NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Thursday, April 7, 2016

The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North


3.0 out of 5 stars -- Who are you if no one remembers you -- do you even really exist if the feedback you receive from others is fleeting. You have no permanence in anyone else's memory. "All thought is association and feedback."

Hope Arden is a young woman you will never know. Even if you meet her and talk with her a thousand times, you won't remember it or her face or anything about her when and if you see her again. Hope does not "disappear" or anything magical, but for some reason (never explained), she is just forgotten. This makes it very hard for her to have any sort of normal life or relationships. She can't work a job. Hard to imagine such an existence. Hope has sort of come to terms with it -- even using it to her advantage when committing crimes -- but she is a lonely soul in search of a connection.

In a parallel story to that of Hope and her constant travel to avoid being caught by digital records and cameras that do remember her, she becomes intrigued by a new, popular app named PERFECTION. It's all the rage as the rich and beautiful become "perfect" and Hope wonders if the treatments might help her reverse or change her condition.

All the while, Hope talks to herself in a continuous monologue of trivia and ceaseless counting. She repeats mantras and spouts facts about places and things. I got weary of it after awhile and it was repetitive and sort of annoying. I just wanted to read how things turned out for Hope and let's just say the conclusion was not as satisfying as I'd wished.

The premise was interesting, the story lines were complicated and absorbing, but the overall pace and the redundancy of Hope's internal dialog dimmed my enthusiasm. The writing was extremely descriptive with lots of detail.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Redhook for the e-book ARC to review.

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