An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
Ratings219
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings219
Average rating4.1
**In Hank Green's sweeping, cinematic debut novel, a young woman becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagine.**
***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 from 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.
This description comes from the publisher.
Featured Prompt
2,852 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...
Featured Series
2 primary booksThe Carls is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by Hank Green.
Reviews with the most likes.
Man this was bad. Oh boy was this bad. It's like if a millennial girl wrote a book for a Gen Z boy and used Tik Tok instead of a dictionary.
Wow. That was so weird, I loved it. Unlike anything I've ever read before.
I enjoyed April's character and wanted to scream at her all the same. She did some really shitty things like thirsting over other people when she already had a girlfriend (even though she never treated Maya like one). She is the epitome of an unlikable protagonist.
This made some great observations on humanity and internet culture. The social commentary was one of the best parts of this book for me.
This book was incredibly funny too. It made me laugh out loud several times. I also loved how intricately woven the plot was. Hank Green is a genius.
While I wasn't expecting that ending, it did leave me kind of unsatisfied with the few answers that we got. I understand that there will probably be more of that in the sequel, but that makes this book seem like all build up.
This was an absolutely amazing book! The story timeline, the characters, the concept. While it definitely has this great science fiction vibe, it is so much more than that. The way Hank tackled fame and how one deals with fame was perfection. I cannot wait for more books from him!
