An Absolutely Remarkable Thing : A Novel

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 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.