Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier

7 reviews

jencolumb0's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A multi-layered exploration into life, the universe, and everything, with a lot of wry side-swipes at pop culture as a lot of Big Questions are posed and Core Assumptions challenged. This book manages to be thought-provoking without bogging itself down. It echoed Amores Perros for me, but border, deeper, and . . . French. The cast of characters is almost unwieldy but that observation (or even discomfort), in itself, encourages the reader down a separate rabbit hole of thought and reflection. This is not the book you pick up when you simply want a story to get lost in. It is far better suited to those nights in which you miss your university philosophy course work but don’t want to actually dig out, dust off, or dive into the original texts. For the right moment, an outstanding jumping off-point for some interesting thought experiments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Murder, Cancer, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

Minor: Antisemitism, War, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

Specific issues to flag generally covered by the content warnings above: graphic description of dismemberment, passing reference to tattoos from German concentration camps during WWII, and discussion of incestuous child sex abuse that provides the general idea of what happened but does not get into too many details and is positively resolved.

atamano's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Pedophilia, Blood, Hate crime, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Suicide, and Confinement

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, and War

pershie13's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Oh boy, how to describe the book that I just read… The Anomaly is a genre-bending, multi-perspective, multi-timeline book that will leave you with more questions than answers. It all takes place over the course of a few months, and the satire, science fiction, and dystopia all wrapped up in one brings you to the end of the book in a hurry. It’s a book about empathy, yet also a book about some of the biggest horrors of life. There’s not much more I can write about The Anomaly without spoiling it, so I’d simply suggest reading it and interpreting it as you wish. You may need to search the internet for answers once you’re done, but this book will leave you thinking about life for a long time. Oh, and that last page is a journey, to say the least!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Murder, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Medical content, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Sexual content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Grief, and Religious bigotry

bookdelope1's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

There are a lot of different characters. I found it hard to remember all the details, so I had to go back to earlier chapters every now and then.
Other than that it is a great book. It is interesting how different people handle the situation. It could have gone more into depth here and there. The ending left me speechless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Blood, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, and Death

sweeetpeasoup's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was the best and most interesting book I’ve read in a long while. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I will be thinking about this book for ages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Incest, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual content, Gun violence, and Homophobia

quotes_with_a_quill's review

inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This book is not one I would have chosen, but one that will stay with me. One of the few I will order for my shelf. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness

The (s)child abuse is description brief and not graphically written. The scene is implicitly implied without graphic description- ie disassociation. Again brief. From someone whom experienced nearly a replica of the characters it was triggering and yet validating to a degree. It is an accurate portrait of disassociation. It’s brevity is unlikely to trigger those who do not have a history of this, though that is speculative. I would not have read this book had I known it was in here, but I will reread it even though I know it is there. I only listened to the audiobook, but when I receive my print copy I will update this with page number. It is truly a paragraph of disassociation and the only one that was personally triggering to me. ( I wish I could leave an emoji of hearts and hugs if you’ve had this experience. Just know this is written w that in mind.)

astridrv's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Murder, Blood, Cancer, and Terminal illness

Minor: Pedophilia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Homophobia, Incest, Grief, and Death

Very well paced book, that I read easily over 24 hours. The first part of the book was in my eyes really successful in creating believable characters and an intriguing set-up. The other two thirds delivered, but delivered an average book, pleasant, gripping enough, ultimately forgettable. I think the author had a lot of fun writing this and also had a heart break to process. Both make for a charming book that does not reach as deep as the premise and ambition (visible in the endless philosophical references) would lead you to believe.