A mother, facing job loss to AI and financial struggles, undergoes a facial alteration experiment to evade surveillance in a dystopian world plagued by climate change and dominated by intelligent robots. As she seeks solace in a rare green refuge with her family, tensions rise, trust is tested, and the blurred lines between humanity and technology become increasingly unsettling.

Reader Review Summary

Helen Phillips has crafted a haunting and thought-provoking speculative fiction novel that feels unsettlingly plausible. Set in a near-future world ravaged by climate change and overrun by pervasive technology and artificial intelligence, "Hum" offers a prescient glimpse into where our society may be headed if we aren't careful.

The story follows May, a woman struggling to make ends meet after losing her job to AI. In a desperate move to provide for her family, she undergoes an experimental procedure to alter her facial features just enough to evade the omnipresent surveillance systems. With the money she earns, May splurges on a luxurious three-day getaway to the Botanical Gardens - one of the last remaining pristine natural environments that only the wealthy can afford to visit.

What ensues is a tense and unsettling exploration of the conflicts between humanity and technology, parenthood and privacy, and our ever-growing dependence on AI assistance. Phillips deftly captures the anxiety of a world dominated by socially-disconnecting screen addictions, invasive digital advertising, and the creeping autonomy of AI "hums" whose full motives remain unclear.

At its core, "Hum" is a profound meditation on what we may lose as technology's reach grows increasingly pervasive in our lives. By centering the story around May's fraught journey as a mother trying to reconnect with her family, Phillips makes the high stakes tangible and visceral. We feel May's despair at her children's obsession with their digital "bunnies", and her resolve to give them an experience of unvarnished nature before it's lost forever.

Phillips' crisp, propulsive writing ratchets up the tension as seemingly innocuous moments take on an ominous weight. Even as the hums aim to be helpful with their trademark politeness, their interactions carry an inescapable undercurrent of menace born from society's uneasy reliance on their services. In this world, escaping the ever-watchful digital inundation proves nearly impossible.

"Hum" doesn't provide easy answers, but perhaps that's the point. It shines a disquieting light on many of our current societal woes - climate crisis, surveillance capitalism, technology addiction - and posits a haunting extrapolation of where we may be headed. It's a clarion call for us to reexamine our relationships with AI and environmental stewardship before it's too late to preserve our humanity.

With its immersive world-building, incisive cultural commentary, and visceral emotional resonance, "Hum" establishes Helen Phillips as an essential voice in speculative and literary fiction. Harrowing and hopeful in equal measure, it's a riveting and deeply affecting read that will leave you thinking long after the final pages.