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A review by indiekay
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
5.0
I don't know why I put off reading this book for so long. I've been a big fan of Hank Green's since 2012, and I know a lot of people have said that this book was really good, so I knew going into it that I'd probably really like it. But also having heard a little about the plot I was just a little intimidated by the book, because... it sounded like a lot of plot!
Then I found the paperback version of the book on sale at a local bookstore (for R169 at Exclusive Books! Score!) so I bought it..... And then proceeded to not read it.
I read ten pages in March, and thought it was a really promising start to the book! The main character is bi! She's an art person! Cool! ....And then somehow I put the book down and was going to continue reading it, and forgot to.
And then a few months later I saw it was on sale for $2 on Kindle, so I bought it..... And then proceeded to not read it.
Well, this past week I went on holiday with my family, and I decided to finally read it. And it's so good!
I mean, like a said, I thought this was going to be good. I thought the first 10 pages were good.
The concept of this book can hit a little too close to home at times, when you're a person like me who's been using social media as a job for a few years - Hank Green really gets that, because he's been a Internet Famous Person since like 2007, and he writes it SO well. It also hits a little too close to home now during the pandemic, when the book talks about an issues that is a global phenomenon and somehow it becomes a binary political issue that centres on how much it affects USA more than it being a global issue (Yeah, that doesn't sound familiar at all during the Now Times).
April May was a fantastic protagonist. The mystery of the Carls and the Dreams were really interesting and compelling - I had the thought while reading this that if I were living through this universe, and somehow got infected with the dream, I probably would have set up an Instagram and Twitter where I would have drawn all the different buildings from the Dream every day, as an art project.
All the side characters were likeable, realistic, and enjoyable to have around. I've seen that in the second book the other characters all get turns to narrate the story, and I am very much looking forward to that.
I really enjoyed this, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel!
Then I found the paperback version of the book on sale at a local bookstore (for R169 at Exclusive Books! Score!) so I bought it..... And then proceeded to not read it.
I read ten pages in March, and thought it was a really promising start to the book! The main character is bi! She's an art person! Cool! ....And then somehow I put the book down and was going to continue reading it, and forgot to.
And then a few months later I saw it was on sale for $2 on Kindle, so I bought it..... And then proceeded to not read it.
Well, this past week I went on holiday with my family, and I decided to finally read it. And it's so good!
I mean, like a said, I thought this was going to be good. I thought the first 10 pages were good.
The concept of this book can hit a little too close to home at times, when you're a person like me who's been using social media as a job for a few years - Hank Green really gets that, because he's been a Internet Famous Person since like 2007, and he writes it SO well. It also hits a little too close to home now during the pandemic, when the book talks about an issues that is a global phenomenon and somehow it becomes a binary political issue that centres on how much it affects USA more than it being a global issue (Yeah, that doesn't sound familiar at all during the Now Times).
April May was a fantastic protagonist. The mystery of the Carls and the Dreams were really interesting and compelling - I had the thought while reading this that if I were living through this universe, and somehow got infected with the dream, I probably would have set up an Instagram and Twitter where I would have drawn all the different buildings from the Dream every day, as an art project.
All the side characters were likeable, realistic, and enjoyable to have around. I've seen that in the second book the other characters all get turns to narrate the story, and I am very much looking forward to that.
I really enjoyed this, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel!