Bookreporter.com - ANATHEM by Neal Stephenson

ANATHEM
Neal Stephenson
Harper
Science Fiction
Hardcover: 9780061474095
Paperback: 9780061474101

ANATHEM, Neal Stephenson’s new novel, centers on a young man named Fraa Erasmas, a monk, of sorts, residing within the walls of the Concent of Saunt Edhar. There, he and his fellow residents/students devote their lives to the understanding of math, science, cosmology, metaphysics and more. Everything must have reason and be provable, or it is invalid. In such a place, the residents are segregated, to a degree, and in some instances none can know what the others know.

Fraa Orolo, Erasmas’s mentor, finds himself "Thrown Back," or cast out of the concent for a violation. Erasmas, Lio, Ala, Jesry and a handful of others begin a secret quest to discover what it was Orolo was working on that got him Thrown Back. When they discover that he has located what appeared to be an alien ship orbiting the planet, it is not too long before they, and others, are called upon and shipped out of the concent as well, destined to meet at another location for a special gathering.

Erasmas, however, is intent on finding Orolo. Splitting off from the main contingent, he begins a quest to locate Orolo and bring him back to the meeting. There, the gathering of the avout will determine the proper course for dealing with this alien arrival...if they don't destroy each other first. Or if the aliens don't launch their attack before a decision can be made.

Yes, ANATHEM is science fiction. The events take place on a planet known as Arbre. Even so, it bears many striking similarities to Earth. While it can be somewhat disconcerting, a number of things are given new names, but descriptions eventually lead you to understand what they are. Of course the presence of an alien spaceship qualifies it as a science fiction tale, yet, at its core, the book is more about thought than, well, enjoyment.

At any given moment, Stephenson sits back and spends an inordinate amount of time regaling you with his brilliance. And let's be honest, he is brilliant. Even so, paragraph upon paragraph of intellectual infighting amongst scholars, page upon page of metatheoric argument and scientific regurgitation make the reading of ANATHEM a true slog. The book begins slowly, introducing you to Saunt Edhar and its setup, and the introduction of Erasmas and a few of his companions. And the clock. And how the clock works. And why the clock works that way. And who designed the clock. And who decided it would work the way it works. And what scientific formulae were used in such a decision. This depth of explanation, while creating a fully immense world, can weigh far too heavily on the mind of the person trying to read it.

Within ANATHEM, there is a book called, ironically enough, The Book. It is a tome of punishment. The punished are forced to read and copy and understand the chapters they have been assigned and will then be quizzed on those chapters. Each chapter of The Book is increasingly more difficult, and at one point they become so preposterously difficult that the reader is ultimately driven to insanity. Reading ANATHEM can have a similar effect.

Not wholly unworthy, ANATHEM will assuredly find a following. But on the whole, it pales in comparison to Stephenson's previous gems, such as SNOW CRASH, CRYPTONOMICON and The Baroque Cycle.

--- Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard

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