Anathem
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Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable—yet strangely inverted—world.
Fraa Erasmas is a young avout living in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, a sanctuary for mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers, protected from the corrupting influences of the outside "saecular" world by ancient stone, honored traditions, and complex rituals. Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.
Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.
Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros—a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose—as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world—as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.
DESCRIPTION:
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061474095
ISBN: 0061474096
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 960
Publication Date: 2008-09-01
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 2008-09-09
Studio: William Morrow
SIMILAR ITEMS:
• The Graveyard Book
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• Cryptonomicon
• Little Brother
• Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra Book)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting ideas, but tedious at times
Comment: Like most of Stephenson's works, Anathem makes some interesting philosophical points. His attention to detail is also admirable as usual, but can make the pace very tedious at times. It can also make a long book much too long.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Spec Fic Ever
Comment: this may well be the best book ive read in years. neal stevenson is a brilliant writer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A B I T S L O W
Comment: I think I need to go wash my brain out with Snow Crash now. Anathem starts off slow and then I quit reading it. I think the problem is that when a writer gets successful the editors don't. Edit that is. The words are carved in stone and the resulting books are as heavy as. Look at the Harry Potter books, they just got fatter and fatter. I LOVE all N.S. other novels though so I will give Anthem another shot sometime, but I plan to skim the first 500 pages. If you never hear back from me I didn't make it. DOMO TODO
PS. Abridged edition anyone ?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Craptaculously disappointing
Comment: Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" is a long, heavy slog through overwrought philosophical arguments that pad a dull story line and a plot that climaxes with a thud.
I loved "Snow Crash" and appreciated the amount of detail he added to it. Those details actually supported forward movement of the story and contributed to the reader's imagination of the world. "Anathem" in contrast contains such superfluous detail - 80% unnecessary - that it reads more like an art director's notebook for a film version of what would be a C-grade sci-fi flic at best.
Had the writer utilized a competent editor with a judicious eye and deft hand, 350+ pages could have been trimmed with no loss to the story's background so that the scenes and plot would make sense.
I am a persistent reader, so 400 pages into it I decided to stick with it and see how the aliens story line played out.
Once the protagonist and his peers head to space to join up with the aliens, the writing turns abysmal. Like comically bad. French words are rewritten phonetically into English and (apparently) meant to be clever creations by the author. When the primary alien revealed his name as Jules Vern something-or-other, I nearly through the book across the room in frustration. Yes, it goes downhill that badly.
All the philosophy and science just weigh it down. Even though those elements are not hard to follow, they come across as pseudo-intellectual posturing, not quality fiction writing.
Suffice to say, unless you need a solid door stop in your home, avoid this tome. It's just not worth it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bloated slug of a novel.
Comment: Too many words, too little payoff for it all. This novel is a 1000 pages. Not nearly enough stuff happens to justify it all. In the beginning, it's fairly safe to skip/skim the lengthy descriptions of the architecture of the monastery, but other than that, in order to understand what's going on, you have to read the dialogue carefully, since any hints at a plot are hidden within meandering, near nonsensical Socratic lectures by crazed monks.
And damn it, I read the book to the end. The world Stephenson builds and the way he does it is rather unique and has a lot of charm. I just refuse to believe he couldn't have done it with fewer pages, in a way that's tighter and more exciting. He could have taken his philosophical/mathematical theories further, really pushed it, given us more, because for a 1000 page book, the reader just barely breaks even. Not recommended for slow or impatient readers. Recommended if you are fascinated by quirky theories and are willing to follow a careful, suble world-building effort.
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