Suddenly, in cities all over the world, these weird, impossible, motionless giant... samurai robot statue things?... have appeared. One of the first people to encounter one, a young woman named April May, uploads a video about it to her friend's YouTube channel, and finds herself in the middle of something, well, absolutely remarkable.

This book delighted me almost immediately. The writing was fun, funny, breezy, and irreverent. The main character was quirky, but human-feeling. And the story itself promised to be thoroughly bonkers, in a deeply entertaining way. That level of delight turned out to be a little difficult to sustain, though, and while the writing remains mostly breezy and the plot not just bonkers but increasingly bonkers, it ends up taking a more earnest turn, focusing on the way social media polarizes society and on the complicated impact that internet fame inevitably has on people. It handles this stuff all right, in a nuanced if not exactly subtle way, but it is, y'know... less delightful. And increasingly it became clear that there was no possible actually satisfying ending to the increasingly bonkers plot (although the general approach that Hank Green takes with it is probably the best one he could have opted for, at least).

Even if I feel like it doesn't entirely live up to the promise of the first few chapters, though, it's still an entertaining and relevant read. ( )

I really love Hank Green's social media persona, with or without his slightly less adorable brother, John. I'm a devoted Crash Course viewer, Twitter follower, and general fangirl despite being a bit older than most of the Green audience. Because I'm such a fan, I'm particularly ashamed I had such low expectations for this book.

In my defense, I'm a 55 year old, classics-reading, married non-mom from the suburbs; I thought ... even if Hank writes pretty well and wasn't just given a coat-tails opportunity because he's John's brother, I am surely not the target audience and probably won't care for this brightly colored book about a twenty-something lesbian New Yorker and a giant robot.

All through the first chapter I was surprised by how wrong I'd been. Before long, I was too busy reading to be surprised I was enjoying this book so much.

I did, however, occasionally pause to consider how genuinely intriguing the Carl mystery was, and how the characters were - while perhaps not complex - subtly imbued with depth and personality unusual for such a fast moving story.

I had finished Oryx and Crake just before starting "Remarkable." As Green's themes and (for want of a better term,) social commentary became more evident, I marveled that he managed to be so lively and engaging - - while also being at least as provocative and thoughtful as the often tedious and (at least in the case of Oryx,) frankly dull (albeit brilliantly imaginative,) Atwood.

I won't go overboard and say this is a Great Book destined for the Timeless Classics section. But I will say that the carnival covers convey the lightness of tone but absolutely fail to adequately reflect Green's genuine gift for meaningful storytelling. If he ever decides to write a less "of the moment," book, he may yet wind up on lofty Great Authors lists of the future.

Ten minutes ago, for the first time ever, I paid full-price for a Kindle book from Amazon. My Libby libraries do not have "Endeavor," and I intend to read on through the night! Cheers!



December 18, 2020
Mineral Wells, Texas ( )

This is a fun contemporary sci-fi, and I enjoyed how it's focused on the characters and grappling with internet fame. I think I assumed the social media influencer thing was more of the book, and while it's a large part, a lot of logistics are left to side characters. That's fine, it keeps the book moving quickly with the whirlwind main character. ( )

I love how well researched it was. I found April May stuck up, but April May found herself stuck up. So we were on okay terms.
I loved how human all of these characters felt. I love how it all came together. All the books that I had read this month made me feel like I was reading about things that weren't real due to the way they were written or made. But this was so unlike that.
I love that I was finally reading a well researched book after going through tones of usual YA crap.
I love that this book was not about a romantic relationship and the "relationships" that did form eventually were not even subplots.
I love Carl and I love Hank Green. I like that his way of writing turned out nothing like that of John Green's ( I did love TATWD though!) .
Looking forward to the second book. ( )

Magical realism to a literary level. It's a book that I could only see someone with social media experience at the level of Hank Green or higher writing. The commentary on the effects of Social Media and Fame is eye opening. It really makes you rethink what you post, and how you respond to "famous" people within social media. We are all just humans.

April is annoying af. Her voice drove me insane, which is why it took me so long to get through this book, but that is a huge credit to the author. He did an amazing job at pushing the early twenties girl voice through his words.

I also feel that this is exactly what would happen if the events in this book happened, so the realistic air of the book for me was spot on. That says volumes about the human population, and the current state of affairs. Read this book, share it with your friends!

I was perplexed and slightly disappointed in the ending, it left more questions than answers in an unsatisfying way. I felt this novel on it's own was a complete story, everyone got their "forever" wrap up, and while some of the wrap ups were sad, they were wrapped up. I can't imagine where the story would go next. Not that I don't want more books from Hank Green, it's more that this books ending was solid, and complete so the "but wait there's more" added ending was a little lackluster. ( )