A striking thoughtful novel about the perils of technology and motherhood. May lost her job thanks to her own work, her husband Jem is cobbling together an income and so the large payout for having her features altered to beat the recognition systems is a more than welcome. Her decision to spend a chunk of it on a vacation in the botanical gardens turns out to change their lives when their children, Sassy and Lu wander off. Sure the kids are fine and come back but the implications echo down, It's more emotional than I expected, the language is terrific, and it's a scary look at the future. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Hum by Helen Phillips is a highly recommended speculative thriller which focuses on the potential effect of artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change in a dystopian future.

May Webb and her husband Jem have two elementary school aged children, Lu and Sy, and are struggling to make ends meet after May lost her job to AI. May undergoes an operation that alters her face so she is not immediately recognizable by AI surveillance software and is paid the equivalent of 10 months of her previous salary.

She decides to splurge on 3 day passes inside the Botanical Garden for her whole family. It is an extravagant vacation into a lush, green paradise. She tells her children that they must all leave their devices/phones behind, including the children's devices called bunnies. When her children go missing and cannot be tracked by their bunnies she is forced to turn to a hum, an AI robot, for help, which only makes things worse.

May's fight for her family in this world full of AI and constant commercials/ads is a frightening portrait and caution of a dystopian future. Already many are at the mercy of their devices and are unable to set them aside. This novel multiplies that current trend. The writing is precise without a lot of extra adornment, but it captures May's internal plight with compassion and sensitivity. It also portrays motherhood and a loving family realistically as they navigate life in this future.

Hum would actually make a better movie than novel, something I never thought I'd say as books are generally better, however, there are moments in the novel that would make a huge impact visually. It is impactful as a novel, but much more could be done with it as a movie. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Helen Phillips' Hum is a captivating exploration of the surreal and the mundane, blending elements of speculative fiction with deeply human experiences. The collection of stories showcases Phillips' ability to create worlds that are both familiar and disconcerting, leaving readers with a lingering sense of unease and wonder.

Overview
Hum is composed of a series of short stories, each unique in its premise but interconnected through themes of transformation, identity, and the often thin veil between reality and the otherworldly. Phillips' writing is marked by its lyrical quality and precise attention to detail, drawing readers into her vividly imagined scenarios.

Themes and Style
Phillips excels at capturing the strangeness of everyday life, infusing it with a sense of magic and dread. Her stories often feature protagonists grappling with changes that challenge their understanding of themselves and their surroundings. The titular story, "Hum," is particularly notable for its portrayal of a woman who becomes attuned to a mysterious hum that no one else can hear, symbolizing the inner voices and experiences that isolate us from others.

Another standout story is "The Beekeeper," which delves into the life of a woman who discovers a bizarre and unsettling connection with bees. The story is a meditation on control, intimacy, and the unexpected ways our lives can intertwine with the natural world.

Characterization
Phillips' characters are richly drawn, each possessing a depth that makes their surreal experiences all the more impactful. They are often ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, navigating their strange new realities with a mix of confusion, curiosity, and resilience. This approach makes the fantastical elements of the stories feel grounded and relatable.

Writing and Atmosphere
The prose in Hum is elegant and evocative, with Phillips' keen observational skills bringing her strange worlds to life. Her ability to convey complex emotions and ideas through sparse, poetic language is one of the collection's greatest strengths. The atmosphere she creates is often dreamlike, teetering on the edge of a nightmare, but always grounded in a profound sense of humanity.

Conclusion
Hum by Helen Phillips is a masterful collection that blurs the lines between the real and the unreal, offering readers a series of haunting, thought-provoking tales. Phillips' storytelling is both imaginative and deeply resonant, making this a must-read for fans of speculative fiction and literary fiction alike. Her ability to weave the extraordinary into the fabric of everyday life leaves a lasting impression, inviting readers to see the world around them in a new light.

If you're looking for a book that challenges your perceptions and lingers in your mind long after you've turned the last page, Hum is an excellent choice.

This book felt more like a literary fiction with a touch of sci-fi, which I liked. The small background talks of climate change, having advanced technology like AI, plus how consumed by social media people can be made it feel realistic. Which made it all the more eerie. However the ending left me a little confused but I think that was just me maybe not grasping it.
I did however not really like the way the children Lu and Sy were described at times, I guess in a way it just adds to the eeriness. I feel like I could've gone without it though.
Thank you NetGalley and Thank you Simon and Schuster for a physical copy as well.

Hum is an eerie look at a not too distant future where tech and AI abound. Helen Philips style throughout gave the tone of this book a realistic and unnerving quality. I liked her ideas of what tech could look like and how we’d have to deal with it. The plot left me wanting more. I just didn’t feel like it ramped up far enough. Overall, a recommend for tone and ideas more than plot. Thanks to Simon Element for the ARC through NetGallery!

