An absolutely remarkable thing: FAME

Buckle your seatbelts, because you’re in for a wild ride in Manhattan, where summer air smells like fresh sewer and rats do somersaults on the subway tracks. This remarkable debut by Hank Green mixes a lot of pop culture, pop science and thought experiments!!!

We’re introduced to April May, the most ordinary fine-arts-switched-design BA grad living in New York City, struggling to build her own living. She’s 23, 5’2, relatable, and overworked in between her intern-like post-grad job and her rocky relationship with her roommate (roommates before they dated?! so did they ever have the move-in conversation..)

And then, one late night after work past midnight, April seems something absolutely remarkable on the streets of NYC. In a frenzy, she calls her friend and they film a video in a burst of creative energy. And even more remarkable, what she saw (a large, impressive, intricate, alarming, fascinating and proud statue) has been propped up in all 64 locations (major cities, streets) around the world at the same time, with nobody witnessing the installation process, or understanding the mechanisms or design of the identical art pieces, and nobody coming forth to take credit for this massive art installation. The video goes viral, and miss April May erupts into instant fame, and becomes the spokesperson of the series of statues, who she mentions in her video as Carl(s).

Because of how much novelty this thought experiment holds (including its resulting sequelae), it’s tough for me to summarize anything without giving all of it away. What I can share is how I feel about Hank Green’s writing — it’s funny and he characterizes extremely well. For a bisexual female character, he creates pretty good caveates and depth and nuance and relatability. Reading his writing is like eating popping candy because the descriptions are ideas constantly dancing around and each sentence can be surprising but also funny and interesting — due to how accurate or astute those observations are.

This book raises MORE questions than it provides answers, and maybe that is the essence of a well-crafted book. But, I do think that some of it was left in such an open-ended manner that the ending lacked the crunch of satisfaction. I’m not bummed about the ending, but I also think that there were so many set-ups and walk-throughs that were meticulously crafted by Green that could have collapsed together into a vacuum in an optimistic or sensible manner, but once we reach the end of this book, we realize that we’re only gazing off of a cliff, and as beautiful as the imaginary view can be, the directed path hath fully ended.

Anyways, the plot is the popping candy. As with the themes, they’re so obvious — they’re the striking food colouring and artificial flavouring that comes with the popping candy. The themes feel a little bit artificially constructed, considering everything is all one big thought experiment, but the themes carve themselves out. A big one is how April May is thrust into fame, from previously being a nobody, a girl-next-door, or a totally relatable pedestrian to you and me. She’s a dynamic character, and towards the end, she’s developed such a self-centred, fame-driven worldview that she becomes SO unlikeable. Because once she tastes the extrinsic reward of fame, it becomes her currency, and she frames herself as the messiah, and corners herself into not being able to consider any other point of view.

At some point, her life was about crafting her image. She lived for her image. And with cameras everywhere, with social media everywhere, it’s so interesting how we all built up images of ourselves — which influences decisions we make in real life, if an image were not to exist.

I think it’s really interesting how deep, deep inside, we all have a desire to be important. And that comes out in different ways. That interacts with the environment in different ways. How much you let it influence your perceptions and your actions and your worldview, is so interesting.

In the beginning:

April May describes that she doesn’t really know how to “use social media”.

I tried not to care about social media and I really did prefer hanging out at art galleries to hanging out on twitter. But I wasn’t as disconnected as I made myself out to be. Being annoyed by carefully crafted internet personas was a part of my carefully crafted internet persona.

I thought a lot about fine art. if you’re wondering what the difference [between fine art and design] is, well, fine art is like art that exists for its own sake. the thing that fine art does is itself. design is art that does something else. It’s more like visual engineering. I started school focusing on fine art, but I decided by the end of the first semester that maybe I wanted to someday have a job, so I switched to advertising, which I hated, so I switched a bunch more times until I caved, and went into design. But I still spent way more time and energy paying attention to the fine art scene in Manhattan than any of my other design track friends did. It’s part of why I wanted to desperately stay in the city. This may sound dumb, but just being twenty-something in New York City made me feel important. Even though I’m not making real art, at least I’m making it work in the city, a long away from my parents’ literal dairy supply business.

When she settled into her fame:

Soon, April may becomes April May the surprisingly quirky unassuming but passionately intelligent speaker for the Carls (the art works / statues).

And then how this deeply influences her relationships too:

you’re so caught up in this you have no idea. to miranda and robin, you’re so much more than a person. they’ve never known an april may that wasn’t famous. have either of them ever said no to anything you asked them to do? listen to me. april, in those relationships, you have all the power. too much power. i watched you with them. they idolize you. that’s how fame works. it sucks. no one you meet form now on is ever going to feel normal around you. both of them feel it’s a privilege just to be near you. this is something that just happens. not something you do on purpose. but when they let you do these frankly dangerous things, that does’t mean they think it’s a good idea. they just can’t say no to you.

Fame is after all, but the sum of all the misunderstandings that gather about a new name.

— written by emilie on flight to iceland running dangerously low on fuel (sleep)