I'm a litttttttle excited to write this review; after I finished writing the title I clapped my hands together a bit.
More importantly, if you are not familiar with Hank Green, for one, I am sorry, but for two, he is an absolutely remarkable person. It should be no surprise that he can write An Absolutely Remarkable Thing then (ehhhhhhhhhhhh??? I know you come here for the terrible jokes).
Side note, I did attend one of the book tour events that Hank Green had with his brother John Green. It was pretty magical, hilarious, and I would recommend going to one if you can.
Here's the amazon summary, "In his much-anticipated 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 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." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
This story is about April May and her discovery of a Carl. After leaving the office one night, April has to go back to the office to get her card and a Carl has appeared since she left. She calls her friend Andy, they shoot some footage of the Carl. Andy goes home, edits, and uploads the video. April May wakes up the next day to find out the video has gone viral.
The story follows April May's rise to fame, her immersion into social media, and also the mystery of the Carls. Who created them? How did they all show up all at once?
I really think the summary from amazon did a great job. So... I'm just going to leave it at that.
I really liked April May as a character, I loved how the plot unfolded, so much of it felt really realistic, but the style in which the story was told kind of threw me off for a little bit. So it's told from future April May as she recounts the events that happened. It took me just a few chapters to get into it, and a couple times I would forget and suddenly it would be very obvious again. It was a small nuance that I kind of like was, "Oh, right," and went right back to the story.
I also thought the depiction of how social media worked was very interesting, but also how they incorporated the well established big news network too. The depiction of the world was pretty fascinating, but I also found some of the most interesting parts was how the world interacted with April and how April interacted with the world.
You could say, this is a most absolutely remarkable book, and you would not be wrong. ....ehhhh!?!?!?
There will be a sequel. GET PUMPED.
Happy reading!
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