April May is a 23-year-old New Yorker with a BFA and a job she hates when she stumbles upon a huge robot-like sculpture on the sidewalk. She assumes it's a piece of public art, and calls her friend to film a video of her to post on YouTube. Little does she know that's she's actually discovered one of 64 identical items (the Carls, as they come to be known) that appeared simultaneously around the world, prompting a wide array of responses, from fear to conspiracy theories to academic curiosity.
In his debut novel, Green manages to create a fun and funny, adventure-filled novel that also manages to hit on so many timely topics, including the polarization of debate, fear of the unknown, social media trolls, extremists, the dehumanization of famous people, the rapid news cycle... It's really a great book, one that makes me want to see what else Green comes up with in the future. Though hopefully his next novel won't launch an earworm that will take, by conservative estimations, six years to dislodge itself from my brain. ("Call Me Maybe"? Really, Hank?)
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