Science Fiction

It was recently one of the Book of the Month Club selections, and when I heard that this book was about an affliction that drove people mad with memories of a life they never lived, I snatched it right up. I love books about memory and timelines, so this was right up my alley.

Now I wasn’t familiar with Blake Crouch, the author of the book; then I learned that he penned the Wayward Pines trilogy, which was turned into a television series that I did he. He also is the author of Dark Matter, which I haven’t read, so these tidbits made me even more excited to read the book.

So this affliction is called False Memory Syndrome and leads up to a lot of people committing suicide as a result. The story starts out with the dual timelines of two people: Barry Sutton, an NYC cop whose teenage daughter was killed years earlier and Helena Smith, a neuroscientist who is trying to find a way to restore memories in Alzheimer’s patients. They are both trying to figure out what in the hell is going on and eventually, their paths and stories cross and converge.

Now I recommend going into this book knowing as little as possible about it, so I’m not going to say too much more. I will say that in their search for the truth about what’s going on, Barry and Helena discover that this whole memory thing is causing society to unravel as it becomes increasingly difficult to tell reality from these so-called false memories. It’s a story about preserving memories and then taking those memories to shift our reality.

So that being said, this is really a mind-bendy sci-fi story, the kind that I typically love. It’s not about aliens, spaceships, or planets but rather about time, about memories and our understanding of reality.

This is both a character-driven story and a plot-driven one with plenty of action which kept me glued to the page, hours past my bedtime. It’s one of those heart-in-your-throat kinds of stories — addicting, intense and one hell of a wild ride. It’s what happens when Pandora’s box is flung wide open.

I loved this novel so much that I’d say it’s probably my favorite novel of the year so far. What I loved about it was that it was so twisty that you never knew in what direction it was going to head next. It’s thought-provoking, fast-paced with a mind-blowing plot, super complex characters and is unputdownable, at least it was for me. I definitely plan on reading more by this author I gave this one 5 stars.

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I recently read and loved “Recursion” by Blake Crouch, so I immediately wanted to read some of his other work, and I heard some great things about Dark Matter. So I picked it up and was not disappointed. What was fun was that I went into this almost completely blind, so I had no idea what was coming. Now, this was published in 2016, so I guess I’m a bit late to the game here.

So this is more of a techno-thriller that follows a university professor named Jason Dressen, who is married to the love of his life Daniela and together they have a son named Charlie. One night, Jason is walking home from a bar after briefly joining a friend for a celebratory drink when a stranger wearing a mask and wielding a gun kidnaps him, though, for the life of him, Jason cannot even begin to fathom the reason why.

The man leads him to a warehouse where he then injects Jason with some sort of drug, causing him to pass out.

When he awakes, he’s in a lab, strapped to a gurney and a man – someone he’s never seen before — says to him, “Welcome Back.” Jason plays along and at the first opportunity, escapes. Soon he learns that in the world to which he’s awoken, he is not married nor ever has been.

He has no son nor ever has had one, and he is not a university professor but rather an award-winning atomic physicist. So the question is: which is actually his life? The one in which he finds himself now or the one he remembers?

He also learns pretty quickly that someone is hunting him down.

So what we have here then, is a gripping, action-filled mind-bending thriller that has Jason trying to make sense out what in the hell happened to him. I appreciated the fact that one didn’t need a Ph.D. in physics or mathematics to understand the concepts present in the story.

Though the author introduces some complex scientific theories such as quantum physics, string theory, and game theory, they are explained in terms that an average Joe like myself can easily comprehend.  It’s also quite thought-provoking as it invites some serious contemplation about reality, family, about, about who we are vs. who we want to be, about what matters most in our lives, the choices we make, and about the road not taken.

This novel asks some pretty deep philosophic questions that made me sit back and think about my own life and my own ideas about reality.

This is a super twisty and zigzaggy book as Jason digs himself in deeper and deeper. The short paragraphs — averaging two to three sentences each — really added to the feeling of ever-growing urgency and desperation that hung throughout the story.

This is one of those books where unexpected twists and chilling revelations lurk around every corner, but I dare not say too much more to avoid the risk of spoilers. I will say, however, that the surprises are expertly executed at just the right time and just when you think you may have figured out the rest of it, everything changes.  This is also a powerful and ingenious story in which the tension never lets up.

