Book Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (Signed Edition): A Novel by Hank Green
Publisher: Dutton
Release Date: September 25, 2018
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
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.
April May is a graphic designer who lives in New York City. One night while walking home after getting off work at 3am, she comes across a ten foot statue of a robot in the middle of the sidewalk. No one else seems to be taking notice of him. Her first instinct is to call her friend and YouTuber Andy to come down and film it. He meets her at the robot and makes a video of April and the robot, who she has named Carl. Andy goes home and posts the video and by the time April wakes up, it’s got viral. Majorly viral. And that’s all the details of the plot I can give you without spoiling it.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing raises important questions about Internet fame in this age of social media and YouTube. How far is too far to go in the pursuit of internet fame? Can two sides of an issue ever see eye to eye or have a nuanced discussion using social media and the internet? What role does fear play in communicating using social media? These are just a few examples of what this book will make you think about.
Hank Green is a great person to tackle these themes because he has what April refers to in the book as Third Tier internet fame himself. (He’ll probably trend on Twitter if he dies.) He and his brother John started the vlogbrothers YouTube channel around ten years ago and have millions of subscribers now. They also host the hilarious podcast Dear Hank and John. Hank is the CEO of Complexly, which produces a number of educational YouTube shows like Crash Course and SciShow. He founded VidCon, he invented 2D glasses – the list goes on and on!
If you are a Nerdfighter (i.e. fan of vlogbrothers) like me, you’ll recognize several Easter eggs that Hank has put in An Absolutely Remarkable Thing for us. I want to go back and read it because I’m sure I missed some. And Hank and April have some similarities that I think Nerdfighters will recognize as well.
Even if you’ve never heard of Hank Green, I recommend this book. It’s insightful but also a lot of fun. It ended with a doozy of a cliffhanger – I can’t wait for the sequel!
