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A review by jamgrl
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
5.0
This book was so amazing, I actually can’t get over it. I started the audiobook Friday afternoon. It is Saturday night. I’m still processing.
(I want to note that the audiobook is super well done- I am so in love with the reading.)
Why do I already know this will go down as a favorite?
-This book is fun and modern from the get-go; the characters are real and I really connected with them and their life stages as a young millennial reader.
-The way the story is told is masterfully done- it is gripping the whole way through, giving us just enough info to get us interested while maintaining enough mystery to keep us wanting more. Even at the very end! I’m so excited to start book 2.
-Listen, I love Sci Fi. This book doesn’t read as a Sci Fi book at all and I love that. This is ultimately about a headstrong and flawed person trying to navigate relationships while finding her own purpose, but in the effed up way a real person in her early 20s with lots of student loans and bad relationship skills might when her life is taken over by viral fame, rather than your typical chosen one stuff. She knew nothing about science and I cared about her in a deep way. This book is also about the internet, and who better is there to write about the internet than Hank Green??
-Okay, I was buzzing at chapter 6 because, although some hints had been dropped, and I was hmming, I was still shocked to see (or rather, hear) IN WORDS a declaration that the protagonist was bisexual. As a bi woman, just this was enough to get me excited, but it doesn’t stop there! Her bisexuality was weaved into the book really well. I so appreciated that stigmas of bisexuality were brought in in a very real way and that it also was a very casual part of her character. I loved it. Thank you, Hank. (I have one critique about this, which is that at one point she describes herself as “half gay, half straight”, which I don’t love, but I am otherwise so incredibly excited about this representation, and even if I would never describe my sexuality that way, it’s not unreasonable that someone else might.)
Bottom line: GO LISTEN (or read, but really the audiobook is so good!) TO THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW, even if you are not at all into Sci Fi, seriously.
(I want to note that the audiobook is super well done- I am so in love with the reading.)
Why do I already know this will go down as a favorite?
-This book is fun and modern from the get-go; the characters are real and I really connected with them and their life stages as a young millennial reader.
-The way the story is told is masterfully done- it is gripping the whole way through, giving us just enough info to get us interested while maintaining enough mystery to keep us wanting more. Even at the very end! I’m so excited to start book 2.
-Listen, I love Sci Fi. This book doesn’t read as a Sci Fi book at all and I love that. This is ultimately about a headstrong and flawed person trying to navigate relationships while finding her own purpose, but in the effed up way a real person in her early 20s with lots of student loans and bad relationship skills might when her life is taken over by viral fame, rather than your typical chosen one stuff. She knew nothing about science and I cared about her in a deep way. This book is also about the internet, and who better is there to write about the internet than Hank Green??
-Okay, I was buzzing at chapter 6 because, although some hints had been dropped, and I was hmming, I was still shocked to see (or rather, hear) IN WORDS a declaration that the protagonist was bisexual. As a bi woman, just this was enough to get me excited, but it doesn’t stop there! Her bisexuality was weaved into the book really well. I so appreciated that stigmas of bisexuality were brought in in a very real way and that it also was a very casual part of her character. I loved it. Thank you, Hank. (I have one critique about this, which is that at one point she describes herself as “half gay, half straight”, which I don’t love, but I am otherwise so incredibly excited about this representation, and even if I would never describe my sexuality that way, it’s not unreasonable that someone else might.)
Bottom line: GO LISTEN (or read, but really the audiobook is so good!) TO THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW, even if you are not at all into Sci Fi, seriously.