THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Sparkling with mystery humor and the uncanny this is
a fun read. But beneath its effervescent tone more complex themes are at play. -San Francisco
Chronicle In his wildly entertaining 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 realizing she's part of something bigger and stranger than anyone
could have possibly imagined. The Carls just appeared. Roaming through New York City at three
a.m. twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its
appearance and craftsmanship-like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai
armor-April and her best 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-from Beijing to Buenos Aires-and April as their
first documentarian finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.
Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world April now has to deal with the
consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships her safety and her own
identity. And all eyes are on April to figure 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
radicalization how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty and how vilification and
adoration spring for the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. The
beginning of an exciting fiction career An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a bold and
insightful novel of now.
