An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

This was an absolutely amazing book! The story timeline, the characters, the concept. While it definitely has this great science fiction vibe, it is so much more than that. The way Hank tackled fame and how one deals with fame was perfection. I cannot wait for more books from him!

Not Completely Sure Why, But I Enjoyed It

I have so many emotions to unpack about this book, and I don't even know where to begin. The writing style isn't remarkable, the main character isn't all that likable or even a good person... yet I found this book throughly enjoyable and completely addictive. (Wow, that's an abundance of superlatives.) In fact, I'm all geared up in anticipation for the sequel.

But let's backtrack a bit. One day, out of the blue, my best friend gifted me this book on Amazon. Before that point in time, I didn't know it existed. Frankly, beyond having a couple of John Green books in my ever-growing collection of things I may someday read - and watching the occasional video my bff links - neither of the Green brothers are on my radar. I'm more of a Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and Dope or Nope kind of girl: escapism is my niche. I was in the middle of reading a Riverdale novel - which may or may not say more about my preferences in literature than I would care to admit - and I decided to make this the next book I read after that. Give or take some obnoxious meme compilation “books” I for some reason wasted chunks of my life skimming, that's exactly what I did.

As luck would have it, I ended up reading this book while trapped with very poor cell signal and no Wi-Fi. What else was there to do other than read, really? But rather than a chore, this book felt compelling and actually took my mind off the annoyance and stress. It sucked me into a fascinating and intriguing world where very odd things were happening to a selfish and short-sighted young woman who for some reason spoke as if everyone should know her story already. Also, her name was April May - her parents clearly took a page from the West family's baby naming handbook - and she was a socially inept bisexual woman. That last bit? Yeah, it sucked me in.

I don't often see people like me in books. Bi women are often written in a very unflattering and promiscuous light, but April wasn't. I mean, she also wasn't a very good person in general, but she had some hindsight and the narrative never felt like it was taking her side when she did terrible things. I think that in particular is why I enjoyed the book so much despite its thoroughly unlikable main character. (And I do mean throughly; even before fame warped her and sent her on a psychotic spiral of horrible life choices, she was the kind of person who would call people with missing pets to make sure she could still get the reward money if she found a corpse instead of a living pet. She called that ‘being a pet detective.') But yes, more to April: she was just bland enough to be reader-insertable, but I had no interest in imagining myself with such an icky personality.

Instead, I related peripherally to some of her traits like not knowing how to handle popularity, being jealous of others' success, feeling attacked when debating people, and pulling away from loved ones when overwhelmed. No, those aren't flattering traits. No, I didn't even care for how they made her behave. But, yes, I could often relate to the underlying thought processes. I could understand how she got from point A to point B, even when I thought she was an idiot for not going to point C instead. And seeing how fame corrupted her? Yeah, it made me feel a tiny bit more secure in how much I try to avoid too much attention online despite wishing I could actually be someone of worth and value of that variety.

As for the story itself... well, it's almost like two stories in one.

First, you have the story of April May, a young woman with some mental health issues (of the narcissm and fear of commitment varieties) who has a decent heart behind the shell of atrocious behaviour toward other humans. She's a terrible girlfriend and the kind of friend who both looks out for and takes advantage of the people she values most. She does genuinely want to bring humanity together, yet also she wants to be at the forefront as the single most important of those humans. (And also she hates it, or claims to, despite chasing it full-speed to the detriment of herself and everyone around her.) She's an idiot, for the most part, but also the most dangerous kind: a famous idiot. She falls into internet - and then completely international, mainstream - fame accidentally, but chooses to milk it for all it's worth, slowly becoming a worse person in the process. By the time she narrates the story to the reader, however, she's become self aware and admits to the flaws in her thinking with some refreshing hindsight. As such, it's not an unbearable experience and instead is a fascinating delve into the effects of social media, internet fame, and global attention on the average person who was never prepared to handle so much attention. I love character-driven fiction, so I enjoyed these bits. (They comprise a majority of the story, so it's probably a good thing I didn't dislike them.)

Second, and almost peripherally, you have the story of the inhuman beings invading Earth for reasons unknown (until the end) and the divide between humans who are wary of them and humans who blindly trust them. Considering the former group is portrayed as primarily monstrous jerks and homophobic bigots with no grasp of the concept of humanity, it's clear whose side we're meant to take. But honestly? I think - extremists not counted - they had a very valid point. Who in their right mind decides to just start fulfilling the requests of an alien invader with unknown motives and goes “aww it's okay, they mean well, we should perform like their dancing monkeys” when said invader and its counterparts begin altering human consciousness? It's a good way to end up dead, especially when one of those requests is to procure and deliver radioactive materials to the alien beings.

Things work out some kind of way, of course, but I don't want to give spoilers. I will say I felt a little let down by the climax of that story, though. In fact, the final chapter and a half were nowhere near as engaging as the rest of the book. All the intrigue, all the mystique, all the blended seriousness and silliness all culminated in the ultimate moment... and fell just a little bit flat for me, despite all the chaos which surrounded it. It felt less like getting real answers and more like having a conclusion tacked on because it was remembered at the last second that some kind of explanation should he provided for the “Carls” (large statue-like alien beings) and their appearance. Granted, I still ended up surprised by the outcome; I guess it just wasn't as amazing and fascinating as I'd hoped.

Overall, however, the very end managed to turn around and get me excited for more all over again (and fill me with the sense of emptiness and longing for more only the ending of an enjoyable book can provide). I liked the experience. I had fun speculating in my mind and sharing my thoughts with the best friend who bought me this book. I wanted more when it was over. I wanted more when it was only halfway.

And most importantly: I managed to not want to abandon the book despite the story being written very much in the cadence and style of a millenial girl who comes from a privileged background. (‘Okay' is written as ‘OK,' ‘WTF' is used in a sentence or two, she refers to a building as ‘a dope Japanese pagoda,' and she ‘wants to vom' instead of feeling like she may vomit. Ugh.) The fast-paced, conversational style - annoying dialect notwithstanding - worked very well overall and kept my interest even through the slow bits.

That Hank Green managed to write a book which kept me engaged and entertained despite the obnoxious way the main character speaks and behaves may very well mean he's an extremely talented man. Or a wizard. Possibly both. But I'm glad for his potential wizardry all the same, and I'm already craving more from this peculiar, little world he's created.

what the hell did I just read