WOW! What can I say, this was really an Absolutely Remarkable book and that is coming from someone that tends to steer clear of sci-fi books! I gave this a chance before Hank is John Green’s brother and I love his books.
The story fascinated me, April discovers a transformer that’s like 10 foot tall, and she names it Carl, takes a photo and posts it on social media. Of course, something like that is going to go viral. It turns out there are a lot of Carls around the world, but as April is the first to document it, she turns into a kind of superstar. But all that glitters is not gold as they say. Fame can be good, but there are a lot of downsides to it, especially on social media.
I am sure a lot of YouTubers, and people on social media who are successful, feel the same as April at times.
It was a great read and would definitely recommend it.

I struggled with this book and have to admit I didn't finish it. I'm pretty sure I'm not the target reader. I struggled with the style and language used although I'm sure the main character had fascinating characteristics. Thanks NetGallery. I tried ti get into it but failed I'm afraid

Having been to art school April May is trying to make a name for herself in the art world. On her way home from a job she likes, but does not pay well, at 3am on a street in New York, April May comes across a giant sculpture. April phones a fellow artist and friend Andy to meet her to make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day the pair awake to a whole new world.
Having named the sculpture Carl, they find there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world – yet no one saw them being installed. Checking security cameras, all that can be found is the same song playing over again – throughout the world. April May and Andy are intrigued, and are also now part of a whole new movement devoted to discovering more about the Carls.
But with notoriety, comes pressures on relationships, and a new life in the spotlight. April May discovers more about herself, much of which she dislikes, but feels she has a duty to Carl. Carl also feels protective of her, which she discovers when life becomes dangerous from extremists determined to prove their own agenda. A novel more about the power of social media than the concept of aliens.

4.5 stars

I went into this book with no prior knowledge to what it was about and WELL, what an absolute whirlwind of a book.

I could not put this down. Although I don’t tend to gravitate towards sci-fi, I was engrossed into the story from the get go. I couldn’t be more content to spend my entire Saturday delving deeper into the mystery of the the 64 giant 10 feet tall robotic statues named ‘Carls' randomly appearing around the world. The writing style won’t be for everyone; simplistic and conversational. However, for me this helped keep the plot moving at its fast pace.

You need to suspend your disbelief to enjoy this bizarre tale. Enter this story with an open mind and allow the weirdness to simultaneously baffle but amaze you. April May is also not your typical, loveable heroine. Rather, she’s flawed, makes countless, sometimes questionable, mistakes but she takes you on a journey comprised of constant twists, turns and a mystery that keeps unfolding. What stood out for me, however, was the topical commentary on social media culture, fame and fortune. We live in a land of filtered lives in a digital world where polarising opinions provokes hate, pressure and anxiety.

I have mixed feelings about the vague ending, but overall, this is a fun book with a poignant social commentary which was an absolute joy to read.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is just that, absolutely remarkable. The premise of a maybe-alien-invasion lays the groundwork for a real page-turner, but it’s Green’s characters that are the real kicker. The characters are a work of art; they’re complex and messed up but somehow, you still root for them. Underneath the sci-fi plot lies a discussion about fame and social media; concepts that Hank Green undoubtedly knows reams about. This really was a pretty incredible book, you’re not going to want to eat, drink, or sleep until you finish it. And then you’ll be hounding Green for that sequel.

I wouldn’t normally pick a sci-fi book and I know very little about social media - but I did actually enjoy this debut novel. The premise was a little silly but I did want to find out what happened and it was an easy read. Probably more suited to a teen audience than adult, but worth a punt.

This book wasn't interesting to me. I struggled with the language used and also the ideology behind the story. I'm sad to say that I didn't complete the book.

I enjoyed this book, I had no idea what it would be about, but was intrigued by title and cover.

The story was unique and funny, gave me a lot of LOL moments.

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, I wished it had one more chapter that explained it!

I never really got into this book, but I suspect I am not the target audience. It's an interesting idea, but it all felt a bit forced.

Well, this book just proves that I am not the target audience. My teenage years being just a distant memory, I can usually stretch back my mind far enough to appreciate young adult fiction, however, I found this tiresome and ended up skimming to the end. It had a lot of ingredients I am sure tick all the boxes for this genre but for me this held some of the faults: a self obsessed protagonist who, despite endless protestations she had learnt from the error of her ways remained self obsessed; let’s not forget she is inclusively bisexual, but this was neither here nor there though the point was rather laboured at times. And social media was explored in a way that was supposedly interesting but seemed somewhat naive and didn’t really teach us much. I felt like this just missed the boat a little but hopefully it will be met with joy by the people it was written for.

