If you love Young Adult literature just as much as I do, chances are you’ve heard of someone named John Green. He’s the mastermind of The Fault of Our Stars and Looking for Alaska. So, when his brother, Hank Green wrote a book I thought that it would be worth the read.
Upon reading it, I learned that it’s different than John Green’s books. However, this book is definitely worth the read.
The novel is about 23-year old graphic designer April May. April is working at a startup company, which requires long hours and no sleep. Things change as April runs into a robot like sculpture, named Carl. She immediately calls her friend Andy, and together they shoot a video that goes viral. Overnight, April becomes rich and famous.
However, she also learns something else – that Carl may not be human. And, New York Carl is not the only Carl on the planet.
April is led down a rabbit hole with codes and lyrics. It also leads her down a mystery of figuring out the Carls – who are not from this planet – and what they may want.
Now, I have mixed feelings about this book. I did like it. What I liked is that it’s thought provoking. I personally believe that the novel is a metaphor for how social media can snowball to the point where it can become an obsession. We see this time and time again throughout the novel, and it makes it reevaluate our own social media habits.
And, this is true for so many of us. How many times do we check our Instagram accounts? Or, how many times do we take photos for the gram, and watch as the likes come in? Social media is a crucial part of the way we do things nowadays. We cannot live with it, and we cannot live without it.
This leads me to my next point – my frustration with the protagonist, April.
At the beginning, April seemed like someone that I liked. But, she did a complete 180. One example is how much she became obsessed with the whole prospect of fame. When the novel began, all she had was an Instagram for her art. Over the course of the book, things changed. She got a Twitter and a Facebook, which caused her to be obsessed to the point where it became ridiculous. Whenever something would happen that she needed to get attention, chances are it would be on social media. This is familiar with anyone who lives in the modern era, but to new extremes.
Furthermore, what I didn’t live about her was that she constantly pushed away those who were close to her. Whether it was Maya or someone else, she constantly pushed away all of those who cared about her. And, that was a frustration of mine, because I kept on wanting to scream in the book April what are you doing?
With that being said, I did like this book. This gave you a lot to think about, and it’s a really good read. Therefore, I highly recommend it.
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