Reviews with content warning for Addiction - An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

14 reviews

quackquackbich's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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grizzlysnack's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

Hank Green should stick to creating YouTube videos and educational content.

I understand that this story is meant to be reflective and show that humanity is not a horrible thing, but rather something each and every human shares and should create with one another. The way that this story delivered that message frustrates me.
April (our main character) points out multiple times that she is a bad person—she actively shows the audience exactly how bad she is to the people she supposedly loves. April is not a likable character, and yet we’re supposed to root for her.

April is so self-centered that I feel as though she’s incapable of being ‘humanity’s liaison’, which you find out is the role set upon her, after seeing New York Carl.
April acts on impulse, rarely (sincerely) forgives or acknowledges when she’s wrong, and is narcissistic. That doesn’t make me want to buy another book from Hank Green, with April talking in my ear for 9 hours

I will listen to a content creator’s views all day long, but as soon as you throw those views into a fictional character that actively proves themselves to be a morally shitty person, you’ve lost my sympathy for that character’s decisions and reasoning.

0.5 stars because there are a few topics that could be written about and make a convincing story, but those topics are rarely brought up between the 338 pages I just read.

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enchantedobjects's review

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challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

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

4.75

For starters I would totally give this book 5 stars (and I may change my mind) but the reason I didn't was because how genuinely tense this book made me feel. I was worried about April's fall to fame and her social and parasocial relationships and political repercussions.
The first few pages of the book made me roll my eyes a bit in a jovial way. Oh you wiley Hank Green and you're Mc named APRIL MAY whose a funky art major bisexual who finds a samurai type mech and becomes a social media star! What a little fun idea! Guess I don't really need to read the sequel....I got the point. Alright! And then....it just kept accumulating and building between consequences of actions on other people's lives, her life, politics, and just Twitter related angst. It became a riveting conversation about the determinants of fame and false leadership and so much more but also the glories and goodness of trying to be a better person and how the internet can raise people together. And now I'm desperate for the sequel.
April feels a little bit of a good-hearted yet still selfish cousin to Dorian Grey (which I love).

Also yes this book is wacky but roll with it

I did but cw for violence because there is violent attacks in the book but not much is "on screen" and when the significant one happens there's a warning that proceeds it. Well done!

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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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.

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planner5002's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense

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

5.0

I had been in a reading slump before reading this book. This book helped me out of it. I finished it in five days, and read the book in large portions at once. This book was thought provoking, and I like the way it explored different themes.

spoiler>There's a quote in this book about how once a lot of people with extreme views have family recipes, and lives. I think a lot of people forget that everyone is human, and I loved the empathy this book had for humanity. I also loved how human April May was.

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regans's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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chaoticnostalgia's review

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

I read this because it was compared to Lindsay Ellis's Noumena series, which I absolutely love so far.

Positives: The theme and message of the qualities of humanity. The dream sequences and puzzles were so much fun to read about. Seeing people work together to solve problems was heartwarming. I just loved the character of Robin. It was suspenseful and I cared about what happened.

Negatives: The writing style felt young and it was grating at times. The side characters were underdeveloped; I would have loved more chapters from other characters' perspectives! In Ellis's similar book, the government bungles things in a way that is just way more realistic. It was nice but unrealistic to see a completely competent, compassionate president in this situation, but it fit well with the overall themes. I wish there had been more of a relationship between Carl and April (a là Ellis's book again, oops!) I think I may be comparing this to her book too much, but I really did enjoy this.

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