The Anomaly - June CC Book Club Selection

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101

In the chapter The Last Word, a bit more about climate change, woven into the endings.

“ Joanna has some free time, because the Valdeo trial won’t be going ahead. A deal was struck with the plaintiffs, and Hexachlorion has been withdrawn from the market. She never went to that meeting at the Dolder club where the theme was to be immortality, nor the ensuing dinner, when the conversation turned to places on the planet to escape the effects of climate change and influxes of migrants. Prior has bought a hundred hectares in New Zealand.”

“ It’s the beginning of spring on West Antarctica’s ice sheet, and the Thwaites Glacier—a great raft of ice two kilometers deep and the size of Florida—may well break away in three months’ time, raising seawater levels by more than a meter, but Sophia, Liam, and their mother have left the flood-risk house in Howard Beach. The Junes have move to Akron, near Cleveland, and the Marches to Louisville.”

“ Adrian and Meredith are in Venice, Italy, Europe. They’re trapped in their hotel by the acqua alta, but this transient confinement isn’t so tragic: their sun-filled room overlooks the Fondamenta del Passamonte, the room service is above reproach—”

102

This looks like “hope” :grin:

2020 Venice holds back aqua Alta flooding first time in 1200 years,
“ Sebastian Fagarazzi is used to moving his belongings around. As a Venetian who lives on the ground floor, every time the city faces acqua alta – the regular flooding caused by high tides – he must raise everything off the floor, including furniture and appliances, or risk losing it.

But on October 3, with a 135-centimeter (53-inch) high tide forecast – which would normally see around half the city under various levels of water – when the flood sirens went off, he did nothing. “I had faith,” he says.

Saturday was the first acqua alta of the season for Venice. It was also the day when, after decades of delays, controversy and corruption, the city finally trialled its long-awaited flood barriers against the tide.”

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-flood-barrier/index.html

“ Fagarazzi, meanwhile, is just relieved for now. "Last year was traumatic – you’d hear the sirens and it was unstoppable. I think we still haven’t comprehended how amazing the news is. This is a new day for Venice because it’s the first time in 1,200 years [since the seat of power moved to St Mark’s Square] that a high tide didn’t cause the city to be flooded.

“For Venetians, this feels like the first step of Armstrong on the moon.”

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103

Yes, I think what it comes down to, is that hope is both a blessing and a curse.

I’m re-reading the The Anomaly–just a quick breeze through the book–and I can’t get over how much I missed about climate change. I was so focused on wormholes and doppelgängers that I didn’t see how the destruction of the planet is a strong thread that runs throughout the story, both explicitly and implicitly.

For example, here’s a more subtle reference that I missed the first time through – David sits in the doctor’s office, waiting for his diagnosis:

The ficus is thirsty.

It’s brown leaves are so dry they’re curling up; some branches are already dead. Standing there in its plastic pot, it’s the very incarnation of hopelessness, if indeed the word “incarnation” can be applied to a green plant. If someone doesn’t water it soon, David thinks, it’s going to die. In all logic, it must be possible to find a point of no return on the continuous thread of time, an irretrievable tipping point after which nothing and no one could save the ficus (p. 40).

Note that this dying plant (or dying planet, if you will) is the “incarnation of hopelessness.” In Greek mythology, this would be Moros, the personified spirit of hopelessness and doom – the opposite of Elpis.

When Pandora opened the vessel all of the spirits escaped except for Elpis (Hope) who remained behind to comfort mankind. Elpis was depicted as a young woman carrying flowers in her arms. Her opposite number was Moros, the spirit of hopelessness and doom. ELPIS - Greek Goddess or Spirit of Hope (Roman Spes)
…
Moros was…the force which drove man towards his fated death.

Aeschylus describes how Prometheus saved mankind from misery by taking away foresight of his own doom (moros) and replacing it with false hope (elpis). MOROS OLETHROS - Greek God or Spirit of Doom

I think that last sentence says it all – at least in terms of the message Le Tellier is trying to convey about our future.

104

Good question. I’d say for the most part, they did. They sorted out their own lives and found either fulfillment (e.g., Slimboy) or compromise (e.g., Joanna). But in the end, think how much energy that took to accomplish. They had nothing left to give, no way (or time) to see the bigger picture and how the arrival of the second plane was more than a personal tragedy – it was a universal one.

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105

I think the author feels empathy for his characters; he doesn’t fault them for being unable to play the role of “supreme savior.” There is a sort of dignity in their individual struggles, even if ultimately futile.

From The NY Times review (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/books/anomaly-herve-le-tellier.html):

“In the end, the essential question for all the characters, the only question, is what do I do with my love?” Le Tellier said. “Love is the point at which all the characters stumble, where they are fragile, and where they have to decide. On all the rest, they can negotiate.”

