May Webb lives in a major city with her husband and two children at an unspecified time in the (presumably) not too distant future. Climate change is rampant, AI is everywhere, and adults and children alike are completely tech connected. When May is laid off, she makes ends meet by allowing a tech company to subtly alter her face in order to test facial recognition software. She uses a large chunk of the money to take her family on a visit to the Botanical Gardens, the green space in the middle of the city generally reserved for the wealthy. A series of small choices sets off a string of events in which everything May cares for is threatened.

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book. It was a quick, propulsive read that I finished in a few days. There were moments that felt so true to life - I felt May’s stress when she overspent on an experience for her kids, then stressed out when every moment wasn’t perfect; I love how “safe” it feels like I can locate my kids through their tech but then I worry that without it they won’t be able to weather the regular hiccups of daily life.

Ultimately, though, for a 267-page book Phillips just spread herself too thin; she touched on climate change, technology, facial recognition, the divide between the rich and poor, and changing family dynamics due to technology but never had the time to really get into depth on any of them. Things moved so quickly that there wasn’t enough time to build the characters as thoroughly and nuanced as she seemed capable of.

To be completely fair, though, I am not a huge fan of sci-fi or speculative fiction, so if that is your preferred genre I would still recommend this book as it was a quick and exciting read.

4 ⭐️. love me a dystopian, sci-fi light read. while I really enjoyed this story, I do feel like it needed fledged out more. It felt like each section was going off in a different direction and didn't feel entirely meshed together as a cohesive story. SPOILER: it also just.....ended? out of nowhere. I felt very unfulfilled.


ty to Simon Element & NetGalley for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m confused. We are literally thrown into this world full of AI machines called “Hums” where our main character is getting some experimental procedure done to make her face unrecognizable to all of the machines running this dystopian world. Apparently she also created these machines and then they took her job? Anyway, she’s getting paid a lot of money to do this procedure and her and her family desperately need that money.

She’s also having marital problems and she reallllly wants her husband to f*** her (the sex scenes in this book were so…weird). So, she spends a chunk of the money she just made to let a robot disfigure her face (but to what extent I’m never really sure because some people treat her like she’s grotesque while others are like not bothered by her appearance) to bring her family on a vacation to the Botanical Gardens (because apparently there’s no wildlife or nature in this world), and she ends up seeking help from a Hum to find her kids while she’s in distress.

The synopsis makes you this will be some epic story because her “kids come under threat” but it was so anticlimactic???? There’s so much that this book doesn’t explain and since family drama is such a big component some background info would have been nice. Anyway, by the end I was just left beyond underwhelmed. Maybe I’m just dumb and didn’t read the context clues or look at the bigger picture, but even though this ARC was gifted to me I really don’t have many positives to state except that this had major potential and I thought this was going to be so much more than it was. The writing was clunky, it lacked important details, the plot fell extremely flat, and I am left completely and utterly confused.

Thank you Atria/Marysue Rucci books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

May needs money a signs up for an experimental procedure to alter her face so she cannot be recognized on surveillance. Her world is a world of intelligent robots and AI. With her new money she takes her family on a trip to a Garden, to see forests, streams, and animals but it is not the relaxing restoration she expected.

This was a fast paced read, especially for science fiction. Sci fi is not a favorite of mine, as it’s often complicated and too detailed for me. This story was very easy to understand. I loved the look at a possible future. Most importantly, I loved the look at motherhood in a possible future and the insecurities we always have.

“… if others were steeped in the context of your life, as I am, they would feel compassion for you, as I do.”

Hum comes out 8/6.

Thanks, I hated it.

Very beautiful capture of the anxiety of raising children in a surveillance and consumerism based state, unsettlingly accurate. The entire story was exquisitely tense, claustrophobic, and hit way too close to home. I loved it, but was legitimately stressed out about how familiar everything felt, and I don't even have kids. Phillips has an incredible atmospheric style- describing specific sensations or details of scenes set the whole vibe so well.

I kind of wish this was shorter, or longer, there were some pacing points that felt a little off, either too quick or took a long time to build up.

Four stars because the ending had me so confused and lost that I re-read it three times and still don't really understand the resolution. I also very much wanted a comeuppance and the end upheld the very realistic helplessness we would all have in the same situation.

This is a great story for people who distrust AI, or maybe should be.

As with The Need, Phillips' writing is easily devoured and requires thorough digestion. The story is set in the not too distant future where climate change has created hazardous living conditions and interactions with robots called Hums have become a significant part of daily life. But the growing capabilities of AI have left many, like May obsolete in the workplace. Philips writing is very direct in the way it draws the reader into this world, and refreshing in the way she trusts the reader to understand the structure of the is society and the science fiction elements without excessive world building.

At several points, the story left me feeling unsettled and on the edge of my seat waiting for something bad to happen, which is exactly how Philips portrays May throughout the book. The way we see May's anxieties and desires come off as very realistic and perhaps transcend time and circumstance because in spite of the futuristic setting, her anxieties are still around the safety and hippieness of her children and financial security.

