An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

By: Hank Green

Narrated by: Hank Green, Kristen Sieh

In his much-anticipated debut novel, Hank Green - cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers and SciShow - spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realising she's part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined.

The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., 23-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship - like a 10-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor - April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life.

News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world - everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires - and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the centre of an intense international media spotlight. Now April has to deal with the pressure on her relationships, her identity, and her safety that this new position brings, all while being on the front lines of the quest to find out not just what the Carls are but what they want from us.

Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social Internet is changing fame, rhetoric and radicalisation; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring from the same dehumanisation that follows a life in the public eye.

©2018 Hank Green (P)2018 Orion Publishing Group

Critic reviews

'A fun, contemporary adventure that cares about who we are as humans, especially when faced with remarkable events' Kirkus

'An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is pure book joy' Lev Grossman, number one New York Times bestselling author of the Magicians Trilogy

'Fun and full of truth. To be honest, I'm a little irritated at how good the book is. I don't need this kind of competition' Patrick Rothfuss, number New York Times bestselling author of The Kingkiller Chronicles

DFTBA!

If you liked Sleeping Giants you're gonna love this book. It's entertaining and a great read

Wow!

Holy shitballs Hank! You should be so proud. This was an amazing story and it was told so well. Kudos.

Read it, then listened to it, then listened again.

Loved it. Keenly anticipating the sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor.
Hank does story better than John. John writes character better.

Good book, well read.

I enjoyed Hank's writing, probably more than his brother's even. Nice sci-fi book, can't wait for the sequel.

An absolutely remarkable thing.

John Green did it. The book literally is absolutely remarkable. April May was an imperfect character and I loved it.