An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: A Novel (The Carls) Hardcover – September 25, 2018

I have so many emotions to unpack about this book, and I don't even know where to begin. The writing style isn't remarkable, the main character isn't all that likable or even a good person... yet I found this book throughly enjoyable and completely addictive. (Wow, that's an abundance of superlatives.) In fact, I'm all geared up in anticipation for the sequel.But let's backtrack a bit. One day, out of the blue, my best friend gifted me this book on Amazon. Before that point in time, I didn't know it existed. Frankly, beyond having a couple of John Green books in my ever-growing collection of things I may someday read - and watching the occasional video my bff links - neither of the Green brothers are on my radar. I'm more of a Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and Dope or Nope kind of girl: escapism is my niche. I was in the middle of reading a Riverdale novel - which may or may not say more about my preferences in literature than I would care to admit - and I decided to make this the next book I read after that. Give or take some obnoxious meme compilation "books" I for some reason wasted chunks of my life skimming, that's exactly what I did.As luck would have it, I ended up reading this book while trapped with very poor cell signal and no Wi-Fi. What else was there to do other than read, really? But rather than a chore, this book felt compelling and actually took my mind off the annoyance and stress. It sucked me into a fascinating and intriguing world where very odd things were happening to a selfish and short-sighted young woman who for some reason spoke as if everyone should know her story already. Also, her name was April May - her parents clearly took a page from the West family's baby naming handbook - and she was a socially inept bisexual woman. That last bit? Yeah, it sucked me in.I don't often see people like me in books. Bi women are often written in a very unflattering and promiscuous light, but April wasn't. I mean, she also wasn't a very good person in general, but she had some hindsight and the narrative never felt like it was taking her side when she did terrible things. I think that in particular is why I enjoyed the book so much despite its thoroughly unlikable main character. (And I do mean throughly; even before fame warped her and sent her on a psychotic spiral of horrible life choices, she was the kind of person who would call people with missing pets to make sure she could still get the reward money if she found a corpse instead of a living pet. She called that 'being a pet detective.') But yes, more to April: she was just bland enough to be reader-insertable, but I had no interest in imagining myself with such an icky personality.Instead, I related peripherally to some of her traits like not knowing how to handle popularity, being jealous of others' success, feeling attacked when debating people, and pulling away from loved ones when overwhelmed. No, those aren't flattering traits. No, I didn't even care for how they made her behave. But, yes, I could often relate to the underlying thought processes. I could understand how she got from point A to point B, even when I thought she was an idiot for not going to point C instead. And seeing how fame corrupted her? Yeah, it made me feel a tiny bit more secure in how much I try to avoid too much attention online despite wishing I could actually be someone of worth and value of that variety.As for the story itself... well, it's almost like two stories in one.First, you have the story of April May, a young woman with some mental health issues (of the narcissm and fear of commitment varieties) who has a decent heart behind the shell of atrocious behaviour toward other humans. She's a terrible girlfriend and the kind of friend who both looks out for and takes advantage of the people she values most. She does genuinely want to bring humanity together, yet also she wants to be at the forefront as the single most important of those humans. (And also she hates it, or claims to, despite chasing it full-speed to the detriment of herself and everyone around her.) She's an idiot, for the most part, but also the most dangerous kind: a famous idiot. She falls into internet - and then completely international, mainstream - fame accidentally, but chooses to milk it for all it's worth, slowly becoming a worse person in the process. By the time she narrates the story to the reader, however, she's become self aware and admits to the flaws in her thinking with some refreshing hindsight. As such, it's not an unbearable experience and instead is a fascinating delve into the effects of social media, internet fame, and global attention on the average person who was never prepared to handle so much attention. I love character-driven fiction, so I enjoyed these bits. (They comprise a majority of the story, so it's probably a good thing I didn't dislike them.)Second, and almost peripherally, you have the story of the inhuman beings invading Earth for reasons unknown (until the end) and the divide between humans who are wary of them and humans who blindly trust them. Considering the former group is portrayed as primarily monstrous jerks and homophobic bigots with no grasp of the concept of humanity, it's clear whose side we're meant to take. But honestly? I think - extremists not counted - they had a very valid point. Who in their right mind decides to just start fulfilling the requests of an alien invader with unknown motives and goes "aww it's okay, they mean well, we should perform like their dancing monkeys" when said invader and its counterparts begin altering human consciousness? It's a good way to end up dead, especially when one of those requests is to procure and deliver radioactive materials to the alien beings.Things work out some kind of way, of course, but I don't want to give spoilers. I will say I felt a little let down by the climax of that story, though. In fact, the final chapter and a half were nowhere near as engaging as the rest of the book. All the intrigue, all the mystique, all the blended seriousness and silliness all culminated in the ultimate moment... and fell just a little bit flat for me, despite all the chaos which surrounded it. It felt less like getting real answers and more like having a conclusion tacked on because it was remembered at the last second that some kind of explanation should he provided for the "Carls" (large statue-like alien beings) and their appearance. Granted, I still ended up surprised by the outcome; I guess it just wasn't as amazing and fascinating as I'd hoped.Overall, however, the very end managed to turn around and get me excited for more all over again (and fill me with the sense of emptiness and longing for more only the ending of an enjoyable book can provide). I liked the experience. I had fun speculating in my mind and sharing my thoughts with the best friend who bought me this book. I wanted more when it was over. I wanted more when it was only halfway.And most importantly: I managed to not want to abandon the book despite the story being written very much in the cadence and style of a millenial girl who comes from a privileged background. ('Okay' is written as 'OK,' 'WTF' is used in a sentence or two, she refers to a building as 'a dope Japanese pagoda,' and she 'wants to vom' instead of feeling like she may vomit. Ugh.) The fast-paced, conversational style - annoying dialect notwithstanding - worked very well overall and kept my interest even through the slow bits.That Hank Green managed to write a book which kept me engaged and entertained despite the obnoxious way the main character speaks and behaves may very well mean he's an extremely talented man. Or a wizard. Possibly both. But I'm glad for his potential wizardry all the same, and I'm already craving more from this peculiar, little world he's created.