While Philips highlights the pitfalls of AI and dependence on technology, the reality this story depicts is that our relationship with technology is complex. Even throughout the novel, May's own stance remains undecided. She wants to take her family on a tech free vacation to engage with nature, and each other without the distraction, but finds herself desperate to return to it when her children are missing, and once again desperate to escape when she goes viral as a bad parent. What stands out in the novel is the way Philips draws attention to the Hums 'learning' and the ways the humans willingly participate in this process in both implicit and explicit ways. Before she lost her job, May was responsible for building up the communication abilities for AI, and to keep her family financially stable, she opted to have her face altered as part of a study that would make her face unreadable by the existing AI metrics, but is still meant to teach the system how to read her new face. Even through the distrust May feels towards the Hum throughout the end of the book, the story is heartwarming as the Hum shows May all of the things her and her family have taught it, not just from a scientific or marketing perspective as it's generally designed to do, but about the nuances of motherhood, family and herself.


I would recommend this book to readers who also enjoyed A School For Good Mothers

Near-ish future, gray concrete dystopian world where robot “hums” have taken all of the jobs, leaving the MC, May, desperate enough to undergo an experimental face-altering surgery to make some cash. She blows a big chunk of said cash on a three-day family trip to the Botanic Garden, a luxury nature resort where she hopes to reconnect with her husband and kids without their devices. Then some stuff goes wrong and May needs help from a hum.

I liked this well enough for maybe the first fifty pages or so and felt some real empathy for May and her (relatable) fears and anxieties about AI, consumerism, plastic being everywhere, the struggles of marriage and kids, but that wasn’t enough to keep the story interesting.

My main issue was that the “children coming under threat” plot was not what I expected as described in the blurb - I was expecting an apocalyptic meltdown/robot rebellion/wild animals on a rampage/viral outbreak/SOMETHING EXCITING happening within the walls of the Garden, not the boring, slow, sad business that did occur.

Also:

I couldn’t stand reading the word “woom” (maybe I’m overly sensitive bc of the Zillow Gone Wild show promos with the guy asking Kenneth “do you want to see my woom?” which is a little womb-like space (GET IT??!!??) carved into the rock walls of his house which I guess is supposed to be cute/clever but it just sounds like baby talk which makes me insane) ANYWAY blargh.

The kids were THE WORST. The younger one’s nonstop, nonsensical yammering was relentless and there was WAAAAY too much of it for such a supposedly “taut, urgent” book.

I did think the hums breaking into ads was hilarious and felt uncomfortably real.

Why are the kids’ wrist things called bunnies?

This has a lot of good reviews, but it didn’t work for me at all.

This felt a little too real

MY THOUGHTS💭: I have to be honest—I really enjoyed this book! Where some reads are very subtle in their approach and it doesn’t work, the subtlety in this book makes it even more searing and leaves you with so much to think about after you close it. "Hum" sets the scene of an eerie future that feels closer than I would like to admit. A future in which every activity comes with an ad, robots called Hums take care of your every need, and toxic air is normal, while green grass, clean water, and human experiences come at a cost.

We fall into the lives of May and Jem, two parents doing whatever it takes to get by. At the book's start, we see May willing to undergo a minor facial transformation as part of a scientific study in hopes of utilizing the money she’ll receive. Put into this position after years of working to better AI, her job has now become obsolete and rendered useless while her husband takes on gig work. Sound familiar? Wanting to provide her family with a luxury experience, May uses some of the money from her procedure to take her kids and husband to the botanical gardens—a lush and vibrant green space where those who can afford it can escape the daily effects of a world destroying itself.

Once there, away from the constant buzz of technology (a choice made by May to experience this vacation without phones or watchful devices), the family starts to take in the natural oasis that is the botanical gardens. It’s here that we start to delve into the dangerous and codependent relationships that exist between technology and human experience. This book is creepy in the way it reminds you how much of this is already occurring in real life—the way not only children, but even adults, rely heavily on technology for day-to-day living and just how close we are to sacrificing the very human things about us for another opportunity to buy, shop, and purchase.

The book’s tone mimics the sterile and direct format of the Hum devices, only mirroring enough warmth to comfort you. Some people might read this book and feel like they’re just following along with the family and their day-to-day experiences, but it’s all the instances that push this book further and make it one worth talking about. It’s the kids who are quick to tell a device they love it before their own parents. It’s the way everything is for sale, even your own identity. It’s the desperation to afford a better life. The dark reality of losing control to the systems you’ve created.

While I found some things annoying or frustrating about this book, I also felt they were extremely intentional. One being May’s kids, Lu and Sky, who at many times are written to be annoying, ungrateful, secretive, and disruptive. Though we already see this today—kids who will throw a tantrum if they don’t get their tablet back, spend more time on devices than they do outside, to the point where going to what is essentially a greenhouse theme park feels like a luxury experience. Or May and her husband Jem’s relationship, which doesn’t necessarily feel strained but instead distant. Once again, shining a light on the individualistic tendencies of technology—how two people can find warmth, safety, and comfort in a device before each other and how human interaction can begin to feel like a chore.

