Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North

No Spoiler Book RevieW

Do you have Perfection?

This is the question asked again and again in this speculative fiction. Do you have Perfection? A life changing app that seeks to control who you are from the outside-in. How many people do you know that seek magazine beauty and social admiration? It’s not zero. Don’t we all covet perfection at least sometimes?

Speculative fiction is one of my favorite genres. I love pondering big “what if” questions. Not only does Sudden Appearance of Hope tackle sinister technology, but it also poses a lot of important questions. The main character, Hope, is utterly and literally forgettable. She is the embodiment of “out of sight, out of mind”, as soon as you are not with her, you forget her. She can’t form relationships, and she certainly can’t get a job. How does someone with that condition survive? What is justifiable when you are forced to live outside of society? What would you do to overcome?

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One of my favorite things about this book was that the writing changed as Hope changed. At the beginning of the book Hope is polished, careful and in control. She uses trivia as a way to calm herself, so the reader learns a lot of interesting and sometimes disturbing facts. The fact that stuck with me the most is as follows (quoted from book):

Permissions that the Facebook Messenger app requests when downloaded to your phone:

• Allows the app to change the state of network connectivity.
• Allows the app to call phone numbers without your intervention.
• Allows the app to send SMS messages.
• Allows the app to record audio with microphone. This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation.
• Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation.
• Allows the app to read your phone’s call log, including data about incoming and outgoing calls. This permission allows apps to save your call-log data.
• Allows the app to read data about your contacts stored on your phone, including the frequency with which you’ve called, emailed, or communicated in other ways with specific individuals.
• Allows the app to read personal-profile information stored on your device, such as your name and contact information. This means the app can identify you and may send your profile information to others.
• Allows the app to get a list of accounts known by the phone. This may include any accounts created by applications you have installed.

This isn’t a thing anymore because of the whole Facebook scandal, RIGHT??? 

Back to the awesome writing...As the story continues the writing becomes, confused and dangerously emotional. This writing technique caught me off guard because it is so rarely done, but when I realized what she was doing, I loved it.

While I enjoyed this book and would recommend it, it was a little too long and a little too complicated. It had maybe one too many story lines. This book was provoking and intriguing and would appeal to anyone looking for something a little different. Fans of contemporary science fiction and fantasy will enjoy the tech and unexplained forgettability.

​Thank you to Kellywellread.blogspot.com for recommending this book!

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Goodreads Summary

My name is Hope Arden, and you won't know who I am. But we've met before - a thousand times.

It started when I was sixteen years old.

A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A friend who looks at me and sees a stranger.

No matter what I do, the words I say, the crimes I commit, you will never remember who I am.

That makes my life difficult. It also makes me dangerous.

The Sudden Appearance of Hope is the tale of a girl no one remembers, yet her story will stay with you forever.

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