"Even on this most terrible day, even when the most of us are all we can think of, I am proud to be a human."
Author: Hank Green
Rating:
Hank Green taught me everything I needed to know for AP Psychology, so when I started getting back into reading and heard that he had written two sci-fi books, I knew that I had to pick them up. I stayed up till 4 am reading this book and ended up ugly crying for a good half an hour because of the last two chapters.
On a walk through New York City one night, April May, a twenty-three-year-old bisexual art-school grad, stumbles across a giant sculpture. April calls her friend Andy and decides to record a video of this ten-foot-tall armor covered transformer she called Carl and upload it to youtube. The next day, April wakes up to her video going viral and the news that there are dozens of Carls in cities around the world. As their first documentarian and initiator of first contact, April finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. She now has to deal with the consequences of her new brand of fame on her relationships, safety, and her own identity. All eyes are on April to figure out why the Carl's are here and what they want from us.
I have read only so many books that have caused me to break out into tears, and An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is one of them. The last two chapters of this book were extremely emotional for me, especially Chapter 24. No spoilers here, but let's just say there was a mix of happy tears and angry tears. One of my biggest critiques for most books is about endings. The idea is there, all the way through, but then the end is just thrown together in an attempt to finish the book. Hank Green perfectly sets up his next book, "A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor,” which I will be speeding over to the bookstore to get. Most reviews I have read said that the second book was better than the first one, which is not something you often hear, so I am EXTREMELY excited to get to reading!
This book is not just a story about aliens, but about humanity and the power that we have when we work together. Hank Green spills the tea about social media in a way that I have never seen in a book before. He hammers at social-media for glamorizing horrible human attributes (vanity, exaggerated self-importance, deception, envy, materialism, etc.) and conditioning people to think that these traits are somehow positive. The way April's newfound internet fame is described is so perfect, from the self-esteem issues found through likes and comments to create a new version of herself for the internet that her real self, behind the camera, becomes more and more fictional.
Hank Green's writing style might not be for everyone, but it sure was perfect for me. April May is the narrator, and her first-person perspective is FULL of personality. Throughout the book, she includes snarky comments from her future self, giving us hints along the way of what to expect from the story’s outcome. This conversational structure was one of the reasons I literally could not put the book down. She doesn't sugar-coat her personality or the flaws in her decision-making process. April is flawed, sometimes unreliable, but is well-intentioned and extremely engaging. Yes, there were multiple times throughout the book where I wanted to throw a rock at her head because of how angry I was with her impulsive decisions. Still, I understand her pain in desperately wanting to be a part of something extraordinary and watching the opportunity begin to slip through your fingers. The things I disliked about April were actually the things I disliked about myself: the need to be liked, being so selfish that you put up walls around you so that no one can see any of your problems, and most certainly the feeling of being a horrible friend.
It's difficult for me to be fully immersed in books enough for my brain to transform a world being described in words into images. With An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, I could picture every single thing being told to me, especially the Dream (no spoilers, but it is the most fascinating part of the book, in my opinion).
One last thing I want to mention is the cover art. Everyone knows the saying. "don't judge a book by its cover." However, when it comes to ACTUALLY judging a physical book and not in the context of a person and their personality, I disagree. This book cover is STUNNING. GORGEOUS. AMAZING. There is something so fun and playful about the colors and something mysterious and scary about how Carl is portrayed in a shadow. (I have the "Book of the Month" edition, so that is what I am referencing right now).
Words can't even begin to describe how much this book means to me. I am completely in love with the characters, the plot, the world-building, the message, and the comparisons to social media and internet fame's effect on society in our world today. If you have some Christmas or Hanukkah money saved up and don't know what to get, I would say to head over to your nearest Barnes and Noble and purchase An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, and maybe even. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor. Trust me. It is 100% worth it.
"Even on this most terrible day, even when the most of us are all we can think of, I am proud to be a human."
"Just because someone has power over you doesn't mean they're going to use it to hurt you. People who believe that tend to either be:
People who have been victims of that sort of behavior, or...
People who, if given power, will use it to hurt you."
"You can only do so much pretending before you become the thing you're pretending to be."
"The power that each of us has over complete strangers to make them feel terrible and frightened and weak is amazing."
"Behold the field in which I grow my fucks. Lay thine eyes upon it and see that it is barren."
"What is reality except for the things that people universally experience the same way?"
"The most insidious part of fame for April wasn't that other people dehumanized her; it was that she was dehumanizing herself. She came to see herself not as a person but as a tool."
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