One of my goals in 2021 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
I have been interested in An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green since learning the premise which sounded quite unique. I picked it up from a online used bookshop.
When April May finds a huge and surprising statue on her way home one early New York morning, her first thought is to call her friend and perform a skit with it for social media. She’s intrigued and delighted by being able to interact with this unexpected piece of art. The next morning, she discovers that these “statues” have appeared in hundreds of cities, all over the world, in the middle of the night, completely unexplained. And she got the first footage.
This is a decidedly soft sci if new adult novel: much more fiction than science, certainly. It looks at the effects a global event would have on the world, but mostly how humanity would put it on social media. And while there is commentary of how we connect, share or distort ourselves on those platforms, the main theme is that fame can corrupt. April May is a decidedly unlikeable character, reading much younger than she is, making bad and often harmful or hurtful decisions, that effect all those around her and the entire human race. He greed for noteriety and reward could be an interesting conversation, but mostly this book doesn’t frame her story in that way. Her sexuality is shoehorned into the story and again, could be interesting commentary on how bisexuality is not looked as a ligitmately queer category. Unfortunately it feels like an after thought and beyond that statement isn’t discussed on any real level. There were some interesting sci fi ideas in this book and the “statues” themselves are a very intriguing idea. There are dream puzzles and hidden informations as well as giant robots, but no ideas are well fleshed out, and all feel very unbelievable or intangible. Obviously we must suspend our disbelief often in sci if and fantasy, but this is easy to do if the world that is established is captivating. April May’s world, unfortunately fell very flat. Although there were some aspects of this book I did enjoy, or would like to see more deeply dissected, I didn’t like the contemporary and modern writing style or how it felt very targeted at a young audience. And perhaps that that is just bc I’m not that target audience. I do plan on reading the sequel and finale to the duology. I would recommend this to those who like books about social media or celebrity, readers who like unlikeable characters, people who don’t read a lot of sci fi but want to break into the genre, or readers who like puzzles as plot devices.
What is your favorite duology?
This book can be seen in my June Wrap Up.