The Sudden Appearance of Hope

Good book but not as good as her Harry August book. The main character in this book likes to soothe herself with knowledge - this is interesting at first but as the book progresses the pages and pages of her knowledge imo detract from the story. I was faithfully reading everything so I didn’t miss anything important but realized about half way through the book that if I started skipping lines when she gets into her recounts I actually wasn’t missing anything at all. The story itself is great and exciting. It’s almost like the portions of her knowledge recounts are commercials and I just want to fast forward and get back to the story. Still a good book but not as good as her Harry August book. They are both quite lengthy so if you are considering one or the other I’d go with Harry.

She’s endlessly and inexplicably forgotten. She’s resorted to a life of crime. She’s struggled with her own identity and what it means to exist. The story of Hope Arden is a heartbreaking and riveting one, a story that pulls you in from the very first word. The concept itself is one that leads to initial questions from us: How did this happen? How does she live with this “condition”? Will she ever escape this way of life?Hope, our narrator in “The Sudden Appearance of Hope” by Claire North, immediately pulls us in with the way she speaks. From the description alone, we can understand that something is different about this girl, about how she chooses to exist. “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” (North). Hope immediately takes us on a journey into her crime filled life and into her desire to destroy Perfection.Perfection is the lifestyle app that tells consumers how to dress, what procedures to get done, what foods to eat, what places to visit, what exercises to do, etc. Basically, people have become photocopies of each other in order to feel important and appear “perfect” to each other and themselves. This forced perfection, this type of brainwashing that has occurred within the general population, has become a deep hatred of Hope’s. With a death pushing her over the edge in her conquest of Perfection, Hope sets out on a mission to eliminate the program that has, in her opinion, taken away so much from humanity. Hope is surrounded by plastic people, by consumers who can never get enough from the app and the services it provides.While Perfection seems to be an unrealistic thing, the reflection on what we consider to be the “real” world makes you think as you continue to read. Who’s to say this won’t be similar to something that happens down the line? With the constant pressure from the media to look a certain way, especially for girls, who says an app like this won’t be developed with equally as disastrous consequences? Hope’s story, although strange, can easily be seen as reminiscent to what we all already experience. Like Hope chooses, if you refrain from conforming to “perfection”, you’re forgettable, you’re disposable, you’re unimportant. But is being remembered worth sacrificing your sanity and understanding of existence?Overall, “The Sudden Appearance of Hope” is a book that I highly recommend for readers. Personally, I’ve never explored this genre in depth before but this book captivated me from the very beginning. Trying to understand why Hope is the way she is and how she is able to live prevents you from putting the book down. With enough of a mixture of adventure, mystery, romance, and friendship, this novel is one that is destined to stick with you long after you finish it. North does an incredible job of creating a memorable character in our world even though she is forgotten in hers.

Claire North has a really fun, interesting style, and very unique ideas behind her storylines. I bought this book after loving "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August," which I could NOT put down."The Sudden Appearance of Hope" is much more character-driven and impressionistic than "...Harry August." I'd classify it as a character study that really lets you into Hope's mind and experience, which could be a let-down if you're looking for something more action-driven. Its writing style is awesome though, and North uses neat poetic devices to communicate Hope's emotions through the structure of the writing. I find myself caught up more in the complexity of her thought processes than the storyline itself (which is still interesting, don't get me wrong). There's also a strong undercurrent of social commentary on what our world considers "perfect," which might seem a little heavy-handed at times... but I find I don't mind in the scope of the novel. Overall, an engaging read in my opinion.

I'll buy anything written by Claire North. She's great at taking one simple aspect of our human condition, changing it, and building a thrilling, spell-binding story. In "The Sudden Appearance of Hope," the protagonist disappears from the memory of everyone who has ever known her, including her parents. A very lonely and isolating experience, the author does a great job of drawing us into the protagonist's viewpoint. If you're looking for hard core science fiction or space ships, this isn't it. The story is set in present day or near future, on Earth. The author doesn't explain scientifically why the protagonist is omitted from everyone's long term memory, but the story is more science fiction than fantasy, as it focuses on possible scientific methods to make her memorable again. If you're willing to suspend a tiny bit of belief and not have everything made scientifically plausible, then this is a great read.

How would you live if within 15 or 20 minutes of leaving a person they had absolutely no memory of you? Not your face, not the conversation you had, not the love you made. When Hope Arden reached her teen years, slowly but inexorably her family began to forget her. She learned to live by her wits, using the forgetfulness of others to cover her criminal activities. North weaves a complex story of memory, identity, and the search for perfection to an exciting finale.I'd have given 5 stars if not for what I considered over-preparation of the characters motivations. I bogged down in the middle for a while. However the last third really made up for that slowness, and sped to an exciting and fulfilling conclusion.Recommended.