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106

As a child reading Greek myths, I seem to remember that the last thing in the jar was “hope” and that it was a good thing, and also got let out to make up for all the bad stuff, but apparently the definition of “hope” is a bit muddier, and whether it stayed in the jar or not is too. Pandora's box - Wikipedia

I think Hervier is saying we humans tend to muddle on with hope, but not enough action, but we could be give a second chance just as the Junes were. (To mixed results.)

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107

Interesting link. Appreciate the complex interpretations of Pandora’s Jar/ Box now, and have better understanding of the concept of “ hope” being trapped in jar away from humanity, prison, or there to counterbalance the evils of the world,

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Good article for those of you interested in some of the references, Tv, literature ect.

https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/books/book-review-the-anomaly-by-herve-le-tellier-3534160

“ There is something akin to contemporary television about this novel. A mysterious plane crash might evoke memories of Lost, the interweaved narratives are similar to Lovecraft County, the anthology nature of the book has the same feel as the Watchmen series. In terms of how we deal with the inexplicable, it has a family resemblance to the brilliant Les Revenants and the chilling Les Témoins. The reader is alerted before the opening page with a quote attributed to “Victør Miesel” from his book The Anomaly that there are sleights of hands and tricks going on. There are plenty of other literary asides – a reworking of Tolstoy’s most famous opening line, a reference to the Franco-Scottish poet Kenneth White as a deep state agent, and a homage to one of the OuLiPo’s foundational texts, Mallarmé’s poem “A Throw Of The Dice”. There is also a very clever reference to the work of Romain Gary, who famously won the Prix Goncourt twice (it is only allowed once for each author) by submitting under the pseudonym Émile Ajar. Pertinently, Ajar’s works, such as The Life Before Us and Pseudo investigate ideas of identity, reality and pre-emptive grief.”

And, then the more basic questions …………if given a a redo ……

“ What remains are the big questions, over and above the bravura of it all. If you could make different choices, would you? If you were confronted with the might-have-beens of life, how would you cope? How unique are you? The title is a clue. What is the anomaly? There is more than one answer. Personally, I am going with the resurrected toad in one of the stories. A little leftfield, but that is as it should be.

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Good link @Mary13, did you catch the last paragraph about global warming as the impending disaster -!!! I do think one of herve’s main messages is about CLIMATE CHANGE ….

“ The world, too, is facing agonizing decisions, Le Tellier said. The English translation of the novel arrives as world leaders have just recommitted in Glasgow to fighting global warming.

The author sees climate change as an imminent threat to which the response has been paltry.
“The simulation is waiting for a reaction from the entire human race,” he writes in the novel. “There won’t be a supreme savior. We need to save ourselves.”

The alternative, as “The Anomaly” makes clear, is that whoever controls the simulation will lose patience and, in an instant, bring down the curtain.”

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@jerseysouthmomchess, great article – thanks. Some of those references I caught; for example, the Tolstoy one. That’s the opening of The Spin Cycle chapter: “All smooth flights are alike. Every turbulent flight is turbulent in its own way.”

Most of the references I didn’t catch – if he referenced French authors, forget it. No clue what the “very clever reference to the work of Romain Gary” might have been.

That’s the case with many of the “clever” novels we have read – which is a good portion of them! (The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Cloud Atlas, and The Luminaries come to mind, to name a few…). It’s fun to try to find the “Easter eggs,” but at the same time, it shouldn’t be necessary in order to enjoy the book.

The writer of above article says:

I might enjoy the book because of the game of cat-and-mouse it plays with literature. But it is also compelling, and you need not be a literature geek to relish it. In part this is because we get the very different stories of the passengers on the plane, suddenly turned into two.

Hervé Le Tellier called his novel a “literary scoubidou.” I had to look up what a “scoubidou” was…Lol, I think all my kids made these in summer camp:

Screen Shot 2022-06-06 at 8.49.19 AM
Screen Shot 2022-06-06 at 8.49.19 AM1276×1014 97 KB

Somehow, an apt description of the work – colorful, intertwined knots that are fun to look at, but not really comfortable to wear. :grinning:

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111

Romain Gary was quite a character. His second wife was Jean Seberg. " After learning that Jean Seberg had had an affair with Clint Eastwood, Gary challenged him to a duel, but Eastwood declined." from Romain Gary - Wikipedia

I read La promesse de l’aube (Promise at Dawn) a million years ago. It’s a funny, loving tribute to his impossible mother among other things, also apparently more truthy than truthful. I’ve always meant to read his novels, but never have. (BTW according to at least one Amazon review, the translation leaves out large chunks of the book and “improved” portions of it.)

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112

@mathmom, thanks for that. I read up on Romain Gary and figured out the sly reference!

Lucie, packing for the flight, throws in a “collection of Romain Gary’s work” (p. 35). What I learned about Romain Gary mirrors Victor Miesel March and Victor Miesel June: Two different authors (writing two different books), who are actually the same person:

Romain Gary is the only person to win the Prix Goncourt twice. This prize for French language literature is awarded only once to an author. Gary, who had already received the prize in 1956 for Les racines du ciel , published La vie devant soi under the pseudonym Émile Ajar in 1975. The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to the author of that book without knowing his identity…Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d’Émile Ajar.

