Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

26 reviews

readandfindout's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Style/writing: 3 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Characters: 2.5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Murder, Body horror, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Outing, Biphobia, Gun violence, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

lisa_m's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing! It is sci-fi which is not something I usually love but what made this book so special is the humanity of it. The story - even though abstract and weird - is told in a way that makes me believe it. It reads like a kind of autobiography with an unreliable narrator. Throughout the book it gets hinted that the narrator is actually dead which is confusing but also we only know as much as the people knew at that point in the story.

This book also made me extremely angry. Hank Green manages to capture pure humanity and the basic human flaws in such a magnificently realistic way. He manages to name things that have always bothered me and the reactions of the characters to this crazy situation is absolutely realistic. I don't doubt for a second that if this would have been reality it could have been exactly like this.

Also our protagonist is extremely flawed. Still we root for her because she is our way into the story. She is the one that tells us about it but still she is pretty crappy sometimes and even aware if that. 

I love this book so much. And since the last few books I've read were all spectacular in their own way I fear those words may sound hollow - but they are nevertheless true. This was captivating, interesting, realistic and so so humbling.

And also the cliffhanger in the end makes me scream!! I am so glad the sequel is out already because otherwise I may have hated this book purely because of this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Biphobia, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Death, Medical content, Violence, Xenophobia, and Murder

the_escapist's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Addiction, Medical trauma, Violence, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Xenophobia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking

Minor: Biphobia and Police brutality

robyn_fenix's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Violence

Moderate: Biphobia, Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, and Gun violence

Minor: Gore and Homophobia

nightowlreading's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Kidnapping, Death, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury

jenarae's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

therainbowshelf's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

This is a quirky one! It was fun seeing all of the crowdsourcing that powers the Carls mystery. That is a very fun element of this read. The social and political commentary is also interesting as opposing groups form to challenge the Carl situation. I didn't like April very much, sadly. She seemed like someone wasn't sure what 20 year olds are like and used YouTube and Instagram to research

📘The Gist 📘: April May is down on her luck until she and her friends make a video about a mysterious art instillation in New York. She becomes a quick success after that, and is embroiled in an international crowdsourcing puzzle and incident. 

📒Representation📒: bi mc, bipoc mc

💕 For readers looking for 💕: a quirky read, crowdsourcing, social media, social commentary, aliens, giant robots, shared dreams 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Murder, Sexism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Terrorism

amandabcook's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Violence

hpfan9501's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Confinement

Minor: Biphobia, Blood, and Body horror

jbabbm's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

***MILD SPOILERS AHEAD***


I truly believe that everyone should read this book. One of the reasons is because we live in this period of time in which the amount of likes and followers you have is seen as one of the greatest things you could accomplish. And even if it actually is a great accomplishment for creators, some of them spiral down into a dark, superficial version of the world in which nothing else matters except getting more followers. April, like many creators, does try to use her fame to help a bigger cause. This is why I like this book so much, because even if the choices she made weren't always the best she always tried to use her fame and notoriety for a good reason. I'm glad that Hank decided to touch this topic not only on the story but also on his author's note at the end. However, the main reason I believe everyone should read this book is because it perfectly depicts what humanity is capable to do due to their fear. Most importantly, how we should fight against letting our fear control us and stick together. One of my favorite phrases of this book is "This is what humanity is, solidarity in the face of fear." I believe we should start practicing it more.

Plus, Hank narrates Andy's POV. Chef's kiss.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Xenophobia, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content and Biphobia