Helen Phillips
Hum by Helen Phillips is set in a bleak future when climate change has caused irreparable damage to the environment and when technology intrudes into every aspect of lives. The novel focuses on May Webb and her family. Recently unemployed, May and her husband are barely able to make financial ends meet for themselves and for their two elementary school children. In desperation, May agrees to submit to an experimental procedure designed to alter her facial features to avoid detection from the ubiquitous presence of surveillance cameras. In exchange, she will receive the equivalent of ten months’ salary.
The novel opens with May undergoing the procedure performed by a smooth-talking, reassuring humanoid robot called a Hum. Her family are initially startled by the changes in her face. Determined that her sacrifice should be meaningful, May splurges on a three-night stay for her family at the Botanical Gardens, a retreat for the very rich, plush with greenery, free-roaming animals, clean water, and fresh air. The Gardens are shielded by high walls that cut them off from the city’s filth, grime, litter, soot, and poor air quality.
The vacation is off to a good start until the children wander off and get lost. Frantic, May solicits help from a Hum to locate them. She gives the Hum permission to send for an emergency search inquiry. And that’s when the situation spirals out of control. The children are found, but a doctored video goes viral. It shows May fast asleep while her children wander around in the dark, barefoot and in tears. May is bombarded with messages accusing her of being a horrendous mother. The nightmare scenario is exacerbated when the Bureau of Family Aid launches an investigation to determine if the children should be taken into custody for their own protection. The family seems to be on the verge of falling apart until a Hum comes to their rescue.
The atmosphere is immersive and unsettling. Dirt and grime flourish in the city. The air is polluted. Tap water is discolored. Animals and plants struggle to survive. News headlines about the dire state of the world, many of which are factual and referenced at the back of the book, blare out in all public spaces. Surveillance cameras proliferate. Hums have taken over the tasks formerly performed by humans. And humans are addicted to their devices. The children interact with and heavily rely on their wrist “bunnies” that monitor their locations and vital signs. And the whole family spends much of its time crawling inside their separate “wooms”—networked isolation chambers that access memories and streaming services, enable one to converse with confidants, and offer an immersive experience.
Phillips incorporates many of life’s current challenges: online shaming; the frustration of talking to machines; the dependence on technology; the proliferation of surveillance; the constant bombardment of commercials; rampant consumerism; and the invasion of privacy. In the midst of a world spinning out of control, Phillips shows the how the love between family members can serve as an anchor of stability, and how technology can both create and resolve a crisis.
A thoughtful and provocative cautionary tale urging serious consideration of the limits we should place in our reliance on and use of technology.