Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Anthem by Noah Hawley

6 reviews

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

david_brent's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

tnociti's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

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

iordanmoore's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder and Pregnancy

jennsbookshelves's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail