The Anomaly

I'm giving myself less time to read these days, so I'm selecting a little more. Starting a book is the equivalent in hours to starting a short series. And who forces themselves to listen to boring series?

The Anomaly was an excellent choice. Goncourt Prize 2020, very cleverly written by a member of the Oulipo, I had a great time. Here's why.

Summary

I don't want to summarize the book too much. When I started it, I had no idea what was going to happen, and I loved asking myself lots of questions. Let's just say that the novel follows several people in parallel, including a family man, respectable if you exclude the fact that he's a hitman, a suicidal writer, a formidable lawyer and a gay singer. These different people are truly linked, this is not a collection of short stories. And the way they are connected is breathtaking.

Impressions

I loved the first chapter, which followed the hitman. Then the second chapter followed someone completely different and seemed to have no connection to the first. I almost got mad (seriously, the first story was really gripping).

But I calmed down, and saw that this second chapter was just as good as the first. The third one was just as good. And it went on like that until we saw the connection between all these stories. And then I started to laugh, often, with admiration. He is an Oulipo writer after all.

It's hard not to tell you more, but I want you to be surprised. It's really funny, it's really good. It deserves its award.