An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Why was this so good? I didn't expect this to be so good?An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is like if Sleeping Giants was narrated by a young bisexual disaster of a woman instead of a smug older nameless man. You've got your giant mysterious alien robots that our main characters feel a weird but committed affinity for, you've got your cobbled together team far too wrapped up in themselves and one another, you've got your reveal of a US president who is—surprise—a lady, can you believe it.What I quite like about the book is Green's commentary on the relevance of fame and social media to humanity's response to massive historical events. His firsthand experience allows him to offer up commentary that insists on the fundamental goodness of both the internet and humans, while also not shying away from how each can erode the other. He talks about fearmongering and radicalization leading to material harm. He talks about manufactured outrage and false equivalence. He talks about power dynamics warping personal and professional relationships; how we can hold power over others without wanting or realizing it.Why does something so trivial overshadow a story about actual aliens, one might ask. But is it really so trivial? Why isn't social media real? Why isn't it important? What happens when humans become a brand, when an image they project becomes something others consume, something they profit from? How do we balance being authentic online with nothing online being authentic?Anyway. I liked this a lot. If you like [b:Sleeping Giants 25733990 Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1) Sylvain Neuvel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1459785141l/25733990.SX50.jpg 42721200], [a:Alice Oseman 7789423 Alice Oseman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1603122242p2/7789423.jpg]'s work on fandom, Emma Mills' stories about young people getting in over their heads on adventures, or the movie Ingrid Goes West, try this out.