Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Anomalie by Hervé Le Tellier

29 reviews

eelfleece's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

I wanted to like this book, but it was missing something when it came down to the interwoven points of view. There wasn't enough exploration of the scifi aspects or what they meant for the world, and the constant flowery interjections got a bit much. 

Really interesting concept, worth reading, but wish it had been better. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia and Terminal illness

iliune's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

ollie_again's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Incest, Racism, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

bre88's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.75

Incredible. A truly unique and multi layered story with diverse perspectives from a large group of characters. Somehow the writer successfully builds worlds around  characters who span the globe and brings authenticity to all of them. I can’t wait to read this one again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Terminal illness

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

lautreamont's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Murder

Moderate: Hate crime and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content

znvisser's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

I picked up this book because I was intrigued by its premise, and ended up bonding with some interesting characters too. However, none of it was really explored in-depth, because the author tried to cram EVERYTHING into a limited number of pages: there are storylines before, during and after discovering the divergence, and wayyyy too many characters along the way. The author uses all their storylines to explore as many relational, philosophical and political themes and ideas as possible and as a result of all this, nothing really exceeds superficiality.

Furthermore, I ran into quite a few of my pet peeves, which didn’t contribute to my reading experience. The author, through his instrument of the storyteller, exudes an air of arrogance: women are described through a male gaze (even when Lucie meets herself), Nigeria and the US through a European gaze, and religion through an atheist gaze. There was no reason to not explore this more humbly. And on a less serious note: I just don’t enjoy writers writing about writing. It only works for me in very few instances, and this was definitely not one of those. It was made worse by the writer in this book having written a book called ‘the anomaly’ too, which kept popping up so often it became quite central to the story, even quoting from its imaginary pages as if it were the most brilliant thing ever written. Was this supposed to be clever, or funny? Similarly, was it supposed to be clever or funny to make a caricature out of a president that has hurt so many lives? 

For me this story would have improved immensely by just sticking to the relational aspect through a limited number of characters. Now it was just an ok read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Pregnancy

lizreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.5

What to say about this book without spoiling it? The first 150 pages are like a series of short stories detailing the lives of relevant characters, but I found the pacing to be slow. When the big sci-fi reveal happens, it’s interesting, but we largely move away from those characters into philosophical musings and existential angst. I think that this book is a bit confused as to whether it wants to be about the characters themselves or about the author’s own navel gazing about the hows and whys of the “human experience.” There are too many characters to care about, and then we don’t get enough resolution on their individual stories for them to matter. I read this quickly in hopes that it would be outstanding, but I came away a bit disappointed in the end. Also, check content warnings before diving into this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicide

ritavidi's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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

2.0

I thought the concept of this book was really cool - the characters are duplicated with a four month gap and have an opportunity to make different choices - but the execution didn't work for me. The setup is way too long and the book is much more about the simulation theory than any of the characters. I never felt really connected to anyone and nothing interesting happened. Also the book within a book of The Anomaly sounded terrible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Terminal illness, and Torture

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

vbigv's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I think I was a bit disappointed with the length of this book - It's quite short and it feels like all the characters could have an entire 300 pages dedicated to their story so getting so little on each character and on the main event that changes their lives is a bit frustrating, but I understand this is also a decision from the author.
A nice quick science-fiction piece that will make you think all the while entertaining you. Worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, and Pedophilia