I absolutely loved this book. Rarely these days do I have the attention span to read a book straight-through in a couple of days, but An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is utterly compelling. I was thrilled to realize that there is a sequel, which I just watched pop on to my Kindle. These will definitely be made into movies someday, or maybe a streaming series.

This book got me back into reading. I wasn’t a huge sci-fi person, but I think you can absolutely LOVE it whether you like science fiction or not. I adore this book, and it will forever be a favorite of mine.

One night April is walking home from work at 3 o'clock in the morning and sees this giant Samurai looking statue. She immediately calls Andy, her friend to come and record this giant statue that she has named Carl of New York. This recording gets put on Andy's YouTube channel and it goes viral and she gets paid to go on multiple new stations to talk.At first she achieves a small amount of fame. But with the rising curiosity for what the Carls are (as many have suddenly appeared worldwide), her popularity and fame begin to grow.This book is really centered around the Internet fame and what it does to a person psychologically and emotionally. It's clever and insightful and very clearly written. This book almost resembles a kind of sociological study about how a population interacts and responds to the Internet while also being about how the internet conspires to bring people with similar beliefs together.As Carl was largely debated as to whether or not he was actually harmful two groups began to form. One group that was represented by April, our main character who believed the Carls were here not to hurt us; and another group headed by Peter Petwick who riled up the masses that the Carls were dangerous. I feel these groups are a literal example in the book and a figurative example in real life. This scenario as a metaphor for every single big issue that graces the Internet with its presence. There are always 2 sides to every issue and this was an exact representation Of those particular instances. This book talked a lot about what it was to be famous and what type of famous you could be. She explained a 5 tier system going from everything to locally famous to big star household name famous. April having had her new found fame, takes us on a journey through what it's like for her mentally and emotionally to experience different levels of fame. This was completely relatable and it made me feel a lot for the main character. Something that I found very likable about April is how deeply flawed she was. She wasn't made out to be this perfect person who had it all together. She actually openly emits that she has trouble with intimacy and when she gets back to New York from visiting Hollywood she breaks up with Maya because she can't handle the closeness of the relationship. I really appreciated having such a openly flawed character to relate to because it made her feel like a real person. People are not naturally perfect and the little flaws and details that were added to this character made her an amazing masterpiece.I did however notice on good reads that this book is classified as a young adult novel. I don't think this novel is suitable to the younger aspect of young adult which pertains to people who are just now turning into teenagers. I know many young adult books have cussing and them but especially towards the beginning there is a lot of that in this book. Also as an expression we heard the term circle jerk which I don't feel is friendly to younger reader. This book is classified as a science fiction contemporary. It's very accurately described in that context as we encounter aliens and everyday problems combined. I really enjoyed this book. I've never read anything like this before and it was really fun to have such a beautifully open take I want it means to be famous and most of all what it means to experience what it's like to be human.

This novel was not like anything else I’d ever read. A fun story, constantly moving.

Com certeza foi uma das melhores leituras que fiz esse ano! Iniciei essa leitura com expectativas altas e, felizmente, todas elas foram atendidas e me surpreendi tanto com a história, que ainda sigo chocada com esse enredo. Hank Green foi brilhante no que ele se propôs a apresentar com um plot diferente (e meio confuso, no início) é impossível não ficar fascinado em como a história nos faz refletir tanto sobre a imersão nas redes sociais, sociedade, fama e política. Hank conseguiu tratar de assuntos tão distintos de uma maneira tão incrível e é surpreendente como esse livro conversa tanto com a atualidade. Ansiosíssima para ler a continuação assim que possível.

This was phenomenal. A really gripping story told in a super interesting and engaging way. Wonderful and lively characters and so much poignant and beautiful discussion on what is to be, what is to live in the current day and what is to be a social being in it.It's just incredible and Hank (the author) is such a great person. A true pleasure to read

This is not a celebrity vanity project. This is a legit sci fi novel that deals with the modern issues of social media and the power it has in our society and over each of us as individuals. Also, there are aliens in it, but not in the usual way.It's his first book, so it isn't perfect, but it is an excellent first book, and a great book in general. It keeps you wanting to know where it goes from beginning to end, and who can ask for more than that?Anyway, I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one.Good job, Hank.Best wishes and don't forget to be awesome

Eu já amava o Hank Green por causa de The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, mas conhecer a escrita do irmão do John foi um prazer. Foi bom eu não saber a sinopse do livro direito e me surpreender com o quanto a história cresce e evolui ao longo da leitura. Eu esperava algo leve e bobo, mas é muito mais do que a capa deixa transparecer.

Uma leitura cheia de aventuras e insights, uma ótima história para jovens adultos. Não consegui deixar de me apaixonar por todas as falhas da April May.