The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire NorthMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is my first experience with Claire North, and I'll look forward to reading more. The book has a logical clarity that really works well with the literary experience. North has come up with an excellent form of invisibility, in that having people forget they have seen you is just as good as not being seen in the first place.
The story is really just a vehicle for this exploration. How Hope Arden gets by in life ties into really overly efficient self-help software, but even though the author makes it clear that Hope is really invested in the outcome, the story line and the exploration end up sitting side by side rather than integrating. The book is all told in the first person, and we really get a sense of the voice of someone who can talk with others, interact with them, but never be real to them.
We even get some interesting exploration of the boundaries of the phenomenon. Can you remember that you have interacted with someone you can't remember? Not easily, you have to make a lot of notes and in some way doubt your own sanity.
The book is well-written and a deep exploration. I would recommend it to anyone really trying to get into the gears of building speculation, because they are somewhat exposed here, in a good and artful way.
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I think it's a real contender for the 2017 World Fantasy Award.
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