I liked this book but it also made me feel uncomfortable. That of course may be the goal. We are watching Stranger Things on Netflix and it gives me the same feeling.
4 Likes
We’re watching “Outer Range” and it feels like Stranger Things on a Ranch. Between shows like that and books like The Anomaly, there seems to be a general vibe out there that “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I guess human beings have always been fascinated by the concept of the supernatural.
We are watching “Outer Range” and I am just baffled. We should finish it tonight.
As far as the book goes, I liked it, but didn’t love it. Reminded me a bit of “Lost”.
My question is, was it murder to shoot down the third plane?
IMO, absolutely yes.
1 Like
Same. My husband and I just look at each other at the end of every episode and say, “What?” Honestly, I think the writers are just making it up as they go along.
I agree. Even if we are all programs existing in a virtual reality, moral laws still apply.
1 Like
How confusing. So another plane shows up three months later. The passengers would be three months younger than the Junes but six months younger than the Marches and so on. Right?
Slimboy can’t explain away triplets … David’s family has to live through a third round of cancer and death …
1 Like
Yes, a third plane would have created absolute pandemonium – hence, the decision to shoot it down, which may have been immoral, but was also logical.
However, my reading of the ending is that it won’t matter; the program–or human existence–is imploding:
The missile is only a second away from Air France Flight 006, and time stretches and expands before the explosion.
It’s difficult to describe what happens, there’s no word in the language to define accurately the slow vibration through the planet, the infinitesimal pulsing that is felt at the same time all over the world…(p. 391)
2 Likes
Ah yes, that end of the book and it appears everything becomes moot as the world ends.
2 Likes
One of my random thoughts while reading the book was, “I wonder what The anomaly written by Victor March was about?” Several of the principal characters have read it.
Blake: “He’s reading the book Flora recommended, but hasn’t admitted to her that he spotted the author on his Paris-New York flight back in March” (p. 18).
André gives it to Lucie: “And then he handed her a small book: The anomaly, by Victor Miesel. His name meant something to her” (p. 37).
The anomaly becomes a cult hit, bookstores can’t keep it on the shelves, and it’s described as “thrillingly fast-paced, unputdownable” (p. 86). But the excerpts from The anomaly don’t read at all like bestseller material, so I bet that’s a little joke on Hervé Le Tellier’s part. The quotes show it to be both introspective and convoluted, “hundreds of pages…fluctuating between lyricism and metaphysics” (p. 27), with sentences like this:
“The oyster that feels the pearl knows that the only conscience is pain, in fact it is only the pleasure of pain.[…]The coolness of my pillow always reminds me of the pointless temperature of my blood. If I shiver with cold, it means my pelt of solitude is failing to warm the world.”
Does it seem pretentious and badly written, or is that just me? I feel like it’s a literary inside joke that I don’t quite get.
In Victor March’s final paragraph (which foreshadows his suicide), he writes:
“I have never known how the world would differ had I not existed, nor toward what shores I would have driven it had I existed more intensely, and I cannot see how my passing will alter its movement…I am not putting an end to my existence but giving life to immortality.”
And then he commits suicide – and another version of himself appears out of the clouds. So all that Victor March writes comes true: For a hot minute, we know how the world would differ had he not existed; then we meet Victor June, who lives life more intensely; and then, it seems, with the impending arrival of the third plane, Victor March ending his existence has, indeed, given life to immortality.
3 Likes
I think it was definitely intended to be pretentious and badly written. It reminded me of Jonathan Livingston Seagull which was full of that sort of stuff and was on the bestseller list forever.
2 Likes
As I read through all the comments I’m convinced more than ever that I really need to read the book again. Yet, at the same time, I’m also convinced I don’t have the desire to do so. Maybe I’ll leave that for the “next me,” who should arrive in 3 months …
9 Likes
Shall we pick our next book before @CBBBlinker lands?
All suggestions welcome for August!
3 Likes
Recall from last discussion:
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl Gonzálezhttps
Also mentioned
by @mathmom: West with Giraffes
by @CBBBlinker and @AnAsmom: Once There Were Wolves
And then a new suggestion. The Good Wife of Bath caught my eye and seems different and potentially good discussion material. I haven’t read it so am only going on reviews like the following. Anyway I like the time period. (Maybe “lustier” than Peyton Place)
2 Likes
Last time I suggested:
An idea popped into my head - Mindy Kaling’s collection of essays Why Not Me? It looks fun, thought provoking, and available since it’s from 2015.It might make a nice early summer read and discussion. Just a suggestion!
It was recommended to revisit such style books for August so here we are!
That’s right. I remember @Mary13 put Kaling’s essays and Patchett’s essays These Precious Days to the side for the time being also.
I’m going to veto West with the Giraffes. Read it and don’t want to reread it.
I’ve heard good things about Where’d you go Bernadette by Maria Semple. There’s also Anne Tyler’s new(ish) book French Braid. It looks like it doesn’t have much of a wait. (95 holds, but 96 copies).
I’d suggest Penelope Lively’s Metamorphosis, a collection of mostly old short stories, but sadly I don’t think it’s easy to find here even though it came out last November. I haven’t read it yet, but she is one of my all time favorite authors.
2 Likes
I’m in a funk for a variety of reasons so I’m not going to suggest anything or even vote. I haven’t liked any book I’ve read all year, so I’m pretty sure that’s on me, not the books. But, I’ll be here in August.
2 Likes
Had a couple of book recommendations written down that I’m on the fence about reading by myself (don’t remember who recommended which is part reason for my disinclination). It may motivate me to read them if we do it as a group 
Beneath the Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
And Milk and Honey or The Sun and her Flowers by Rupi Kaur. Supposed to be a mixture of prose and poetry and easy reads, both.
Otherwise, I’m taking the line of least work and will go with whatever y’all decide. No votes or vetos!
I’ve read many of the books suggested so far so those would be an easy recap for the discussion.
1 Like
I read “Once There Were Wolves” for my RL Book Club, and liked it. I also read “Where’d You Go Bernadette” about 7 - 8 years ago for the same Club. As I recall, it was good; a fairly quick, easy read.
For Books on the Beach this summer the list includes “The Lincoln Highway” and “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.”
1 Like
I wouldn’t mind reading The Lincoln Highway, which I have not read yet.
I wouldn’t mind reading something by James McBride - either his memoir The Color of Water - Wikipedia or one of his novels like The Good Lord Bird - Wikipedia (which got a National Book Award for fiction).
1 Like