Book Review - An Absolutley Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

Drink Pairing: Manhattan or something equally bitter with a touch of sweetness.

Some nights, instead of watching HG TV or The Food Network, my husband and I play YouTube videos for each other. During one of these binge fests Hank Green announced that we was writing a book. I. Was. Pumped.

About 5 years ago I read Looking for Alaska by John Green, followed shortly there after by the rest of his works (with the exception of The Fault in Our Stars, don't @ me). So I was ecstatic when I found out that same author gave lessons on YouTube in the form of Crash Course World History! I diligently devoured all available content as any good fan would. When I met my husband and started watching the Vlog Brothers, I was equally taken with John Green's younger brother Hank and I desperately wished for a book from this other brilliant Green brother.

This September I got my wish when Hank Green published An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. I have been trying not to buy myself anymore books until I get through a chunk of my TBR pile, so, imagine my delight when AART was available as a Book of the Month choice! The story has an interesting Sci-Fi element but is ultimately about how 23 year old April May handles sudden internet fame (not well) and it took me an embarrassingly long time to read.

The story opens with April May, New York based Art School graduate, strolling home in the wee hours of the morning from her miserable job at a failing start-up. She passes by a sculpture that she has never seen before only to turn around and call her friend Andy to hurry to her side to get the 'first take' on what they assume is a temporary (if stunningly imposing) sculpture. They make a video and go their separate ways only to find out the next morning that they are internet famous for making 'first contact' with what becomes known as 'New York Carl'. You see, it turns out that there are actually dozens of Carls that turned up, inexplicably, in major cities around the world at the exact same time. These 'Carls' bring with them puzzles that can only be solved if people around the world work together to do so.

Now, this is all very intriguing, but this story isn't really about the Carls, this story is about April May. What follows is a tragic, albeit over-dramatized, look at what happens to us and the people we love when we are more concerned with the number of 'likes' we get from perfect strangers than we are with our own happiness and well-being. It is not nearly as obnoxious as it could be and I think that is in no small part thanks to the fact that the whole story is told from the POV of what I take to be a present day April May looking back at herself making some terrible decisions and causing chaos to herself and the people around her.

Now, while I had trouble getting into the flow of the book, I still liked it. I was frustrated with the cliff hanger ending mostly because I probably would have read the sequel anyway, but now I feel completely obligated. I'm 338 pages into this story with WEEKS of time invested and I have more questions than answers.

Finally, and this may say more about me than the book, but I don't think most of these things would have bothered me if it was categorized as a YA Novel. Don't get me wrong, I have read and LOVED some YA Fiction but when I was walking through the bookstore and spotted this in the regular Fiction section when I had assumed it was YA, I felt my feelings for this book shift.

Overall, I'm glad Hank Green has started writing and I hope that he will continue to grow as a writer. I no longer have to wish but maybe this is a lesson in being careful what you wish for? Or, after the next book, maybe I will be devastated by the brilliance! (I'm not careful what I wish for.)

*************** SPOILERS AHEAD****************SPOILERS AHEAD****************

The dream is actually my favorite part of the book and I wish there was a way we could have spent more time there. I'm disappointed that the Carls have left because I would have been far more excited about a second book if I could have looked forward to spending more time there.

The fire felt unnecessary. The stakes became very high very quickly, basically because April May decided she was too important to die, and then she was proven correct? It's hard to see how this could have a positive effect on the behavior of someone with an already over inflated ego but I'm hoping things will become clear in the sequel.

The decision to have April May sleep with Miranda felt like a reach. There didn't seem to be anything before this moment to suggest that Miranda was THAT into April May and it wasn't really important to the rest of the story either. I could have done without it. The whole thread felt like it was thrown in to make April May seem like she had gone off the rails but read like it was written by someone who has no idea what that might actually look like from the inside.

And, of course, that ending. She dies graphically in a planned warehouse fire only to come knocking at Andy door a few weeks later. How did she get out of the warehouse? Where has she been all this time?

Unless it's not April May at the door at all. But who else would it be? Have Maya and Miranda come to surprise Andy with a group, energy-healing, three-some? God, I hope so. Can some one please write that story so I can cool off before slogging into the next book? Because I have to read it, I don't really have a choice. Now pass the booze.