An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing was first published in September 2018 and has gotten a 4/5 on Goodreads as well as a 5/5 on Waterstones. I personally would give it a 5/5 for its originality, diversity and plain beautiful writing.

This book is the very first novel ever written by Hank Green, Hank is John Green's brother (Author of The Fault In Our Stars and Looking For Alaska among many amazing others). I honestly adored this book and I cannot wait to read the sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor.

Hank's writing style has a bit of the same tone that John's does, which I quite enjoy and really makes the book more immersive and exciting, but his style is also distinctly his own. I especially noticed him in the technical scientific explanations that were given and yet explained so well that even I could understand them and I am not a scientific person!

The novel is about a young woman named April May who happens to stumble across a gigantic sculpture in the middle of New York City as she makes her way home in the early hours of the morning. She convinces her best friend, Andy Skampt, to do a YouTube video on the sculpture as she sees it as disheartening that nobody thinks this huge and beautiful sculpture is amazing in every way.

As the two friends upload the video and go on with their lives, the tea is spilled by the world news channels that the sculptures, which April called Carl, popped up all over the world at exactly the same time without any trace, digital or otherwise, to show how they got there or why.

April and Andy, along with Maya and a bunch of other helpful people like Andy's dad, set out to solve the mystery of the Carl's while also getting filthy rich from news channels who ran their video on the air without their permission.

"We are each individuals, but the far greater thing is what we are together, and if that isn't protected and cherished, we are headed to a bad place." -Andy Skampt about April's message to humanity.

The novel tackles many difficult life views as well as how social media can change the general population in such drastic measures.

It also takes a look at what would happen if the human race was to encounter superior life forms that were so clearly much stronger than us.

I loved April's views on the Carl's as she never saw them as threatening, rather as a gift to mankind from our distant space neighbors.