Anathem

Anathem
by Neal Stephenson

Anathem
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Book Summary Information

Author: Neal Stephenson
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-01
ISBN: 0061474096
Number of pages: 960
Publisher: William Morrow

Book Reviews of Anathem

Book Review: Clearly a satire akin to "Erewhon"
Summary: 4 Stars

Having read six of Neal Stephenson's novels (still working on "The system of the World" and "The Confusion", I must be counted as a fan. Even knowing of his mercurial style, confounding wit, and ability to get wrapped up in innumerable plot lines, this novel proved a challenge. It takes a long time ( 200 pages), much patience and some studious re-reading to begin to understand what he is writing about, but if you have a firm understanding of Plato's cave, the history of Western civilization and a a wry, ironic sense of humor, this book is well-worth the effort.

True, some of the longer dialogs on the Hylaean Theoric World could have been cut, but then the final chapters would not have made sense. The physics requires a certain suspension of disbelief, but who knows how alternative universes actually function? To get caught up in these matters misses much of the main theme.

Stephenson has clearly written a satire of our contemporary existence, and has used the disguise of alternative fiction to lampoon contemporary society. Religion and academia are turned on their heads, and neither survive intact. Clearly his bias rests with rationality, but when the "speelies" are blaring in the sports bar, the odor of fast food lingers in the mobe, and the Warden of Heaven embodies the wisdom of the Mathic world, one can only experience this as ironic satire.

About half-way through this book, I began to realize that it closest literary cousin was not science fiction, but rather the utopian worlds of Plato's "Republic", Butler's "Erewhon", Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", Huxley's "Brave new World" and perhaps unintentionally - Abbot's "Flatland". While gaining unprecedented freedom by creating a whole separate "world", Stephenson uses that pedestal to move society.

If you pick up this novel, prepare to be challenged. To understand even half of the allusions, you will need a passable knowledge of mythology and Western civilization. It is difficult to approach even on a first level, but can be understood in several contexts. Don't be afraid of re-reading chapters. (They become much clearer the second time!) and watch for anagrams. The most important are fleeting.

Summary of Anathem

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.

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