I read Phillips' previous novel, The Need, in one sitting; the book pulled me right in and I couldn't leave without finishing! Hum has a similar urgency behind it - short chapters and frequent line breaks encourage this feeling. As in The Need, the desperation and the fierceness of motherhood feature heavily in this book. I am not a mother and don't always jibe with these themes, but Phillips writes in such a way that you don't need to ever have been in the trenches to appreciate May's fatigue and her intensity. And while I may not have children, I was once a child who went on family vacations and am now an adult who understands how fleeting that family time is, which is to say that Part 2 in the botanical garden left me emotional. I'd like to think that May and Jem have another such excursion with their children in the future, where they experience both nature and togetherness, but May is clear that their expected finances won't allow it and I believe her. Still, even for those with the means for a vacation every year: your children are only the age that they are for a single day at a time. Whether the world is burning slowly or quickly, whether you're in a speculative fiction novel or 21st century America, whether you're camping in a walled botanical garden or in true wilderness, you get only 24 hours with your family as it is today. Part 2 brings this into sharp and heightened focus by making the vacation so desperately sought, so brief, and so expensive. But the underlying principle - the brevity of our circumstances, of childhood, of family life - remains true in our world too.

3.5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Positives: Extremely readable with a high "just one more chapter" factor. Timely themes with some interesting world building.

Negatives: I never really felt like I got to know the protagonist, so I was fairly unsympathetic to her quirks. I felt vaguely annoyed at her almost the entire time. Which maybe says something about me, but alas..

Also, the themes were a bit too heavy handed at times.

I really enjoyed Helen Phillips' other book “The Need,” so I was very excited to get a copy of this one to review! She’s a great writer. Every sentence feels well crafted and thoughtful. This story has some similar themes to the other one, (motherhood, identity), but is very unique and takes surprising turns. I'm typically not a big sci-fi reader, but I would categorize this as more of a thriller with sci-fi elements, and I love her prose.

Without spoiling too much, it involves a futuristic society that feels very familiar and real, as if aside from the robots most of it is already happening. (The ads catered to each individual, the face-scanning cameras, etc.) I generally love books or movies involving artificial intelligence and the robots in this, called Hums, came across as brilliant, sweet and patient. I loved them. (Of course, there are times during the story’s conflict when the Hums’ intentions can seem a little ominous.) I am clearly very influenced by video games when I visualize while reading, because I kept picturing the Hums as sleeker, more adult versions of the maintenance bots from “Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach.” IYKYK. People can also scan each other with their phones and know everything about their lives, like something out of Cyberpunk or Watchdogs.

May, the protagonist, is both frustrating and sympathetic. She absolutely makes some boneheaded decisions and she ends up paying dearly for them, but the author does a great job of explaining her thought process. I loved the concept of the heavenly Botanical Garden right in the middle of the trashy big city where people could vacation. (Of course, it costs a crazy amount of money to stay there.) But they check into their cottage in this gorgeous forest and one of the first things May's son says is, “This would be the perfect place to hide during a lockdown!” This was, of course, tragic, but overall I found the son, Sy, to be temperamental and selfish. I know he’s just a child but I was not a fan of him at all. I don’t pretend to know anything about kids, honestly, but both kids in this book were rude and had no respect for their mom. The husband, Jem, wasn’t exactly ideal, either. I was suspicious of him for most of the book, to be honest.

I'm not sure I completely understood everything that was happening at the end, specifically in the last couple of chapters and involving some of the deeper dialogue. So that's why I'm giving it a 4 instead of a 5. But I really liked this! Phillips has now won me over with two books involving heavy themes of mothers trying to protect their children, something I personally can't relate to, and I think that says something for her skill as an author.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. I've seen great things about other Helen Phillips books in review spaces, but really couldn't buy in to this one. This book is trying to say a lot, and while I enjoyed the world building and setting (and liked the real-world dystopian news that was used as a back drop) I ultimately felt like it never managed to tell me much?

There was a tension and ever-present dread, and the book was a quick read, but the pacing felt off and some of the character decisions just felt bizarre. It feels like the book had a lot of disjointed threads, and some of them never quite went anywhere. Maybe because I'm not a mother I can't put myself in the May's shoes.

Regardless, there are some cool elements, it didn't land for me, but may work for you.

If you are a fan of Dystopian stories, this is a great read. The thought that this could be in our future some day really makes you think. It made me even more interested in the story of May abd her family.

The opening of this book is so arresting that I missed a train stop. Phillips’ evocation of (and invented vocabulary for) a near-future Neo York dystopia is razor sharp and alarmingly familiar to anyone adjacent to the precarity of gig work. Ultimately Hum has a more limited focus and narrower stylistic range than I might have hoped; it’s a family portrait and a slice of life under a regime of AI, ecocide, and surveillance capitalism rather than a far-reaching or revolutionary investigation of their ramifications. The Botanical Garden setting is indeed “creepy,” as is the uncanny closing scene, though I find myself coming away with what feel like significant unanswered questions—who, for example, controls the hums, and why do the characters themselves appear so incurious about it?