And if that weren’t enough of a similarity to the Victors, there’s this: Romain Gary committed suicide in December 1980, and stated in the note he left behind that he was also Emile Ajar.

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113

Well done Mary!

I apologize for all the typos in my post! Probably too late to edit, but I will try. Woohoo it worked!

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114

I’ve never heard of the term “scoubidou” for lanyards and other stuff made from gimp … BUT, when I read the term, I immediately thought of the cartoon “Scooby-Doo.” And apparently the term scooby doo is something that helps solve a mystery, i.e. a clue. Who knew??

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115

I found two things unique to this book:

the three-month gap between the Marches and Junes

and

the fact that they’re faced with their double (minus three months).

I like sci-fi/fantasy but hadn’t run across this particular twist. I particularly liked the three month gap, just enough of a time gap that the doubles are essentially the same with just that tweak or two that three months bring. It made me stop and think about my life experiences of the last three months or so. Would I share with my double what I would or wouldn’t do differently? Is there anything of import to share?

I find it extremely sad to think of David’s family having to relive his cancer struggle and death, though maybe they’d know more what to expect, etc.

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116

It would be hard to miss three months of my own life, even if those months were seemingly uneventful. Even the mundane activity in the lives of my loved ones is important to me. I can’t imagine being on that plane and coming home to a usurper in my place – even if it was me! What if my husband and kids liked that me better than this me?

I thought every one of the passengers on that plane (and the general public for that matter) handled this extraordinary occurrence very well, and remained quite rational. I think in real life there would be a lot more hysteria and mayhem.

And maybe I’ve seen too many Evil Government movies, but I also thought the Feds were surprisingly considerate. I would have expected them to lock up both sets of passengers for an extended period of time and perform all kinds of horrendous experiments in an attempt to determine which human form was the original and which the copy.

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117

I enjoyed the book and haven’t jumped in, but the thought of missing the last 3 months - birth of first granddaughter and marriage of 3rd son, plus all the daily life. It would be a gap in memory for June that would be hard to reconcile. I did not catch most of the literary references but enjoyed the existential ideas of a “not quite “ double.

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118

A random coincidence,
was reading an article this am about optical illusion, how the brain adapts what it is seeing, an evolutionary process they claim. For those who can’t access this NY TIMES article, the optical illusion is a black circle, on a grid, and it pulsates and expands when you look at it, ( 14 % of people don’t see this)

This Optical Illusion Has a Revelation About Your Brain and Eyes

It occurs to me this relates to the Anamoly,…….and the author concludes last paragraph,about illusions, virtual world……
I can’t seem to get away from the theme of virtual reality. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

“It takes time for a stimulus, like light, to reach our sensory organs, which need to send it to the brain, which in turn needs to process, make sense of, and do something with that information. And by the time our brain catches up with the present, time has already moved forward, and the world has changed.

“To get around this, the brain may be constantly trying to predict a little bit into the future in order to perceive the present”

“Seeing the expanding hole illusion is not a flaw, but a feature: It’s the result of your brain’s strategy to navigate an uncertain, ever-changing world, most likely built up from evolutionary history to ultimately help humanity survive. It is adaptive to predict the future by, say, dilating your pupils in anticipation of going somewhere dark.

“It’s a very philosophical question,” Dr. Laeng said. “We do live in a virtual reality, but it’s a pragmatically useful virtual reality.”

So, the world you are seeing is an illusion, but don’t be alarmed.”

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119

I liked Sea of Tranquility, though not as much as I like Station Eleven. I ended annoyed because I don’t understand the anomaly. The explanation of its cause does not make sense. And I’m not sure why it’s titled Sea of Tranquility. On the other hand, Mandel writes beautifully. @Mary13, I didn’t read The Glass Hotel but I understand that some of the characters in that book appear in Sea of Tranquility (think time travel). Anyway, the book is short, eight chapters or so. It includes time travel and a pandemic and, of course, the anomaly.

I really like Station Eleven. If you’re adding one of her books to your wish list, I’d choose that one and then you can always go back and read the CC discussion.

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120

@jerseysouthmomchess, that was a fascinating article. I definitely saw the pulsating illusion – quite strongly, in fact. Strange to think nothing is moving at all. Are any of you among the 14% of humans who do not see it?

The comments about the brain’s strategy “to navigate an uncertain, ever-changing world, most likely built up from evolutionary history to help humanity survive” is perhaps an answer to my question about why the passengers were so calm about their duplication, and ready so quickly to work it all out. Adapting rapidly is part of our survival instinct.

As far as The Anomaly is concerned, this sentence could be taken metaphorically: “It is adaptive to predict the future, by, say, dilating your pupils in anticipation of going somewhere dark.”

Because those characters went somewhere very dark indeed!

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