Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

A massive transformer-esque statue appears in New York. Intrigued, April calls up a friend and they shoot a YouTube video. April wakes up the next morning an internet celebrity and finds herself launched into a world of TV interviews, hateful Internet forums, and—just maybe—first contact?

I put off reading this book for ages for two reasons. One, I don’t read a lot of sci-fi, and anything with “contemporary” in the subgenres usually isn’t for me. Two (and this one is stupid), I loved John Green’s books as a teenager, but I’ve completely grown out of them. I’ve adored Hank and John for over like 15 years so I REALLY didn’t want to be disappointed by this book.

And I certainly wasn’t. Hank’s debut is insightful, powerful, funny, and it whisked me right along for the ride. April is wildly unlikeable but still kind of charming and I couldn’t look away. I thought about R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface a lot while I read this. The themes (aside from the racial focus of Yellowface) are very similar. April’s less nasty than June, but she still ends up in the position she’s in because she’s privileged and lucky and little else. The books have similar discussions about online spaces and internet fame. AART, though, leaves you feeling hopeful about the human race, and it wants to point you toward compassion. Yellowface, not so much. Different approaches, and I found I preferred this one.

I’m genuinely shocked by how much I loved this, and I need to get my hands on book 2!

Content Warnings

abbysnofun's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

3.5

i mostly liked this book. i was a bit taken out of the story at times because often the characters talk exactly like hank green, which is not necessarily bad but hank green is not a 23 year old girl.

Content Warnings

koplomps's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

I read this in one day, it was such a captivating store I couldn’t stop, I had to know what happened next. This is my first Hank Green book I’ve read and I will have to read more. This story is about a woman who comes across a large sculpture in New York, thinks it is great and ends up going viral and starting a movement. Highly recommend!!!

Content Warnings

hayleyvharrington's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-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

3.5

Content Warnings

bessadams's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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

4.25

Content Warnings

lizziaha's review against another edition

Go to review page

Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Damn there were some hard-hitting truths cooked into the story in this one. I saw a negative review of this book that criticized that the “alien book” wasn’t about aliens, and I have to wonder how someone can so entirely lack reading comprehension. As most alien books are, at their core, this book was about humans, in all their wonderful fucked up glory. It was about social media and how, like humans, there are two sides to that coin. It’s about fame and what it makes people do. And it’s about April, who is seriously seriously flawed. Just like everyone else.

Content Warnings

More...