UNSETTLING!!! SO EERIE!!! This could easily become a spin off type movie of black mirror. It was just really creepy. I really do wish the characters had been fleshed out and developed a bit more. I wanted more from May. But overall a solid, quick dystopian read. Very enjoyable and easy to follow along.

Dystopian novel about a very sad future when everything we do is watched but there is little in life worth doing. The book starts with May, who has lost her job. In order to make money she agrees to an experimental medical procedure which will subtly change her features to be unrecognizable to the many cameras that are everywhere. The procedure is painful and her husband Jem and children Lu and Sy are a bit freaked out but get used to her new look. Everything in this world and this story has a layer of sadness to it. The small children are addicted to their watches called 'bunnies' and after school they want to spend all their time in their "wooms" which are egg shaped pods that provide visual and musical entertainment. Stories about climate change, crime and other dismal happenings are broadcast continually through the devices these characters wear. The hums are actually robots that do everything from process prescriptions at the pharmacy to act as governmental employees. The hums constantly generate ads and the humans have to say "no thank you" hundreds of times a day to avoid buying things they cannot afford.

May decides to use some of the money she received from her facial surgery to take her family for a three day trip to a botanical garden. Since most of nature is gone this garden provides a few days in nature with fruit trees, animals, insects and waterfalls. May insists the children not bring their electronics which backfires when they become briefly lost, causing a hum to broadcast terrible things about May (nothing is said about their father) and May returns home to find thousands of messages and videos accusing her of being a terrible mother. There also is an investigation by the government into her mothering which could result in her losing her kids. The novel was well researched and some parts were frightening as they could well be in our immediate future. I did think that there was too much going on though and didn't get the central message the author was trying for in this story. Issues of climate change, wasteful spending, intrusive ads, mothering in an electronic age and probably many more themes crowded each other out to where I couldn't identify the main one. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

I really wanted to love this novel, and there were elements that I was super impressed by--most notably the world-building, and specifically the small details of the dystopian setting that force the reader to do a double-take on nearly every page. However, I think I need a bit more than existential dread to find a book compelling (though the existential dread was so well done!), which left me wanting a bit more. I also did not understand the ending of the epilogue in the slightest, so I'm off to search other reviews for some insight there.

"Hum" by Helen Phillips is a thought-provoking exploration of a near-future world dominated by AI and environmental decay. May, facing job loss to AI and financial strain, undergoes a risky procedure to evade surveillance. This decision triggers a series of unforeseen consequences, intricately woven into themes of family, technology, and societal control. Phillips masterfully raises pertinent questions about our future with AI and the environmental consequences of human actions. The prose, though occasionally dense with metaphor, effectively mirrors the omnipresence of technology in our lives. However, amidst the wealth of recent AI-themed literature, "Hum" risks feeling repetitive in its exploration of these themes. Overall, "Hum" is a subtly tense and deeply humane read, rich in speculative detail and thematic depth, despite needing more fleshed-out exploration of its compelling ideas.

Four stars is being generous. It held my interest enough to finish, but there are several lapses in logic.

3.5 stars

Near future with a background of the effects of climate change. Technology to advertise to people and track them is everywhere. AI units, called hums, are ubiquitous. Sound like Black Mirror episode? It felt like that. The main character, May, agrees to have her face altered to test facial recognition systems in exchange for much needed money, since her job (training AIs) was eliminated by AIs. She splurges on a family vacation to see some nature, when the children get lost. The media descends and May has to prove she is a good enough parent to keep her kids.

The world the author constructed feels very real, terrifyingly so. This is in part to many of the specific incidents that establish the dystopian world are actually pulled from present day news (which are cited at the end of the book). It felt like the plot was just a way to demonstrate the future world and its pitfalls. I didn't care too much about how the family fared in the story, and I didn't connect with May at all. But I appreciated the world building.

I enjoyed reading this while also growing deeper in anxiety about the future of technology. At the center is the force of family - but the changes in society and concept of trust may cause suspense and spiral in even the most relaxed reader. Scenically, Hum was stunning and well appreciated.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading this book, but I am so glad I did! There is so much atmosphere in this book; I've never experienced such a visceral and bleak picture of the near future. I had originally thought that much of the concepts or situations Phillips puts into this novel were too farfetched too be plausible, but once I stopped and thought about them, they didn't seem so crazy. There were definite moments of "horror", but not in the traditional dark corners of a hunted room or monsters lurking in the shadows. It was a comment from one of the narrator's children about the world they live in that sent shivers down my spine.

This was such an easy book to read; it flew by in chunks. There were some short, impactful chapters that helped speed along the narrative and kept it from becoming too plodding or unnecessarily wordy. I will definitely be checking out more by Helen Phillips in the future!

I’m finding it difficult to put my thoughts about this book into words to explain why I didn’t enjoy it. I usually like dystopian/sci-fi/Black Mirror type stories but this one didn’t work for me. I didn’t like the writing style or any of the characters so it was hard for me to feel invested in the story. I think there could have been more commentary or information in general about the world and the specific technological advancements because it all just seemed too surface level. I also thought the ending was a little confusing and felt very abrupt.