So that being said, I found Dark Matter to be a profound, exhilarating, and thought-provoking journey with a relatable heart-warming and multi-faceted protagonist. This book took my breath away. Wow, what a story! It’s a clever, mind-bending, whirlwind of a book that I absolutely loved.

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This is an alternative history story that follows Dr. Elma York, a pilot, physicist and mathematician who works at the International Aerospace Coalition. One night in 1952, a meteorite falls to the earth, wiping out most of the east coast of the United States, including the capital. Elma soon figures out that the meteorite collision will result in a climate cataclysm, causing such high temperatures that the oceans will boil and the earth will be inhospitable for humans.

This threat accelerates the space program and the need to colonize space sooner rather than later if the human race is to survive. This also creates a need for many more astronauts. Soon, Elma begins to wonder, with so many skilled female pilots, scientists, and mathematicians why women cannot become astronauts and go into space.

In so doing, Elma strives to become the first Lady Astronaut even though the societal conventions of the 1950s are against her goals. Additionally, the author did an excellent job of illustrating how sexism and racism prevented leaders of the space program from taking advantage of all of the highly skilled and exceptionally talented people who could definitely be an asset to the program.

What’s interesting about this book is that it didn’t examine only the issue of sexism but also of racism, both of which were pretty much the norm in the 1950s. Elma was mostly unaware of racism issues in society, or at the very least it wasn’t something she thought about until people closer to her were affected by it. Initially, she was kind of self-centered and mostly unaware of the oppression of those around her.

In this way, the book illustrated nicely how even well-meaning, supposedly open-minded people can be utterly ignorant of other people’s struggles until those struggles are really brought to the forefront of their attention. I enjoyed the book’s exploration of discrimination across gender, race and even mental health and appreciated how these topics were the main themes of the story. The book also did an excellent job of showing how challenging life in the 1950s was for anyone who wasn’t a white male.

As for Elma, she’s a wonderfully inspiring character. She’s determined, brilliant, brave and competent. But it was also interesting to learn how she suffers from crippling social anxiety which was an important theme in this book, especially once she became thrust into the spotlight.

I thought it was especially empowering that Elma eventually comes to terms with her anxiety, understanding that it is a medical condition and does not mean she is weak. In this way, it was an extremely accurate portrayal of what anxiety looks like so an excellent representation here of anxiety disorder I thought.

My only niggle with this novel were the sex scenes with her husband, Nathaniel. Now Elma and her husband had a wonderfully sweet relationship (perhaps even a tad too sweet), and a lot of the book focused on their romance. But the sex scenes felt awkward to me and like they didn’t really belong in this story. There were a lot of sexual innuendos such as “launch is a go,” that caused me to roll my eyes a time or two. To me, the sex scenes just felt out of place and a bit forced in this story, and they may have been better left out.

But apart from that, I loved this gripping and riveting story. There are so many important subjects that this book addresses including discrimination against women, racial inequality, climate change, space travel, and mental health, to name a few. But what I especially like about the book’s treatment of these topics was that it wasn’t done in a preach or heavy-handed way but rather with sensitivity and fitness.

I can’t begin to imagine the amount of research that went into this story. The author clearly did her homework here with the result being a fully immersive and realistic novel with a diverse cast of characters. Ultimately, this book hooked me and wormed into my heart and mind

This book is part of a series but can be read as a standalone as everything was nicely wrapped up at the end. I do plan on picking up the sequel entitled “The Fated Sky” as I am looking forward to continuing on with this series.

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I’ve been following Hank and John Green’s vlog Brothers channel for several years now and was excited when I learned that Hank was coming out with a book. Let me say right off the bat that I listened to this on Audible and felt that the narrator was excellent.

The Plot

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing follows a twenty-three-year-old bisexual graphic designer named April May who shares an apartment with her roommate/girlfriend Maya (their relationship isn’t all that well defined as April May seems to have commitment issues). The story is told from April May’s point of view and is shared in a memoir format as she recounts a particularly wild and unusual time of her life. So in this way, we’re hearing the story from the future April May. I felt the casual conversion-like format of the book made it feel as though we were hearing the entire story from the mouth of a good friend.

