Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (The Carls #1)

 

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was annoyingly hard to put down!

"I, April May, in addition to being one of the most important things that has ever happened to the human race, am also a woman in her twenties who has made some mistakes."

YouTuber and TikTok sensation, Hank Green, published the debut novel of his science fiction series in 2020. In An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, April May, former graphic designer, becomes an overnight internet sensation after filming an art critique of a mysterious statue that appeared on a nondescript New York block in front of a Chipotle. The statue looks a lot like a giant, armored soldier. Once, she didn't care much about the internet or what was going on in the world, but before she knew it, she was knee-deep in it. No, drowning in it is more like it. Sixty four replicas of these statues (named Carls by April) were discovered in major cities around the world simultaneously. There's certainly more to these statues than they first appear, but are they good are evil?

To be frank, I was annoyed by this book in so many ways. First, it's told from April's perspective as if it has already happened and she's telling us what happened to her in the past, and it's full of a lot of chatty writing that isn't really my favorite style to read. Second, April's goals in this book are so superficial: fame, money, influence, mass adoration... I get that her future self says that she regrets that she felt that way at the time, but in the mean time, the whole book is about her trying to make money and gain influence like it's the only goal that matters. Third, April is terrible at all her relationships. She seems to not really understand her friends' social cues, she "turns off" her feelings when they get too deep, and she actively pushes a lot of people away. For these reasons, I found April to be a very irritating character and I didn't connect with her at all or even agree with what she was doing most of the time. But, as I've pondered on it, I believe Green may have intended this as a critique of those who become "internet famous" and fame in general.

That being said, the book was frustratingly hard to put down! I was in it for the Carls. He was the best character in the book. The mystery was intriguing, and I had to keep reading to see what piece of the puzzle would be solved next. I loved the clever little sequences and random, unexpected consequences and I wish the book had focused more on them. It was hard to decide between giving it three or four stars, but in the end, I gave it four for the quality of the mystery and the hard-to-put-down element.

Mature content: profanity, sexual innuendo, violence, death.

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