Reviews tagging 'Grief'

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

25 reviews

milliemay0907's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-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

This book is truly an absolutely remarkable thing. Hank Greens writing is incredible and has the ability to make you think about humanity and also make you laugh out loud making you friends look at you with concerned faces. I love this book and I BEG you to read it. I feel like this book has the ability to unite us all, just like the April May did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cursing and Grief

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing! It is sci-fi which is not something I usually love but what made this book so special is the humanity of it. The story - even though abstract and weird - is told in a way that makes me believe it. It reads like a kind of autobiography with an unreliable narrator. Throughout the book it gets hinted that the narrator is actually dead which is confusing but also we only know as much as the people knew at that point in the story.

This book also made me extremely angry. Hank Green manages to capture pure humanity and the basic human flaws in such a magnificently realistic way. He manages to name things that have always bothered me and the reactions of the characters to this crazy situation is absolutely realistic. I don't doubt for a second that if this would have been reality it could have been exactly like this.

Also our protagonist is extremely flawed. Still we root for her because she is our way into the story. She is the one that tells us about it but still she is pretty crappy sometimes and even aware if that. 

I love this book so much. And since the last few books I've read were all spectacular in their own way I fear those words may sound hollow - but they are nevertheless true. This was captivating, interesting, realistic and so so humbling.

And also the cliffhanger in the end makes me scream!! I am so glad the sequel is out already because otherwise I may have hated this book purely because of this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Police brutality, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

the_escapist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Biphobia and Police brutality

jenarae's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Biphobia, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

hpfan9501's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Biphobia, Body horror, and Blood

scruffie's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

An absolutely remarkable book. Loved the plot, loved the writing style, couldn't stop once I started reading it. Five stars from me, without any reservations whatsoever. I hope the second book in the series is just as good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Medical content

eamily's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Biphobia, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Sexual content, Excrement, and Classism

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

4.0

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I didn't even intend to ever read it, really. I like the Green brothers, who doesn't! But I've never really vibed with John's books, and I figured Hank's were going to be more of the same. But An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is not just more John Green YA contemporary romance, in a few ways: 1) This is not YA. It is adult. Granted, new-ish adult, the characters are in their early 20s, but it is very much not YA. 2) This is not contemporary romance. It's contemporary, but more like speculative/sci-fi in a real-world setting with dashes of satire. 3) Hank definitely has his own voice, and I LOVE that voice. It's edgy, and meta, and self-aware, and very raw. I do not think it is for everyone, but it was perfect for me, especially the humor. I also deeply enjoyed listening to this on audio. If I continue the series, I will certainly do so via audiobook, because Kristen Sieh IS April May, and quite honestly her voice reminds me a little bit of my friend Chessa, which I loved, but I digress. This book also had some parallels to life in America in the 2020s that were weirdly apt. It's like, there are no giant robots named Carl on our city streets, but the way people are acting,  you would think that there were. I don't want to spoil anything, but essentially, July 13th has an eerie real-world analog that hit close to home.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Grief

amarchetta's review

challenging funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, and Medical trauma

Minor: Confinement, Homophobia, and Xenophobia