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A review by barefootmegz
The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North
1.0
My experience reading The Sudden of Appearance of Hope was entirely unenjoyable, and memorable only for its extraordinary “what if” concept (Claire North is REALLY good with her far-out what-ifs).
If this concept – the idea of a person who is completely forgettable, remembered by nobody after ten seconds of turning away – had been dwelt on more, and all the other fluff cut out or more refined, I could have enjoyed the book.
As it stands, The Sudden Appearance of Hope reads like the skeleton of a novel – the drafts, the planning, before starting. Half-sentences, un-sentences, and abstract ideas without foundation abound; and while these may be good devices in poetry or short stories, in a novel they become annoying.
The book is full of “I am my feet I am my breath” sentences when Hope is trying to center herself, and it is obsessive about definitions! Every few pages has a word randomly being defined, but this is never brought back to Hope: the obsession with definitions is never defined within the constructs of her character. It honestly seems more like a way to reach a word-count than to develop the plot or the character.
North attempts to ask hard-hitting questions about perfection, social media, and relationships; but she never really hits hard enough. Ultimately, her questions derail her plot and character more than adding to them.
The author’s powers of observation are beyond compare, and I do love her manner of describing people and events – just another reason I think she should branch into short stories (if she has not already). The thing is simply that short stories and novels are not merely longer or shorter versions of the other. This narrative style belonged in a short.
If this concept – the idea of a person who is completely forgettable, remembered by nobody after ten seconds of turning away – had been dwelt on more, and all the other fluff cut out or more refined, I could have enjoyed the book.
As it stands, The Sudden Appearance of Hope reads like the skeleton of a novel – the drafts, the planning, before starting. Half-sentences, un-sentences, and abstract ideas without foundation abound; and while these may be good devices in poetry or short stories, in a novel they become annoying.
The book is full of “I am my feet I am my breath” sentences when Hope is trying to center herself, and it is obsessive about definitions! Every few pages has a word randomly being defined, but this is never brought back to Hope: the obsession with definitions is never defined within the constructs of her character. It honestly seems more like a way to reach a word-count than to develop the plot or the character.
North attempts to ask hard-hitting questions about perfection, social media, and relationships; but she never really hits hard enough. Ultimately, her questions derail her plot and character more than adding to them.
The author’s powers of observation are beyond compare, and I do love her manner of describing people and events – just another reason I think she should branch into short stories (if she has not already). The thing is simply that short stories and novels are not merely longer or shorter versions of the other. This narrative style belonged in a short.