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A review by kanncarlson
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
3.0
This was a random book. A YA story with a young girl, April, at its center. April lives in NYC and one lonely night on her way home from a long day at her thankless job that she is thankful to have (sort of) she passes by a giant statue of a robot. She is dumbfounded to find that she might be so jaded by the amazing things that can happen in NYC that she could almost just walk right by virtually without giving the statue a second glance. Reconsidering, she calls one of her best friends and they make a video. It goes viral. The mystery of this robot becomes much larger than April and her video. April suddenly finds herself horrified at the thought of being left behind and does her best to scramble to stay in the spotlight. Chaos ensues.
Like I said, this was an odd book. The whole premise is bonkers but, the truth is, I really liked being in April's head. I listened to the audiobook and LOVED the narration. I have already stalked the library to see if the narrator has done other work (turns out there is a sequel to this book...on my list). I just hope that the voice doesn't become so singularly April's to me that I can enjoy other things the narrator has done. This is a case where I think the characters became so much more compelling to me because of the narration. I don't even know if I would have enjoyed this book reading it with my eyes. It's worth a listen if you enjoy slightly nutty YA.
Like I said, this was an odd book. The whole premise is bonkers but, the truth is, I really liked being in April's head. I listened to the audiobook and LOVED the narration. I have already stalked the library to see if the narrator has done other work (turns out there is a sequel to this book...on my list). I just hope that the voice doesn't become so singularly April's to me that I can enjoy other things the narrator has done. This is a case where I think the characters became so much more compelling to me because of the narration. I don't even know if I would have enjoyed this book reading it with my eyes. It's worth a listen if you enjoy slightly nutty YA.