*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC for review!*

Reading Hum feels kind of like being grabbed off the street, bashed over the head, and then taken on a brief tour of the near future. By the time you stop reading, your head is spinning, you are full of dread, and you want to go around shaking people while trying to convince them to avoid the horrible fate that awaits us. Several times while reading this book I had to pause and struggle with how real this imagined future felt, how likely that the A.I. revolution is going to be combined with modern day advertising, total data collection, and the death of privacy to create a consumerist hell where robots walk around constantly trying to sell you something and get you to approve transactions on your credit card. Seeing how our protagonist May tries to hold her family together in a world facing climate crisis, mass poverty, ecological disaster, and the worst parts of the social media world was a harrowing treat.

An excellent piece of speculative fiction, filled with great characters and a vividly convincing glimpse at a possible future.

The futuristic, AI aspect of this book immediately appealed to me because I always enjoy the new and often alarming ideas from the author. We do get a taste of this in Hum, but I wish the details were fleshed out more.

We meet May, an anxious mother whose job was replaced by AI who is barely making ends meet. She undergoes a facial altering procedure for some extra cash, which she uses to take her husband and two kids to the Botanical Gardens. The experience does not go to plan, however.

While this was a quick read, I felt like something was missing. We're dropped right into the story without getting much background on this world or the technology within it, so some parts felt jarring and muddled. The random accounts of sex with her husband Jem came out of nowhere, and I could have lived without hearing every little quip from her kids, Lu and Sy. I enjoyed the concept more than the execution, but I think it would make for an interesting movie or TV series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

In Helen Phillips's Hum, we are thrust into a disquieting future where intelligent and benevolent robots, known as hums, record every moment of life, trailing citizens to sell products they might need at any given time. May, an unemployed mother of two, is navigating this world, relying on her husband Jem's gig work to barely make ends meet. Hauntingly, May once helped train the AI network that evolved into the hums, so proficient at her job that she rendered herself obsolete.

Phillips crafts a world that is both stressful and propulsive, forcing readers to confront the potential dangers of rapid technological advancement. May's struggle against the hums' relentless commodification critiques how such advancements push us deeper into debt and consumption. The emotional and physical toll of constant surveillance is evident as May undergoes a procedure to make her face illegible to cameras, a drastic step taken to secure financial compensation. This decision not only highlights the lengths to which individuals might go to regain some semblance of privacy but also the invasive nature of surveillance technology.

A significant portion of the novel's suspense stems from the eerie and often malfunctioning devices like the bunnies, AI-equipped smartwatches worn by May's children, Sy and Lu. These moments inject a chilling sense of unpredictability into the story, emphasizing the fragility of reliance on technology. In her increasing technophobia, May plans a family trip to the city's Botanical Garden, a rare natural refuge, demanding they leave their devices behind. This decision leads to a tense sequence where May and Jem are separated from their children, only to find their actions misrepresented in the media, casting May as a neglectful mother. The ensuing investigation by the Bureau of Family Aid and the invasive visits from a hum underscore the omnipresent power of state surveillance.

Phillips's "Black Mirror"-esque narrative is compelling, keeping me hooked from start to finish. However, the book’s ending left me feeling unfulfilled. While I appreciated Phillips's elegantly sparse prose and expert world-building, I found it challenging to relate to her portrayal of motherhood and May's obsessive panic over her children's well-being. A friend recently pointed out to me how frequently motherhood books talk about the bodies of the children in a very obsessive, fetishistic manner. I noticed this appeared a few times in Hum and found it a turnoff, such as the scenes where May observes her son’s penis while he urinates. These instances detracted from my overall experience.

Despite the rich world-building and timely commentary on surveillance capitalism, I struggled to connect with the characters and their plights. This detachment ultimately impacted my enjoyment of the novel. While I appreciated Hum’s thought-provoking premise and Phillips's writing style, I wanted a more impactful resolution and more relatable characters.

Content / Trigger Warnings: Medical Content (severe), Sexual Content (minor), Abandonment (Moderate).

I loved how this book started. It was such an uneasy setting that absolutely made me not want to put it down. I am such a fan of Helen Phillips and was over the moon to see Hum available on NetGalley.

Unsettling, uncomfortable, and reminiscent of a Black Mirror episode. Thank you to NetGalley and Marysue Rucci Books for the ARC.

A short, unsettling read. Whatever worries I've had about technology -- about being on devices too much, about too much surveillance, about how AI might change society -- Phillips taps into. Paced and plotted more like a short story.

If you've read The Need, this felt to me like a continuation, exploring the anxieties of modern motherhood.

I actively didn't want to read this (see: unsettling, worries, anxieties) but couldn't put it down.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.