The Anomaly

A Novel

De: Hervé Le Tellier, Adriana Hunter - translator

Narrado por: Dominic Hoffman

Winner of the Prix Goncourt, this dizzying literary pause-resister ingeniously blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller as it plumbs the mysteries surrounding a Paris-New York flight.

In June 2021, a senseless event upends the lives of hundreds of men and women, all passengers on a flight from Paris to New York. Among them: Blake, a respectable family man, though he works as a contract killer; Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star tired of living a lie; Joanna, a formidable lawyer whose flaws have caught up with her; and Victor Miesel, a critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful writer who suddenly becomes a cult hit.

All of them believed they had double lives. None imagined just how true that was.

A virtuoso novel where logic confronts magic, The Anomaly explores the part of ourselves that eludes us. This witty variation on the doppelgänger theme, which takes us on a journey from Lagos and Mumbai to the White House, proves to be Hervé Le Tellier’s most ambitious work yet.

©2021 Hervé Le Tellier and Adriana Hunter (P)2021 Random House Audio

Good sci-fi but myopic

First, the performance was excellent, but…

The premise is interesting and well developed. The experimental storytelling is no barrier. Unfortunately, the highly simplistic conceptualization of government action in response to a crisis as well as the contemporary references detract from the potential timelessness of the story.

Recommend for those fans of 21st century science fiction. A cautionary warning to those who venerate Herbert, Asimov, et al.

Thought Provoking

Enjoyed the reader immensely. He brought the story and the lives of the characters to life.

Entertaining existentialism

It was a fairly quick and light way to pass the time. It doesn’t delve as deep into the multi-verse , but fans of Blake Crouch should find it entertaining. Narrator took some getting used to but I liked him overall, though he sounds a lot like Alec Baldwin which was distracting to me at times. There are a LOT of references to 2020/21 news/pop culture. I imagine the book will feel dated very soon.

A unique story, but ultimately not satisfying

A good friend recommended this novel to me and I have broken off our friendship over this. The concept is really cool and in the beginning I thought this was going to be amazing. But it bogs down in trying to present too many characters, most of whom are uninteresting, and weaving in a science fiction theme which is never fully resolved. If you love science fiction, dont bother. If you love listening about lots of different people, this may be your cup of tea. But it didnt work for me, especially since it never had any meaningful ending.

Could have been developed further

When the book ended I was taken by surprise as I really still thought the story was just starting. It's interesting, with some well developed characters and a very intriguing premise, but I wanted more. I was certainly never bored! I wanted twice this book.

Hard to imagine

This complex interweaving of lives becomes even more difficult to comprehend as a pivotal event puts them all in an unexpected and unfathomable situation. The compelling story makes you wonder “could this ever happen?” And “what if this happened to me?”

Extraordinary Literary Sci-Fi

This book was very satisfying. Spoiler alert: You won’t find an epic space battle or exegesis on quantum mechanics here, although I would say that the science is sound to the point of arguably being hard sci-fi. But that is beside the point. This is the sort of book that leaves you questioning the meaning of life, consciousness, identity, society, “the universe and everything.” I would recommend this equally to fans of sci-fi and literature, although possibly with a warning to each to expect plenty of appeal to the other.

too odd

confused by the ending. Premise a bit too hypothetically bizarre with characters that never totally jelled for me.

This narrator’s French accent is distracting

This is a captivating story, with a very very powerful message. My problem is with the narrator and by the end of the book I found myself having to rewind the dialogue with anyone with a French accent over and over because he was so hard to understand and his French accent is truly terrible

Great Fun--Science Fiction Meets Philosophy

The book presents readers with an "imagine if" tale that quickly appears real. What would happen if we met our genetic doubles who shared our dreams, fears, and memories?