Overall, I found this book intriguing and couldn’t put it down. From the way it examines capitalism, AI, the progression of technology, and even motherhood. I don’t think this book was meant to dive deep into how we get to this point, but instead shine a light on how we’re almost there. Phillips’ characters are reflections—I didn’t feel like I needed to know much of their backstory because I feel like I know these people in real life. Parents willing to do anything to make their kids happy, families struggling to get by, and a system that requires you to comply rather than succeed.

I was hooked in from the start with this thought-provoking read. It had me examining our addiction vs. need for technology, the impact of constant advertising on our psyche and our wallet, expectations of mothers vs. fathers and the results of climate change. That's a lot of huge topics all wrapped into 272 pages, but I was here for it completely. When finished, I was confused by the resolution and found myself re-reading passages to attempt to "solve" the story, but in retrospect I think the author wanted conclusions to be made by the individual, which was great. I could see many college papers being written about this novel.

After making it half-way through, I organized a meeting with my defunct bookclub for September based solely on this book because I think the discussion will be so rich, especially since we are all mothers of elementary-school children.

🎬 Read this if you like:
Bird Box
WALL-E
⏰ Best time to read:
Around Mothers Day, or after a stroll through the park
📝 Themes:
Literary Fiction, Dystopian Sci-Fi, Motherhood, Climate Change, Consumerism, Social Media, Artificial Intelligence, Gig Economy
👍 What I liked:
The combination of literary fiction and dystopian sci-fi means Hum is right up my alley. Helen Phillips is also an amazing writer, and Hum was written with a very tender touch.
❓ Synopsis: Hum follows May, who is the mother of Lu and Sy, and the wife of Jem. Her family is struggling as a result of the gig economy and worker robots (called hums), both of which are limiting opportunities for human workers. To supplement her family's income, May undergoes facial un-recognition surgery as part of a paid experiment. Then, after splurging on a family vacation, a series of events push May to a breaking point and threaten to separate May from her family.
📣 Review: Hum is ultimately a story of motherhood, and ways in which technology and the existential crises of the present make raising and protecting children different, and maybe more difficult. I loved the character-building in Hum, the poignancy of the dystopian world in which the book is set (can robots be more empathetic than humans?), and the writing style (which will be appreciated by all lit fic fans).

Thank you for the ARC. This book was really interesting. I flew through it. I liked the commentary about advertisement, waste, and parenting. I didn’t really understand the ending though.

This was a quick read but made me think a lot about how technology is invading every moment of our lives, or at least working towards that. To go anywhere without a cellphone is just not done anymore because they hold all the important info. Hum brings this point home to the extreme, with even little kids strapping "bunnies" to their wrists that tracks them and listens and entertains the kids, especially when they are in their wooms.

I could really understand May, who came into a bit of money after agreeing to the face distortion surgery, trying to give her kids the experience she had growing up where there was still trees and good outside. That part felt nicely nostalgic but also sad because the good outdoors is only found in certain shielded areas.

But even that paradise had hidden dangers and was only a facade, and after when the experience went viral and May was bombarded with all that hate, I could see that being so true, even more than it is now. That was a scary thought.

So, this was an interesting read though a bit uncomfortable because of how likely it could happen for real. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read and review this book.

Helen Phillips’s Hum is one of those books that crawls into the deepest parts of my brain—the niggling thoughts and fears that surface most often in the middle of the night—and just won’t leave. It’s speculative fiction set in the very near future, a novel that unearths the ugly threat of our pathways and habits.

The setting is a city devastated by the climate crisis. May and her family—her husband Jem and children Lu and Sy—have struggled to survive on his gig work since May lost her tech job to hums, robots driven by the very AI she’d been training. Out of desperation, May signs up for adversarial tech surgery. These small modifications to her face will prevent her from being recognized by the technology that runs her city.

The large payment she gets in exchange is meant to go to practical costs like rent and medical bills, and May does take care of some of those. But in a spontaneous (but not really) move, she also buys nonrefundable tickets for a family weekend at the Botanical Garden, the only place where they can access the type of nature that is now lost, the type of nature that surrounded May while she was growing up.

Despite Jem’s misgivings, the family embarks on this trip within the city, with May determined to make the weekend a perfect oasis within the gritty darkness of their lives.

This world is one where adults are always on their phones; where children’s lives are tracked and fueled by “bunnies,” wearable wrist technology; and where people spend much of their time within Wooms, immersive isolation pods in which occupants are completely surrounded by screens. But May wants to break these connections, insisting that they leave their phones and bunnies behind.

Hum isn’t a comfortable book; there’s too much that’s recognizable, and I often felt deeply seen (and not in a good way), and every page of the book is thought provoking. But. It’s when May’s children go missing in the midst of the Botanical Garden, untrackable (no bunnies!), that the story really ramps up . . . as did my anxiety . . . even (especially!) when a Hum steps into help.

Phillips, the author of The Need (another amazing book), is juggling so much here: Hum features deeply drawn characters and an incredibly compulsive plot alongside resonant questions about the path we’re all on and where it may be leading. I couldn’t look away, from the book or from what it reflected back at me. This will be one of my top books of the year.

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.