Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Anthem by Noah Hawley

8 reviews

cheyenne_halud's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, and Deportation

znorth's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

Anthem by Noah Hawley desperately tries to be a challenging,  edgy commentary on the current state of politics and people in the United States. Anthem covers many serious topics with little to no nuance or strong message to leave the reader with at the end.
 

Let's start with what this book is marketed to be:

Something is happening to teenagers across America, spreading through memes only they can parse.

At the Float Anxiety Abatement Center, in a suburb of Chicago, Simon Oliver is trying to recover from his sister’s tragic passing. He breaks out to join a woman named Louise and a man called The Prophet on a quest as urgent as it is enigmatic. Who lies at the end of the road? A man known as The Wizard, whose past encounter with Louise sparked her own collapse. Their quest becomes a rescue mission when they join up with a man whose sister is being held captive by the Wizard, impregnated and imprisoned in a tower. 

Right off the bat, Anthem presents itself as two very different books. The first part reminded me of The Measure by Nikki Erlick. The second seemed similar to The Institute by Stephen King. I was interested to see how the two concepts would work together. The publisher's description does not tell you about the American Civil War that breaks, the massive climate disasters, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the many points in time when the author breaks to monologue about the state of the world as he sees it. The description fails to give the reader a clear picture of the book.

For the first quarter of the book, there are two main ideas:

1. Teenagers are committing suicide because of something supernatural. (A11)
2. Teenagers are committing suicide because the world is a mess and they feel that hope is lost.

Anthem throws out those ideas for something else.

Right-wing extremists attack the congressional building and state houses across the U.S starting a state of anarchy and civil war. The suicide epidemic and A11 are pushed to the background in favor of an attempt at societal commentary. The West Coast is a sea of fire and smoke.

Every crisis you can think of is happening at the same time and is amplified by 10. I get that Hawley was attempting to shock the reader with a dystopian future that is uncomfortably close to the current state of affairs. I also understand that the complete tonal shift is, I hope, supposed to happen to really drive the point home. Unfortunately, the end result feels like two entirely different books that ended up in the same manuscript. One of those two books is in the publisher's description, the other is not.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. What ruined it was the random interludes of author's commentary on the state of the world, the overly descriptive violence, and how disjointed this book was. There is an entire section where Hawley stops the book to tell you that he is sorry for how grim the world he made is but that he's just doing his job as the author. The descriptions of gun violence are overly detailed and give description of bullet sizes entering and exiting parts of bodies. Graphic descriptions of viscera, blood, and internal organs after injury. I get that the nation has been thrown into anarchy and that violence is the state of anarchy. Those descriptions were never necessary to the plot.

Surely the characters are this books saving grace right? Not really. The characters are monoliths. Louise is a 15 year-old black girl that grew up in a broken home in a suburb of a large U.S. city. She's a child who has been sexualized by every man around her, so that must become her identity and tool to make her story move forward to its conclusion. Simon is a leaf in the wind being blown from one plot point to the next by whatever apocalyptic tragedy Hawley throws at him. Most of the other characters are hidden behind code names. The only character I liked was Duane, and he had almost little to no impact on the book.

Here's what I say that's positive about Anthem. It's vivid and packed with action. The world is largely believable. All one needs to do is turn on the news to see stories about Right-wing nuts doing god knows what protesting the next thing their supposed to be angry at, or news about wildfires. There is a reflection of anxiety in these pages that is very real and present. If that were the thesis of this novel from the start, I'd rating this higher. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

madzsmiled's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was particularly hard to read. Not because it was a bad book - it was extremely well written and kept me engaged, even when things slowed down. I struggled with time period - the now. 

I found it extremely anxiety inducing, which was the point. The dystopia created in the book felt possible from the political upheaval to the language and intentions of memes. 

The message is clear - this world has reached the edge, and the younger generations are the ones carrying the burden. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it, as much as I had to contend with my own anxieties about the future. 

Please read all content warnings before reading. This one has quite a few. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

asquareclaire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Warning: Between the gratuitous violence and coverage of many dark topics, this may not be for everyone. I'd maybe liken it to philosophy that reads like a Chuck Palahniuk novel. 

Halfway through, I still wasn't sure if I liked this book - I even considered putting it down altogether. Having finished it, however, I will be immediately recommending it to friends & probably buying a few copies to give out. 

"Anthem" is right.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

It’s a lot. There’s a point to it, but it’s a lot.

jennifermackaman's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

This book should have a major content warning on the actual book. I read about 40 pages and had to stop. It contains extremely detailed descriptions about suicides and grief. It also details the reasons why teenagers died by suicide. The point of this book is to take our current global anxieties, like climate change and social unrest, to their logical conclusion. A flaw in this concept is that these anxieties are real for the reader, and it is difficult to distinguish between fiction and reality, especially in a book that is created to reflect reality. I would recommend reading this book slowly and pay attention to your mental state while reading.

booksandcatsgalore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have no idea what to say about this book. How do I help you decide if you should read it? It's dark, it's violent, it's depressing, bleak even. It hits you in the face with all the headlines of the day, like mainlining CNN without even a commercial break: teen suicide, the opioid crisis, white supremacy and QAnon crazies, a Jeffrey Espstein-ish villain, global warming and climate disasters, political upheaval and revolution. It's not a pleasant read, I can't say I enjoyed it, but it's gripping, I felt compelled to keep reading. The writing earns 4 stars, maybe more? Right until the end I wasn't sure if it was a 1 star book or a 5 star book. Ultimately I say give it a shot. It may not be for you, but if you can get through it, I think you will be glad that you did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, and Gaslighting

mollymay's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual assault

ashleyreadsandruns's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

5.0

This book SHOOK me! I was riveted from the beginning to the end, and I was frustrated every time I had to put the book down! I cringed throughout as the author made such incisive points about American society, and I was in awe at the breadth of the topics that he was able incorporate in this novel.
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Anthem by Noah Hawley is a dystopian look at post-pandemic America set just a couple years in the future. It explores the mental health of teenagers and how they have been impacted by all the decisions of adults. It also has a commentary throughout around the climate crisis and what we have done to our Earth.
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I highly recommend this to anyone ready to take on a very dark commentary about America. The book is full of triggers, though, so please tread carefully if that is of concern!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Rape, and Suicide

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, and Violence