Before purchasing this book I read quite a few negative comments about this story including cliches about how forgettable it was. Based on Claire North’s previous two novels that I had devoured, I was willing to take a chance with a Sudden Appearance of Hope and was so glad I did. This is a great Claire North novel and is so well written, each of her novels introduce such amazing concepts but in this story the central character has the fortunate or unfortunate ability to be forgotten.This turns her to a life of crime as carrying out any normal type of life would be impossible as she would be forgotten. Following a theft in Dubai she is pursued by an organisation that she is determined to bring down.All in all an excellently thought out story, brilliantly put together.I have never before read 3 different novels by the same author on the bounce (Excluding a series), I will soon buy her next.Claire North is an amazing author.

I'm afraid I'm also in the "disappointed" category. Having really enjoyed "The First 15 Lives..." and having noted the intriguing premise of this new book, I had high hopes for something equally enjoyable to read. Unfortunately, for me, the book just doesn't deliver. As others have said, there seems to be insufficient story to hang the social commentary about the meaning of "self" and its manipulation by social pressures onto. I kept having to force myself to read more and whilst I did find the finale somewhat more engaging, it was a bit of a slog to get there. I'm not really one for analysing books and so I find it difficult to put my finger on why this might be, but certainly the main protagonist's demeanour made it difficult to warm to the character as did the somewhat unbelievable constant use of theft and deception by the author to enable Hope to succeed in all sorts of situations. Regular interruption of the story to list numerous interesting facts known by Hope also just served to break up the story for me and there seemed to be a number of loose ends. Ultimately disappointing.

Absolutely splendid. Claire North is an extremely talented and highly imaginative author.The book starts with a heist. It's the setup for a great thriller, but typically Claire North has set the genre on its head with her protagonist Hope. Hope has a condition you see, which makes her forgettable. Within three minutes of her leaving, you will have forgotten her and anything that has passed between you. That's a very interesting situation for a thief. Just imagine what you could (and would) do if there was no comeback. But also, imagine how lonely that life would be. Hope is a very believable and sympathetic character - the implications of her condition are well thought through and very convincingly explored. And that's the set-up for a very entertaining, gripping page-turner of a novel.

Fabulous, up there with her 2 previous novels. Claire North is an original voice who captures the way we think in so many ways. The use of lists and wordplay in Hope's thoughts give the reader a glimpse into her mind in ways that I have not come across before in 40 years of reading. Or is it just me that has rambling thoughts and scatter-gun connections like this? Great premise as always and so much more than initially seems possible. Eagerly awaiting the next release from this exciting writer...

Having enjoyed Claire North's previous work, I was disappointed by this novel. Despite a very promising concept behind the novel, the story just doesn't seem to do it justice. I really struggled to identify with, or develop any emotional link to the characters, and the story was glacially paced. Not really a story at all, more a series of events linked with somewhat abstract passages, ending in a rather unsatisfying and unresolved manner.

On becoming a teenager, The heroine discovers she is immediately forgettable after a minute or so has elapsed. A life of crime follows ( a reaction to even her own parents forgetting her except incidentally, for her tragically disabled sister), starting small and getting more daring for bigger rewards but Hope feels alone in the world and certain factions have discovered the existence of her 'gift', some of whom want to exploit it and some who want what they see as a danger or mistake it for a device that can be duplicated and used for nefarious means. As usual, the story is a good idea but gets a bit bogged down by trivialities at times, not to mention a plotline that the author has chosen that, as is a frequent occurrence with Ms. North, features the more depressing attributes of a life where someone is instantly forgettable, choosing to focus on downsides rather than 'up'. Having said that, it's well written, clearly a better fit for readers who can retain the numerous threads of the story and is without doubt, cleverly original, a sort of sci-fi crime thriller. I enjoyed it but came away a little sorry for Hope and her desire to be remembered normally, but I would recommend this to readers who would like a break from the crash bang of say, Lee Child (who I also like immensely) as a little something different to get their eye teeth into! Ms. North is a writer well 'up there' in my opinion and deserves any plaudits going.

I was exciting to read this book after reading the blurb and I loved the authors previous book Touch. However, it was not what I expected. The fact that Hope cannot be seen is not the underlying plot for the book and lots of things I would have liked answered were not. This book was also heavily detailed with information that was unnecessary. I found myself able to skip 4 pages and still not miss anything which is exactly what I did after reading about a 3rd of it as it was going nowhere. Not for me.

