An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Books | Fiction / Coming of Age
4.1
(4.7K)
Hank Green
THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Sparkling with mystery, humor and the uncanny, this is a fun read. But beneath its effervescent tone, more complex themes are at play.” —San Francisco ChronicleIn his wildly entertaining debut novel, Hank Green—cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow—spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined. The Carls just appeared. Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship—like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor—April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world—from Beijing to Buenos Aires—and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us. Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring for the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. The beginning of an exciting fiction career, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a bold and insightful novel of now.
Science Fiction
Coming Of Age
Young Adult
Lgbtq+
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More Details:
Author
Hank Green
Pages
352
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2019-07-30
ISBN
1524743461 9781524743468
Community ReviewsSee all
"So I will say I gave this a lower star than I should have. This was a good book it just wasn't for me. I was looking for more of a science fiction, first contact type of thing. An Alien species learning our ways and vice versa. This was honestly none of that. April May finds a statue in New York, YouTubes it then her fame spirals out of control. That is almost the whole story. So mostly about her character arc.<br/><br/>Sadly I didn't care so much. I wanted to know more about Carl. Maybe some normal running away from the government or teaching a fascinated Carl how to toss a New York pizza pie haha. I dunno. It was all about April May. What you have to give up for fame. What it can do to you. So I'm sure to someone she was relatable but to me, no. Still I did like the way April talked to her readers like we were included in the same world.<br/><br/>I will admit it was disturbing, when in the spot light, how easy it is for people to turn on you. Fear creates radical movements which in most cases harm others. But even less easy of a movement, humanity sometimes working together for the betterment of the world. Like I said this was a good book but it left me unfulfilled and I wasn't curious enough to read book 2."
"I LOVED the major plot of alien life and Hank's portrayal of how our society would deal with it. like most things I believe it to be quite accurate. I did not really like April May as a character tbh. I appreciate that she's a deeply flawed character but I still really hated the way she approached most things to the point of me cringing even though at least part of it was relatable it felt a little too exaggerated."
"Entertaining and thought provoking but I wasn’t obsessed"
G
Gillian
"This was sincerely good and interesting. Maybe I'll say more some other time."
E
Emily
"I listened to the audiobook and was captivated. The characters were well crafted, which I think is the foundation for any good story. "
K
Kris