This story follows April May, a 23-year-old graphic designer/starving artist living in NYC. April discovers a large transformer-like sculpture on her way home from the startup where she works at 3am. She promptly calls her friend Andy, who meets her in front of the giant 'sculpture' despite the early/late hour and they film a pretend news YouTube video in which they dub the sculpture "Carl". Come to find out, Carls have appeared in almost every major city across the world. April and Andy, along with a group of friends (new and old) unlock the secrets behind these beings, believing them to be extraterrestrial in nature, and sent to unite humanity. It is a tale of the goodness of humanity, the toxicity of media, and the fragility of the human ego. 

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I ended up liking it. I am a long-time fan of Hank Green's and fellow fans of his will be delighted to see all the 'Hank-isms' sprinkled throughout this book. Hanks' personality certainly shines through in his writing and his faith in the goodness of humanity feels contagious. That being said, I feel the story could have been better executed, though he certainly hit a stride in the last third of the book. I listened to the audiobook version of this, and felt it hindered my experience, the narrator made the book feel more cheesy and cliché sounding than I think it would have if read on my own. Despite all this, I will still be reading A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor (non-audio this time).