"Hum" describes a near-future dystopia and is both brilliant and, painfully, too real and close for comfort. In brief, May lost her job to AI, and her family is struggling financially. She agrees to take part in a program to determine if surgery can fool facial recognition technology. Their world is full of "hums," which are small AI robots that run all service jobs. With the sum May gets for undergoing surgery to change her face, she treats her family to three days in the Botanic Gardens, a "forest" in the middle of the city. I imagine it's like if Central Park was completely walled off and turned into a luxury resort. Any time spent in nature, even carefully curated, man-made "nature," is an enormous luxury, and she wants her children to experience it. The entire family (including the smallest child) is addicted to personal tech devices, of which they have several iterations. May makes a decision to go techless for just the brief period of time while they are in the resort, which kicks off a series of consequences.

The book is haunting, highlighting tech anxieties and parental anxieties. More disturbingly, the author includes endnotes in the back with citations showing that many of specific incidents in her book have already occurred. I finished this book a few weeks ago, and it continues to haunt me. It's an anxious but thought-provoking read.

A hard to put down character driven story in an AI driven world with subtle commentary on how we currently connect and/or disconnect with technology. The author weaved in several thought-provoking elements such as addiction to technology, environmental harm, and the fallibility we find ourselves consumed with as parents learning every day how to raise our children in the best possible way we can. My heart ached as May found herself in a terrible situation that spiraled in this world where information spreads like wildfire (something we all understand since it happens in modern day times.) I cared deeply for this family and just wanted them to succeed after feeling like I was walking through every scene with them. I also loved reading about the Hums and wish I could read more about their backstory and how they operate. This is a must read for anyone interested in artificial intelligence, technology, and the implications it can have on the microcosm of our family units.

Thank you NetGalley and S&S for this ARC!!

She is seriously the master of a quick gut-punch that reveals and comments on all the fears of a mother trying to hold herself and her family together.

This book is quite anxiety inducing and a real page turner. It keeps the reader on their toes for most of the time, but the writing feels somewhat artificial, lacking the authenticity of real conversations among people. Apart from May, the other characters feel one dimensional, Jem seems solely preoccupied with money worries, while the kids come across as creepier and more annoying versions of typical tweens. The naming of the gadgets also feels out of place and kind of unfitting -Bunnies and Hum? The ending feels rather abrupt considering the high-stakes plot buildup.
overall, I appreciated the critique of the hyperconsumerist push of the media industries and the rampant spread of misinformation, as well as the commentary on the attention economy. These are important topics that deserve more attention.
P.S. The blurb does an excellent job of attracting readers, I must say.

Overall, I would rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars. Thanks to Simon Element and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC.

Helen Phillips is a wonder. Through the eyes of an underemployed, financially distressed mom in the near future, HUM captures both the worst of what's coming and the ethical quandaries we are all dealing with today, from overconsumption (just one more Amazon order!) to everyday digital addiction and consumer choices that are destroying the very world we know we will miss desperately in just decades, if not years. I won't outline the plot--you'll see it summarized elsewhere, and for most readers, I'd say the less you know going into this book, the better. Phillips excels at portraying kids realistically--fantastic dialogue and characterization on every page--and the deep interiority of her narrator creates nearly suffocating tension. While the plot and world are upsetting, the book is enlivened with wit and heart.

HUM feels like a wake-up call. The author's braiding of real news events and poignant quotes (clearly noted in endnotes) reinforces the feeling that this hypothetical future is really now, or even yesterday. Is it too late to choose a different future?

This book is likely to be my favorite of the year.

May loses her job to AI in a city beset with climate change and full of intelligent robots called “hums.” The unemployed May is desperate so she undergoes an experiment where her face is subtlely altered so it won’t be recognized by facial recognition, for which she is paid.

Afterward, and as a treat for her husband, Jem, and children Lu and Sy she buys a three day pass for the city’s Botanical Garden. When they go, the family leaves their devices at home. But while there her children come under threat, a mother’s worst nightmare, and May must put her trust in a hum. And then things get worse.

Oh, I love me some dystopia and Phillips does that well. Plus she does a great job writing small children, “is Jesus made of bubbles?” Throughout the entire book, regardless of what is actually happening, there’s a thin layer of stress, which is the same feeling May must have all the time, living in this crazy, airless world, where she fears for the future of her children all the time.

As to the hums, I don’t know. To its have definitely been done better, for that, see the recently published ANIIE BOT, but, then, they aren’t all equal. I’m still on the fence about the hums, even the one(s) portrayed here.

Overall, a good, satisfying read that I enjoyed very much. I really like May and her family and, and this doesn’t happen to me often, I was actually sorry to see the book come to an end. Recommended….probably 4.4 stars, not in 5 star range because the book is called HUM and I felt like more could have been done with them.