April is walking home from work one late night when she accidentally ends up becoming the first person on earth to be in contact with an alien race. The mystery of the ‘Carls’ continues while April, who became an overnight star, attempts to remain a part of the story and hold onto her fame.

This is a book that drew me in very slowly but I really loved it by the end and I can’t wait for what’s next.

April is definitely a character I found very hard to like, and her voice definitely wasn’t my favourite. Her narration for a lot of the book felt a bit monotone and I really feel like her character was holding people at a distance. I did kind of like the power of Hank’s writing that she eded up becoming this kind of minor celebrity for me that though I didn’t know, I didn’t like. I knew if April was real, she’d be the type of social media star that would make me roll my eyes every time she tweeted and inserted herself into the story.

I also love the exploration around trolls and how much trolling can dehumanise a person, and also make them dehumanise themselves in a way.

I really liked Hank’s writing, despite it taking me a while to really fall in love with the story but everything came together for me really nicely. I loved the dream landscape connected with the Carls as well and it reminded me of the public VR gaming world in Ready Player One.

I can’t wait for the next book!

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing was extremely well titled because it was exactly that.

The idea of a bunch of Iron Giant-esque statues coming from another planet, and taking over the internet is so quirky and intriguing, it's the kind of thing that could only come from Hank Green's brain. I absolutely loved the comments on internet culture, and how this read like a memoir from April May on the decisions she made and how the Carls affected her life. It was nice, as a viewer of online content, to know what it's like to be in a creator's shoes and the pressure that comes with presenting yourself like that. Obviously, Hank Green has a lot of wisdom on that topic, and it just made every conversation so fascinating.

At some points, the pace could be quite slow, but then a gritty action scene would just come out of nowhere and shock me with its detail and management. Like, the scene towards the end where April is trapped in that burning building? It was like I was also choking down smoke, it was written so vividly. I curled my toes at April's pain and smiled through her joy, she's not a perfect character by any means, but she's someone you want to root for.

It was out of my comfort zone to read something like this, because I didn't really know what I was getting myself in for. But, I want to be first in line to read the sequel after /that/ ending, I'm sure to be thinking about it in years to come.

This book was really good. It kept me guessing what was going to happen next the whole time. It did get a bit confusing at times though.

I save 5 stars for books like these. Completely creative, original, quirky, entertaining and thought provoking. I couldn't ask for more and I couldn't put it down.
When April May stumbles across an imposing new sculpture that has suddenly appeared in New York, little does she know what is in store for her. Her discovery is one of 64 dotted around the world. And the theories are out of control, with April May in the center of the storm. And she is going to take advantage of the opportunity and the stage she has been given.

Yes the story is original and crazy and totally engaging. But it’s also a commentary about social media and the celebrities of today. Yet its not pretentious. If anything its tongue in cheek. The author has put a lot of thought into how the different players will react and while it feels very natural, it is also surprisingly unpredictable. I love a thoughtful, intelligent book and know this story will replay in my head....just like the "reception" music.

I really enjoyed this book. From the first few sentences I knew that it was going to be my kind of story. Well written and interesting the story captured my attention from the very beginning. I would thoroughly recommend this book

Such a random story that has left me questioning whether I really enjoyed it or not. I know the book kept me hooked in throughout but left many unanswered questions...

When April May leaves the office totally exhausted at 3am to return home, she comes across a surely true remarkable thing. She calls her friend Andy to meet her and to bring his camera so that they could film this big sculpture which suddenly was just there in the middle of New York City. April names it Carl and Andy uploads their short video to YouTube. What both of them do not have the least premonition of at that moment is what happens afterwards. All over the world, Carls have appeared, but New York’s one is considered the first and April May somehow the connection to these strange and unmovable figures. This could be the story, but not in our times anymore because the internet is yearning for idols, for people to worship and follow and April May has become exactly that. She is not the 23-year-old design student anymore, a brand replaces her personality and obviously, for the Carls, she is the human being to communicate with.

Hank Green knows what he is talking about in making the internet and different social media platforms the centre of his debut novel since he himself has become famous as a video blogger and with different web projects. “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” is often classified as a science-fiction novel, I would like to disagree here because there is not much that isn’t real today in it. Just the one aspect, aliens making contact, yet the rest of far from being futuristic and imaginative but all too real.

