Hum is an alternative sci-fi dystopian novel featuring May; a mother and a wife, struggling to keep her family together and happy in a world full of constant ads, attention-grabbing screens–and Hums. Sleek artificial intelligence doing most of the work for humans, sweeping up jobs like dentists, pharmacists, ticket sellers. And even though May helped build and test these designs, the machines grew intelligent enough that she was no longer needed. She’s been let go. Her husband is struggling to keep them afloat with his random gigs: pest disposal one day. Sewage backup cleanage the next.

And so, to pick up a little extra money, May–essentially–decides to sell her face.

Almost sounds familar, doesn’t it?

Hum is told in a fast, almost anxious voice, making it an easy page-turner. Our main character, May, wants so much better for her life and her family. She wants a better relationship with her husband. She wants to bring her children to nature, to a forest like where she grew up. She wants to keep her family connected, even at the expense of selling her face to science.

And part of that is so relatable to me. While I wouldn’t sell my face just to get an experience, May’s desire to give her family a free, happy, screen-less experience in a world of constant stimulation and threats is something a lot of us yearn for.

During their trip, she has these surreal realizations that she’s so disconnected from her family, even as she tries so desperately to make them happy. And as she moves to try to better enjoy their trip, to live in the moment and document these memories in her head, rather than on her phone, she finds a sense of former peace and appreciation. It’s a beautiful message the author sends–to live in the present and appreciate these little moments, before they slip away.

But Hum isn’t just a series of May appreciating the little moments. While the premise of the novel is intriguing and held my attention, there was so much going on in this 245-page novel: May trying to find a job, May and her husband trying to reconnect, May trying to connect with her kids, May thinking about visiting the forest she used to visit, May getting her face changed to earn extra money for her family, May trying to understand her children, to cling to her children, to build her connection with her friend/ex-coworker who just had a baby, not to mention the entire ordeal with the Hums, and the countless other things I’ve forgotten–there’s a lot.

I feel like this book could’ve been drawn out, to better show the world and their struggles. To show her actually connecting with her family. To explain the ending–and I won’t spoil what happened, but I’m still thoroughly confused, even after trying to search up an explanation.

There’s also a brief, graphic sexual scene–it’s a chapter, that’s like a page and a half long. I just skipped it. Honestly, the book… didn’t need it. A fade to black would’ve worked fine.

According to readers on Reddit, Hum is set in the science fiction, dystopian thriller genre, but it poses more as a dystopian slice-of-life. And I’d agree with this. We really only see a hint of May’s life, and even though we see her change throughout the book–technically–there’s so many questions left unanswered, and I still feel like I’m hanging on the precipice of the story.

Another fair warning to readers: this is not a happy book. It didn’t leave me feeling satisfied and fuzzy when I flipped the last page–rather, I felt vaguely disturbed, though I guess I should expect that for a near-future thriller.

The scariest part about this book is it’s really not that far away. I could fully expect to see this in my lifetime. And it brings us to a harsh reality check of what could happen if we keep sacrificing the real, beautiful world we live in for screens, artificial intelligence, and the world of virtual reality.

I rate Hum three out of five stars; I adore the voice and the overall plot Phillips was going for, but it could’ve been executed better. I recommend for readers 16+ interested in near future dystopian and AI reality checks.