Z’s Reviews > Hum > Status Update

+/- I had fun asking myself Q's theorizing but I'm not sure that I had enough even nuanced info to make my guesses, so reddit was more the fun part and the book itself kind of felt unfinished or it was doing too much in the background buttt on the + side, my closing remarks were way longer than the plot summary and that ratio can't be ignored (good thing!)

3.5 round to 4 cuz it was engaging and I had fun theorizing

-I wish May’s reasoning for wanting to disconnect was more concrete as it seemed she was the only one who thought this way (we only see her family so for her microcosm, she's the outlier) so I would’ve like a little reasoning behind it that didn’t come from extrapolating my own onto her
-many mentions of nudity of the children, bathroom scenes, the sex was particularly uncomfortable
-dragged a bit

+ads were spot on, absolutely unbearable in the most relatable way
+the near-future felt a little too near!
+quick and anxiety-inducing
-lack of descriptive world created detachment (on purpose? Idk) but it just made it difficult to be immersed
-why were Gem and May married? I don’t think they spoke to each other more than 5x in the whole book
-ending was pretty abrupt

Are hums capable of empathy? Now, this is a Q I can get behind but I think there was too much focus on the mundane (I understand the necessity, but I don’t need to hear about bathroom trips) for this to have been the intended hypothetical Q. As for my answer, I don’t think they are. They are made to attune to people’s needs but it does not come from a desire to ease their pain or prove they mirror their suffering

Idk if it loops, it really could be that all hums are connected so the one that did her surgery has the same info as this hum that recounts it, and May could be just rewatching that now without a twitch, either hum-manufactured or she never twitched and is unreliable

Was the cancelling of May plot devised by Hums to get them to wear rabbit devices? Or just simple commentary on skewed for clickbait news we have?

The ending: did the hum alter the video from the procedure proving it can lie to May? Or is May possibly a hum based off her own experiences they built the hums data and that’s why the kids kept calling her creepy? Or is it really just as simple as we were reading the hum’s advocating portrait of May from the eyes of the Bureau that will empathize with her and ultimately absolve her?

It sketches MC and submits it to bureau. She is absolved. She is encouraged by everyone to go view it and absolve herself. It is a recording of her getting the procedure done and not flinching (opening line is her trying not flinch during)

They spend time in a blanket fort and Hum sings song from horsies go ‘round cuz Hum was there when they made it up (proof all hums are connected); Hum said if ppl saw their family up close they would feel the affection and gives MC some encouraging words that are seamlessly spoken but are quotes from a book. Simulated empathy

The Hum asks for info from their phones and wooms and says tmw have a normal regular day, it says wants to help them; May thinks it's a test from the Bureau

The kids really really like the Hum

Visits friend Nova who has new baby

Gem tries to get injured by Hum for insurance money but it barely scratched him and claim was denied

Hum comes back to stay for dinner, an audition to prove they are fit parents

The videos leaked, She went viral, sleeping on vacation w untraceable face that ripped trackers off kids then lost them, for some reason husband Gem isn’t in the videos (someone targeted May?)

She gets call from bureau that she’s being investigated for child neglect