Unbearable

I think I'm about 45 minutes into the book. The narration so far has consisted almost entirely of fetishistically detailed descriptions of labyrinthine architecture, occasionally interspersed by technobabble that is mostly composed of made-up words and is mostly incomprehensible. There are also occasional excerpts from a fantasy dictionary, read by a different guy who has no business recording anything. I assume that some sort of plot develops at some point but don't think I can force myself to stick it out that long.

55 people found this helpful

I love Neal, but Good lord... ugh!

I love Neal Stephenson... Snow Crash, Necronomicron, Diamond Age, The Fall, Reamde, etc...
But getting through the first hour of this thing was a labor of love...and like pulling teeth.
The completely ridiculous "other earth" lexicon slathered all over the entry text...?
The *constant* descriptive extrapolations in every dang sentence (see above: weaving in of intentionally 'obscure' world refs... But oh wait!! Lol, there's literally an intro that tries to insult you into overlooking that -- "if you don't like to figure things out for yourself, let me explain all the terms and the world they are extracted from... it's not Earth..." yada yada yada.

Seriously.. there's an into saying that.
Wtf Neal, seriously.

42 people found this helpful

Probably My Favorite Book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, but with reservations. I had already read Anathem in paperback form years ago and wanted to revisit it as a performance. The audiobook is well done, but it is a very, very complicated book (Stephenson basically invents his own language, along with 7,000 years of fictional history). The physical book itself has a dictionary for reference, and a clear timeline of the world's history, which are invaluable resources while making sense of everything. The audiobook makes it more difficult in that regard.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Anathem?

I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say: the dialog.

Which scene was your favorite?

Messel. Intense speculative analysis.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book literally changed my ideas about the nature of consciousness and cosmology.

Any additional comments?

This is one of the best speculative fiction novels ever written. The only real choice you have is whether you want the audiobook or the paperback. Or both. I own both and I don't regret either purchase.

36 people found this helpful

Pretentious failure to bring on the intended state imho

This book has no serious issues. It is well written, nicely narated albeit a bit to slow gor my taste. However it is not your usual epic sci-fi story with lots of tech and or otherworldly species. It tries to bring on the “feel” of a different type of civilization by twisting words and their meaning enough to be different but not as is required to be familiar, thus creating an effect of “differenceness”. Additionally it mixes various dialectics which apparently in that world caused earth shattering conflicts and shaped civizations. The problem with this, is that these specific dialectics do not carry such power, for even the casual reader of true philosophy, This brings me to the last thing about this book: It tries to present a number of worldviews and systems of thought and philosophies in a very naive and shallow way. If I wanted to learn philosophy I ‘d read Aristotle and Kant and if I wanted a basic science instruction I’d pick up a science book, if I wanted to etymologize and do wordplay, I’d get a book on those things. I wanted sci-fi and so I picked this up, but the “dose” was not strong enough it had all those other things in there. In the end I do not think that presenting a mosaic of philosophy using slightly twisted words and imaginary dialectics brings on the intended state. Instead I was left wondering if the author was simply trying to present us with a display of how many words he knows well enough to manipulate and how many philosophical concepts he can encompass into a narration. In the end, the means of this work has obliterated the goal.

18 people found this helpful

Are the high ratings a viral prank?!

Gave this a good effort, but found it impenetrable - at least in audio. The worst part was the language creation/use and being lost for a reasonably large percentage of many sentences. Might have been different if being read, but I'm not going to give this any more time. Indeed, it felt soooooo good when I quit. Thank You Audible for accepting the return.

The high ratings are baffling. At one point I thought those must be some kind of viral prank/hoax - perhaps intending to lure others in as a joke!

Sometimes a great narrator can save a story- not here, since narration is flat, at best, and with hard-to-describe annoying inflections driving the last nail into this literary coffin.

18 people found this helpful

A literary Masterpiece with an Amazing production!

This one is a book for intellectuals with flexible minds. It is so intimate with the reader it tingles. I drew an additional portion of fun having read other Stephenson’s books before. This way, you — dear reader — will have more insight and deeper connection with the genius author.

Recommend!

15 people found this helpful

Hard Audiobook to read

I’ve got over 200 audiobooks and this is one of 3 that I never finished... until now, years later. The story and narration was so bland and hard to get into via the audio format. So, I borrowed a paper copy from a friend after he praised it (and reviews were good) and followed along the audio reading with reading the pages.. and finally the book took on a clarity that was lacking with only audio.. some of the concepts of the book just came out cleaner with visual aid of the words... so enough of that; Excellent book, great world... some vagueness and a rushed ending it seemed a whole additional book could be written of equal length to summarize the outcome of the convex and ————- of Saint Orolo. Maybe 700 years later ;-).
-Good like writing a sequel Neal!!

11 people found this helpful

Could not stop until the end

A very imaginative description of the truth. Well written and narrated. Perfect balance of logistic science and spirituality.

5 people found this helpful

Tedious!

Might be good in a movie, but I did not enjoy how slow moving it was.

5 people found this helpful

A little lengthy but really gets moving at the end

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It is, however, quite lengthy. I found myself irritated at the speed (or lack thereof) at which things moved sometimes but it is worth it.

4 people found this helpful