No matter which genre you assign the book to, it is a great read that offers food for thought on several levels. Normally, I prefer novels with realistic settings and plots that create the impression of authenticity. Well, this is not really the case here with those Carls showing up unexpectedly. Yet, I was immediately hooked and couldn’t put it down anymore. April May – I have to say it here: did I ever come across a protagonist with a more ridiculous name? I don’t think so – is quite an interesting character since, on the one hand, she surely is a bit naive or at least does not anticipate the extent of her doings. On the other hand, she seems to be quite natural and acts on impulse which I liked at lot since it made it easy to sympathise with her in a certain way. Her development from young woman to brand is remarkable and gives you a great idea of media and internet dynamics; I also liked the marketing background coming with it which was masterly integrated into the novel.

I you ever wanted to explain to anybody how the internet community works and what the advantages and dangers of social media are, just hand over this novel. I think it is a wonderful example of today’s communication mechanisms and of how nobody can control these processes anymore once set in motion. The internet is not a separate space any longer where you can have something like a second life, it has become a part of our real life and certainly has an impact on what happens in the real world nowadays. It is flattering that Green makes his alien believe that there is some clever and beautiful life on earth, yet, for me the more important message to take from the book was certainly the question of how we can synergise those two worlds that we are living in without forgetting who we are when creating ourselves.

In several respects a great read that could have an important impact and make us readers ponder about our behaviour.

I didn't enjoyh this book exactly, but at the same time I did read it to the end as I wanted to find out how it all played out and if we found out 'what' had appeared all over the world. Honestly, I was disappointed in the ending, after so much it just ended with no closure for anyone!

In the days BC, April May (a Libra, allegedly, despite the name) was a poor graphic designer, stuck working all hours on a useless app's visual front end, and living with her girlfriend in New York just because it's New York, baby. AC she's finally on Twitter, getting swamped in a burgeoning celebrity life. For walking home one night she found a walloping big metal thing in an average New York street. She immediately knew what it was – a wonderful bit of design and creativity. So she got her buddy out of bed to film them interacting with this lifeless robot figure. But when the video goes online it quickly becomes realised that every city in the world has one – and they're all called Carls, after her quick ad lib on camera. Being the first to experience this global phenomenon makes a famous person out of April and her buddy Andy. But there is a lot more to it than that, with mysterious messages embedded in the impossibly sudden arrival of them all. And whether we've read the blurb or not, we're immediately dissuaded that this is a huge exercise in street art or viral publicity…

This is a really fun read, and April May is a fun companion for the time of the story, as she adjusts to life After Carl. Her name shows she's on the cusp of two things already, and should be prepared to survive such liminal things. And let's face it, this is a book that fits into two genres. For old gits like me, it's clearly a fresh look at the whole alien invasion thing, and the intrigue around that is prime. For the young, this is clearly a YA title, therefore April is bisexual, her girlfriend is self-defined as black, and there'd probably be a protest if they weren't. For this audience I have to believe this stands as a realistic, on-message look at what happens when a groundswell happens on social media and someone loses control of their own perception. (Although on that realism front, why do people need posh cameras and hours to edit, when gonzo live-streaming on mobile phones is already so last year? This at times seemed ten years out of date.) (Oh, and there's another huge plot hole that is only a small one until something happens that makes you go "hey now, if they knew this then they certainly knew that!")

That aside this is a very good read. Not a great one, for a few reasons. It kind of loses something in being one thing to one audience, another to another, and in a way it's not about either – especially when you learn at the end, as I did, who the author really is. This becomes a debut novel of note, but all told is clearly a story where he tries to show us an ideal way of thinking, with social cooperation to the fore – and it's annoying to report that it's a story he couldn't fit between two covers. Yes, the idea of more to come is fine, but the book would be fabulous with the self-perception and editing granted to the characters and films herein.

I could not decide what I thought of this book - I was drawn in by the Carls and the story of April May but was not really convinced by it. It was an interesting comment on the power of social media and the internet to take over lives. April feels she has no value or worth outside of her media profile - she almost does not realise how she is being manipulated and the impact it has on all her decisions. It is interesting to see the impact of her fame on her relationships and how she allows them to become toxic.

Alongside this we have the story of the Carls - why are they here, what do they want with mankind? April offers a positive explanation as against the Defenders. We follow her as she tries to solve this mystery.

An interesting read - different and not entirely comfortable.