The concept of this novel is certainly original. The narrator, Hope, has a bizarre problem - people are unable to remember her. Even her own parents forget her existence when she is sixteen. Unable to form relationships or get a job or many other things we all take for granted, she turns to crime as the best way to survive. When she steals an expensive diamond necklace, she becomes accidentally embroiled in a struggle to destroy a sinister app that uses a form of thought control. But even participating in a worthy endeavour is difficult when your comrades can't remember you as soon as you disappear from sight.It is definitely a clever idea and North does a good job of putting across the crushing loneliness of Hope's life. The writing is a bit pretentious for my liking - it feels like it's trying too hard to be 'literary'. It could also have been shorter and pithier, which might have lent it more pace.Overall it's a good original idea and readable, but could have been better executed.

A fantastic idea for a book but actually misconceived in execution. Why does the main character, who is from Derby, become an international jewel thief in the style of Ethan Hunt? Lots of extraneous information and reams of basil exposition. I am visually impaired and read the kindle on the largest font and every few pages the font size changes so I’m left with four letters on the page, extremely irritating and pointless . Generally like this author,Mate you can do better than this!

As usual, Claire North gets off to a fantastic, original, gripping start....what an incredible idea: a woman who drops out of other peoples' memories almost instantly....the opening chapters belt along at a great pace and you're hooked....it's moving, too, with some beautiful, poetic passages....and some humour, too.....BUT...it doesn't take too long before someone is strapped to a chair and tortured (the author seems addicted to this)....and I was bored - really bored - way before the end....again. Zapping around the world at a great rate...again....does not compensate for lack of emotional investment in characters. North's imagined worlds are cold, souless, loveless environments. Its hard to care about them.

I know mesmerising is an unusual word to describe a book, but I felt I was drawn into the book and couldn’t leave it. Fantasy isn’t my usual genre, but once I had come to terms with who Hope is, I was with her all the way. Prometheus and Perfection are not far from a reality which is very scary...companies using our data. So really Hope is out to save the world. The characters in this book are so well written. Although the story is a bit drawn out on occasion - that feeling that I was hooked kept me going. In my opinion, this is a very good book...and the story will stay with me and I won’t forget Hope!

This book is an unusual one, in terms of both the storyline and the writing style, but I enjoyed both these aspects to it.The writing becomes a stream of consciousness in places, which I felt reflected how most of us think. I wasn’t put off by this. However, reading reviews by others, I know this isn’t to everyone’s taste.The story was quite different and certainly novel in my experience. I probably wouldn’t say I was 100% satisfied with the ending - i felt that maybe I missed some lessons i was meant to take away - but getting to the end was good fun and interesting, and it definitely kept me engaged and moved at a pace I was comfortable with.I hadn’t heard of Claire North as an author before I bought this; i seem to remember buying this on a kindle deal and was probably attracted by the science fiction-y storyline although this isn’t my favourite fantasy genre. I don’t know if Claire typically writes science fiction type storylines but I suspect I won’t actively seek out more by Claire at this time, although if I happen to come across something else she’s written, then i’d certainly give it a good look. I did like the way Claire challenged stereotypes by making peripheral characters female.All in all - if you like unusual, modern books then this might be one to try. It’s one I’d love to see turned into a film to find out what ‘they’ could do with it.

It's OK. I bought this after reading The First 15 lives of Harry August which was a mind blowing book. This probably would have been a really good book if I'd read it first but it sort of feels like she is writing the same book over and over in different forms. TBH I got part way through and quit. It just didn't hold my interest. Thought I'd found a new author to follow but I won't read any more of hers. Shame, she writes well.

This book is part of the new generation of fantasy fiction. It's more like 'what if' genre instead of fantasy. The characters are interesting and well developed. There is no major twist in the plot but it keeps moving forward without it being predictable either. I suppose it reflects today's fears - people are too dependent on their phones and apps, they try to obey the dictates of fame fashion religiously, they lose their originality etc.All in all it was very well written and made me want to see more from this writer. Her other book 'Touch' is on my list.

A fabulous premise, mostly well worked out, with a very good greater story.Excellent characters, made believable. As always when the premise flies in the face of everything we know of the world, there is a problem in working out exactly how things work within an otherwise unchanged world and occasionally I felt my suspension of disbelief was challenged too hard.But in the end it is as well done as can be and the story holds up. Very close to five stars.