Reviews with content warning for Gore - An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Reviews tagging 'Gore'

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, by Hank Green

63 reviews

booksandbabble's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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planner5002's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had been in a reading slump before reading this book. This book helped me out of it. I finished it in five days, and read the book in large portions at once. This book was thought provoking, and I like the way it explored different themes.

spoiler>There's a quote in this book about how once a lot of people with extreme views have family recipes, and lives. I think a lot of people forget that everyone is human, and I loved the empathy this book had for humanity. I also loved how human April May was.

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cas_c_ette's review against another edition

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5.0

holy actual balls. oh my lord. me oh my. i love a good unreliable and asshole narrator and something about the green brothers perfects it.

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chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Spoiler

I read this because it was compared to Lindsay Ellis's Noumena series, which I absolutely love so far.

Positives: The theme and message of the qualities of humanity. The dream sequences and puzzles were so much fun to read about. Seeing people work together to solve problems was heartwarming. I just loved the character of Robin. It was suspenseful and I cared about what happened.

Negatives: The writing style felt young and it was grating at times. The side characters were underdeveloped; I would have loved more chapters from other characters' perspectives! In Ellis's similar book, the government bungles things in a way that is just way more realistic. It was nice but unrealistic to see a completely competent, compassionate president in this situation, but it fit well with the overall themes. I wish there had been more of a relationship between Carl and April (a là Ellis's book again, oops!) I think I may be comparing this to her book too much, but I really did enjoy this.

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skye_madeline_h's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“You can only do so much pretending before you become the thing you’re pretending to be.” Hank Green’s novel, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, is a young adult science fiction story about a young woman called April May and her journey to fame after discovering a mysterious sculpture in New York City. While April is coming back home from work, she notices a gigantic statue that seemingly just appeared there. Being someone who makes sure to appreciate works of art, she calls her friend Andy. They proceed to make a video in front of this sculpture that ends up going viral, causing April to gain quite a bit of attention from news outlets because it turns out the statues are actually all over the globe and nobody knows how they got there. The rest of the book centers on April’s quick jump from popularity to outright celebrity status and the discovery of how these sculptures came to be.

As our first person narrator, April takes us through her journey of fame. loneliness, and addiction, and shows us the dangers of extremism and social media. April wants to know more about these strange statues, but others wonder if they are dangerous for humanity. They also question April’s motives. Is she using these statues for attention, and therefore fame and wealth? Or is April genuinely trying to bring humanity together? Hank Green gives us a very believable female main character, and clearly ties in his own experiences with social media fame. Because of this, his messages of corruption of popularity and power are poignant and thought-provoking. April creates a social media persona to get her message across, but how long can she wear this persona before she becomes it?

I enjoy this book because it has themes of not getting too lost in your work and making sure you stay grounded in reality. Another thing I liked was the writing style, because it is written in such a way that it seems as if April is talking directly to the reader. Along with this, she is very honest about her own qualities, be them good or bad. I also appreciate, as previously stated, that April is a very convincing person, despite being a woman written by a man. And last but not least, I absolutely loved how good the suspense was built up and released, every new thing felt satisfying and exciting. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone!

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