The book starts out as April May is walking home from work at 3:00 am when she notices a giant robot-like sculpture that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It’s 10 feet tall and resembles a giant Transformer wearing armor. April decides that the people should be paying more attention to incredible things like this statute in their city, so she calls her friend Andy to meet her. There, they create a video of the sculpture, name the sculpture “Carl” and then upload it to YouTube.

Much to April May’s surprise, she learned that overnight her and Andy’s video had gone viral but not only that, the “Carls” have appeared in cities all over the world, all identical to her “New York Carl” raising all sorts of questions, concerns, and discussions worldwide. Being the first to document the existence of Carl — the person who made “first contact” if you will — April May is thrust headfirst into the spotlight and soon becomes a social media sensation, appearing on numerous television shows and becoming quite rich in the process. In fact, she ends up becoming more of an idea to the people of the world than a person as she builds up her “brand” based upon her connection to the Carls. She gets so caught up in all the hype surrounding herself that she even begins to kind of lose herself as she morphs into this branded, fake April who exists solely for her social media and public persona.

The story really picks up steam as the world gets closer to solving the mystery of the Carls while April May tries to keep her life from spiraling out of control. It’s also worth mentioning that the world basically splits into two factions: Pro-Carl and Anti-carl with April May being the center of it all and though this, we end up seeing the best as well as the darkest sides of humanity.

What I Liked

I know there are a fair amount of people who disliked April May’s character but I rather liked her. What I especially enjoyed about her was how flawed she was. She’s narcissistic, self-centered, craves attention, is addicted to social media, is often insensitive to the feelings of others and makes more than her share of mistakes. Yet, it’s these characteristics along with all of her awful choices that make her human, all the more relatable and all the more likable. Sure, she made a lot of horrible decisions, and I disagreed with a lot of what she said and did. But through it all, I never disliked her. I think that was because she knew that she was flawed, knew she made terrible decisions and tried desperately to hide her flaws from her social media presence — though it was her social media presence that often caused her to make said poor decisions.

I enjoyed the fact actually that she was somewhat volatile and unpredictable, perhaps even an unreliable narrator, so we never knew what she was going to do next, which kept the story compelling.

I also loved how the whole world came together to help solve the literal puzzles of the Carls, a testament to the importance of working together and coming together as humankind. So in this way, the book was a commentary about humanity and how rather than taking things on as individuals, it’s when we work with others that things really begin to happen.

I also liked that though the message was a sharp commentary about our society, fame and social media, it wasn’t delivered in a heavy-handed or preachy way. I also found all the diversity and representation in this book refreshing.

Additionally, I found the mystery of the Carls riveting and though we do find out where they came from — kind of — we don’t learn everything about them. I hope this means that there will be a sequel to this book coming down the pipe.

What I Didn’t Like

I wish Andy’s character would have been built up a little more. As it was, I felt he was under-developed, and we barely learned nothing about him. I would have enjoyed seeing him share a little more of the spotlight with April May.

I’m also kind of on the fence about the ending. Though everything was wrapped up and we learned the mystery of the Carls, we are hit with a surprising cliffhanger which causes you to rear back and go “Whoa!”. Again, I’m hoping to see this vague-ish ending resolved in a future book. But that aside, I was satisfied by the conclusion and felt that the majority of my questions were answered.

Other than that, there really wasn’t anything I disliked about the story and felt the author delivered us a polished, high engrossing and spellbinding tale.

Verdict

I loved what the author had to say about such topics as social media fame, power dynamics, extremism, news, and Internet addiction, how we react to those different than us or that which is new or unfamiliar to us, and the effects that social media has on our society (for both good and ill), all the while delivering that message in a laugh-out-loud enjoyable way. I thought the book was not only a pleasurable romp but was also insightful and relevant to today’s times.

I thought this was an endearing book with quirky characters and a quirky story which provided an eye-opening social commentary on obsessive social networking, internet fame or any type of fame for that matter, ego and the horrors of extremism.

I’ve seen An Absolutely Remarkable Thing classified and referred to as a young adult book, but I think it should be classified more as New Adult. The main characters are in their early 20’s, most just out of college and though I loved the messages of the book, there is a good amount of swearing and conversations about sex (though not explicit), which many people may find inappropriate for younger readers.

I ended up loving this book and look forward to seeing what Mr. Green comes up with in the future. Recommended!

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