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joanne_is_from_canada 's review for:
The Sudden Appearance of Hope
by Claire North
I think Claire North might be a genius. While I can't say that I liked this book as much as [b:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|20706317|The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August|Claire North|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1407712314s/20706317.jpg|25807847], I am fascinated by this woman's mind and will be picking up all her books. These are the kinds of science fictions books that I love - set in our familiar world with one aspect that's just a little different.
This follows Hope, a woman who, as a teen, starts to disappear from people's minds. When she is interacting with others, all is normal, but as soon as she is out of sight, their minds forget everything about her and believe they spent that time alone. Of course this means that she can't develop friendships, hold down a job or do a lot of "normal" things, but it makes her an excellent thief.
The other aspect explored in this book is an over-reaching app called Perfection which tracks everything from its users by monitoring their financials, internet usage, GPS, keystokes and phone's camera and assigns points when the person eats the right food, uses the right products, visits the right location, etc. Those who follow the instructions are beautiful, fit, wealthy and "perfect". It's easy to see how tempting it would be to have a piece of technology tell us how to live better.
Hope gets involved in taking down Perfection and it is fascinating to watch as she interacts with others and uses her "condition" to her advantage. If she is trying to get info out of someone and says the wrong thing, she can excuse herself and walk around the room. When she comes back to that person, she starts the interaction over and tries a different approach. How repetitive and boring her life must be sometimes.
I really enjoyed the experience of reading this one and getting inside Hope's head but I felt the book was just a little too long and I was a little fatigued with the inner monologue by the end.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
This follows Hope, a woman who, as a teen, starts to disappear from people's minds. When she is interacting with others, all is normal, but as soon as she is out of sight, their minds forget everything about her and believe they spent that time alone. Of course this means that she can't develop friendships, hold down a job or do a lot of "normal" things, but it makes her an excellent thief.
The other aspect explored in this book is an over-reaching app called Perfection which tracks everything from its users by monitoring their financials, internet usage, GPS, keystokes and phone's camera and assigns points when the person eats the right food, uses the right products, visits the right location, etc. Those who follow the instructions are beautiful, fit, wealthy and "perfect". It's easy to see how tempting it would be to have a piece of technology tell us how to live better.
Hope gets involved in taking down Perfection and it is fascinating to watch as she interacts with others and uses her "condition" to her advantage. If she is trying to get info out of someone and says the wrong thing, she can excuse herself and walk around the room. When she comes back to that person, she starts the interaction over and tries a different approach. How repetitive and boring her life must be sometimes.
I really enjoyed the experience of reading this one and getting inside Hope's head but I felt the book was just a little too long and I was a little fatigued with the inner monologue by the end.
Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.