"'Fuck,' he whispered, but not angrily, just with fatigue.

She stopped stirring the pasta and looked over at him, unsure about his tone."

--------------

The writing in HUM was not very musical. At least, for me it wasn't. In fact it was kind of tone-deaf. I didn't understand its rhythms and progressions. It was a little one-note and the one note went on for far too long, in the manner that this music metaphor has gone on for far too long. That’s about all I can say about this novel without descending into purposeless cranky meanness, or reaching for another extended metaphor, except to add that I ever so many people love the books I don't, the way people love Taylor Swift and I don't, and I'm certain that this book will be a very great read for some people who aren't me..

When Helen Phillips puts a new book out, I'm first in line to request it!

Her lastest, Hum, is a creepy peek into a futuristic world in which natural forests and wild animals are things of the past and robots called hums intermingle with humanity.

May is a wife and mother and she's just lost her job to AI. Unsure when she'll land her next one, she decides to undergo experimental facial surgery that will alter her appearance just enough to confuse the ever present cameras throughout the city, but will beef up their bank account with nearly a year's worth of cash.

Only, she can't seem to stop purchasing friviolous things. No sooner does the money clear her account, with her skin still raw and painful from the surgery, she finds herself in line purchasing a weekend getaway for her and the family to The Botanical Gardens - a HUGE financial splurge, but one she's excited to share with the kids and her husband. The perfect retreat from the anxieties of the real world, a relaxing few days spent in an artifical woods complete with waterfalls, flora and fauna, and a much needed break from their cell phones and electronic addictions. But the trip quickly devolves into a mother's worst nightmare as she's forced to put her trust into a one of the hums when her children go missing.

Phillips is a master at threading unsettling, atmospheric undertones throughout her stories. It's a bit foreboding, and feels a lot like stepping through the looking glass: where the horrors of consumerism, climate change, our obsession with technology, and the unrelenting guilt and pressures of motherhood all come to a dark and cryptic head.

What a weird, unsettling, and fun little book.

Hum is the story of May who lives in an unnamed future city with her husband and children. While many aspects of this future are familiar, robotic AI devices know as Hums exist in every aspect of society, from jobs, to store assistants, to transportation, and more. Similar technology is in the homes as well, with children carrying "bunnies" and everyone having a "woom" in their room as a sort of private VR-pod. While the hums do have benefits, such as health scans, personalized shopping, and air quality checks, all of this comes inundated with advertisements that cost money to remove.

May has recently lost her job to AI and is experiencing feelings of depression driven by the polluted and industrial environment. After volunteering for a facial surgery that is supposed to make her unrecognizable to AI she splurges on a family vacation to the Botanical Gardens, a luxury that her husband questions. Desperate to experience nature like she did as a child, May begs her family to leave their phones and "bunnies" at home for an unplugged stay in this tech-centered world. At the gardens, May recalls the freedom she felt growing up in the forest but this peace unfortunately does not last.

Phillips does an excellent job of maintaining a sense of unease throughout the book. Even during the peaceful moments within the gardens there are little reminders of the surveillance and consumerism surrounding the characters in this book. Readers will be able to pick up on the futuristic aspects while still feeling the connections to the increasing levels of AI driven technology in our own lives. The epilogue was unnecessary in my mind and cheapens the story a bit, but not enough to make me regret the read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC

This book…. Might haunt me.

The execution was phenomenal which, in a story like this, makes for a very painful reading experience. At times I had to put the book down because it spooked me and hit a nerve somewhere deep within my subconscious. All the things that people are ignoring are nestled within these lines.

I wanted so badly for this to be a five star for me but after feeling blown away by the first third of the book, the ending left me a tad bit unsatisfied.

“This book was like looking to a black mirror episode that is a few months away from happening IRL. Helen Phillips excels at building the atmospheric vibes - I can feel the anxiety seeping off of the pages. Because of that it was such a gripping novel that made you want to dive deeper to see if any of your anxiety would quell. The epilogue was a tad bit confusing but I think that is the point - didn’t work as well for me as I’d hoped though”

Hum by Helen Philips captivated me from start to finish; I couldn't put it down. The author skillfully crafts a world eerily close to our own, prompting contemplation on how AI might shape our families, society, and identities. Although the ending didn't entirely resonate with me, I believe Hum would make an excellent choice for a book club, sparking engaging conversations on the profound impact of technology on our lives.

This was a haunting glimpse into a near future. A trip that goes horribly awry and the impact it has on a woman's family who is just trying to reconnect in a world of disconnection. I loved it and will absolutely hand this to many readers.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing this copy in exchange of a review.

I would have loved this book. I couldn't stop reading it, the world was fascinating, the characters the same. I was so interested in it. Somewhere around 60% I started thinking, "where is this going?" only to be immediately shown, and then once again I was hooked. It was an easy 5 star rating. Until the ending. I'm not going to spoil it, but it's trash. If you're going to read it, just don't read the epilogue.