparency with which we live our lives in the modern day, up on a platform for others to judge, by taking this book into a scifi/dystopian direction that I absolutely did not see coming.
This novel is truly a treasure and will remain one that I turn to again and again when I want interesting and thought-provoking speculative fiction.
Original conceit. A meditation on identity. Strange and lovely. Added to my re-read pile.
The overall premise had potential, but the othering of Hope, holier-than-thou commentary on other cultures, and inaccurate "facts" kept taking me out the story. The only reason I kept trying to read it instead giving up after the first super-problematic description of Hope (which was very early on) was because I was reading this for my book club. And even that wasn't enough to get me more than halfway through this lukewarm garbage.
Some thoughts on this one:
The audio narrator was AMAZING. Every accent under the sun, in conversation with each other, done flawlessly.
This was a really cool concept, with a really long and plodding storyline. I found the plot really confusing and long. And ultimately anticlimactic, and almost a bit boring. There was a lot of stream of consciousness thinking and repetition, and not a lot of action.
The audio narrator was AMAZING. Every accent under the sun, in conversation with each other, done flawlessly.
This was a really cool concept, with a really long and plodding storyline. I found the plot really confusing and long. And ultimately anticlimactic, and almost a bit boring. There was a lot of stream of consciousness thinking and repetition, and not a lot of action.