An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green is a young adult contemporary with a mix of science fiction. The book was published last year under Dutton.
The story follows our main character April May and her group of young adult friends as they uncover the mystery of Carl, an unknown ten-foot-tall Transformer-like contraption wearing a Samurai suit. The Carls, yes, because they appear all over the world; are things humans have never seen before. April May was said to be the first to discover them in one of the streets in New York and eventually became a celebrity worldwide because of this. The story follows how fame changed the life of our characters, the mysteries behind these Carls and bunch of more complicated consequences revolving around them.
The story was something new and I was quite scared at first to read a mix of contemporary and science fiction, because I have never tried to read one before. It turned out funny and I enjoyed it at the end. It was told simply and chronologically, and there is only one perspective (from our main character). The writing was simple and not quite different from the ones we used to read from other YA books. As a debut book, I found it quite impressive as the author packs it with a lot of details and it was quite obvious that he did really put a lot of effort researching or consulting stakeholders.
“Just because someone has power over you doesn’t mean they’re going to use it to hurt you. People who believe that tend to either be: People who have been victims of that sort of behavior, or . . . People who, if given power, will use it to hurt you.”—
The writing style and the story might be right for me but I doubt that this will cater all target audiences. This is for sure a very polarizing book. The amount of information to digest might turn some readers off or the mix of contemporary and science fiction might not be for everyone.
There were a limited amount of characters in the book and readers in the target market will not have a hard time following them. All of them were credible and effective. I do feel some were under-polished but it's not a major thing that might affect the entire story. I found April May really annoying and I can see why the author went into this direction. April May was built to perfectly represent the current millennial. I love how she is flawed and impatient.
The last few pages are my favorite part of the book. It really tied everything (I mean almost all) and it gave me the satisfaction that I have been craving for. It was a wild ending and I can not wait to put my hands on the next installment in the series. The one thing I don't like about the book is how it started. I felt that it was a little bit dragging and there is a lack of points to keep other readers going at the beginning. It was really a hard book to get into, but as you reach around half of the story, it gets better and better.
I highly recommend this book to all readers who are looking for a unique, wild, wacky and original story. This requires patience but once you are hooked- everything else after will be very rewarding.
4 out of 5 stars
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