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Anthem

By: Noah Hawley
Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio, Noah Hawley
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Publisher's summary

What does it take to change the world? The “epic adventure” (Booklist) of a band of unlikely heroes on a quest to save one innocent life who may end up saving us all.

For decades, Judge Margot Burr-Nadir has worked tirelessly, case by case, to administer justice from the federal bench of the Eastern District of the United States. Her position already seems like the highest possible honor. So she is surprised when a call comes from the President of the United States inviting her to accept his nomination to the Supreme Court—not least because in choosing her, in an unprecedented attempt to heal a divided nation, the President has reached across party lines.

For Margot, this should be among the brightest spots of an already charmed existence. But the call comes on a family trip to visit their oldest daughter, Story, who has, without warning, vanished as if spirited away in the middle of the night by forces unseen. Margot soon finds herself thrust onto the national stage in the middle of every parent’s worst nightmare.

The desperate search for Story’s whereabouts soon intersects with the mission of teenagers Simon Oliver, Louise Conklin, and a young man known only as the Prophet. Together, they have escaped from the Float Anxiety Abatement Center in Chicago on the trail of man known as The Wizard: an unimaginably wealthy, almost mythical figure of unspeakable evil who has for years been taking whatever he wants without reaping the consequences. Stopping him, this band of young people hopes to accomplish what their elders can’t or won’t do: fix a broken world.

Noah Hawley’s new novel is an adventure that finds unquenchable lights in dark corners. Unforgettably vivid characters and a plot as fast and bright as pop cinema blend in a Vonnegutian story that is as timeless as a Grimm’s fairy tale. It is a leap into the idiosyncratic pulse of the American heart, written with the bravado, literary power, and feverish foresight that have made Hawley one of our most essential writers.

©2022 Noah Hawley (P)2022 Grand Central Publishing
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Critic reviews

“Hawley taps into our existential anxiety—and transforms it into a hefty page turner that’s equal parts horrific, catastrophic and, at times, strangely entertaining.”—New York Times Book Review

“Hawley the fiction writer is at his best when pitching his taut setup and its well-drawn cast of characters.”—USA Today

Anthem is a Great American Novel for these tumultuous times—a provocative work of fiction that sees to the heart of things, cuts through the noise, and asks, 'How can we change, before it’s too late?'"—Esquire

Interview: Noah Hawley’s Near-Future Thriller Is an Epic Dystopian Fable That Hits Close to Home

'I never want to write something that you see coming.'
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  • Anthem
  • 'I never want to write something that you see coming.'

Editor's Pick

A master storyteller’s dark American fable
He may be best known as the Emmy-winning creator of FX’s series Fargo, Legion, and the upcoming Alien, but Noah Hawley’s ambitious new thriller confirms he is a masterful novelist, operating at the top of his game. The follow-up to his Edgar-winning mystery Before the Fall, Hawley’s sixth novel imagines a post-pandemic America beset by a plague of teenage suicides, environmental catastrophe, and civil unrest. If that hits a little close to home, Anthem keeps listeners along for the ride with complex plotting and action, healthy doses of magical realism and humor, and an ensemble of vivid characters. Comparisons to The Stand are warranted and intentional (there’s a character named Randall Flagg, along with a cosplay-like cast of folks named Katniss, Tyler Durden, and a witch and a wizard), but this fantastical and chilling fable is wholly its own. The narration—alternating between the dazzling Shiromi Arserio and the author—is as provocatively meta as the storytelling. —Kat J., Audible Editor

What listeners say about Anthem

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    5 out of 5 stars

Wow. Just wow.

This book is fantastic. As a Stephen King fan, I see a lot of The Stand here (obviously) and a lot of Kings character development, without too much waffling. The statistics and bleak interludes are moving and terrifying, but are exactly the experience I am having in my day to day life as a 33 year old with a 2 and almost 5 year old daughter.
This book is brilliantly walking the line between fantasy; witches, wizards, a group of teenagers taking on the task of saving the world, and grounded reality; an Epstein character, suicide, abuse, fear, confusion, global warming. I bought and read this book on a whim as it was one of a handful recommended in the NYTimes daily newsletter, and am so glad I did, it has become one of the best books I’ve read to date. Thank you for a wonderful book, I look forward to exploring more of your writings.

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“Anthem” Challenge

This book is entertaining, thought provoking, and very well written. Anthem leaves you slightly unsettled and debating a number of issues in your life as well as that of the world.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Paint by Numbers, but not in a bad way

Yes, this novel is a reaction to America of the last decade. But I’m grateful that the writer painted within the lines when needed. And outside the lives when necessary.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Woman narrator is incomprehensible

Hawley is a good narrator, but the woman is hard to understand. She has a wonderful voice and great dramatic flair but many of her words are unintelligible. Maybe because she’s a Brit doing an American accent (which she does extremely well). I had to rewind a lot to catch some of what she was saying. Fascinating story, though, as are all Hawley’s books.

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    4 out of 5 stars

I'm disturbed.

I can't decide if I love or hate this book.
If I had to describe it in one word, that word would be schizoid.
It leaves me feeling uneasy. Disturbed.
I suppose art should disturb us.
This book might be a work of genius or of insanity. And yet, it feels important. Maybe even defining.
I can't judge it. Maybe you can.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The opening really does say what needs to be said

This is a book with twists and turns, flawed characters, triggering events, and everything that makes it feel almost too real. It mirrors the events now, just a few years in our future. It comments on live, it is realistic, seemingly hopeless, but ultimately one of the most hopeful reads from a dark time in history as told and understood by English speakers.

You will feel this tug at many emotions, you will wonder who, if anyone, is truly good. If you don’t reflect on your relation to the events unfolding and how it impacts who should be the future…you are a11.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Weird and depressing

Interesting book, well read but one of the most depressing books I have ever read.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great

Loved it. It makes one laugh, cry and contemplate the future all at once.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great book. Approach with an open mind.

Most literary novels, by default, lean left, so I entered this book with some preconceived expectations that it would lean left. Through the majority of the read, I found the book to be very open-minded, although the author did take some bitter and blatant shots at Trump. Again, for the most part, the story was presented in a fair way, skewering stereotypes on the left AND right in order to show what an all-out Civil War would actually look like. To that end, I thought the author did a good job.

The book struck me with a Vonnegut feel throughout, and therefore I wasn't surprised when he acknowledge Vonnegut as an influence at the end. The constant utterance of "Ba-fooey" reminded me of Vonnegut's "And so it goes."

Though I enjoyed this book, I would have preferred to skip the strange interlude that interrupts the story at the half-way mark, where the author starts espousing opinions on covid masks-completely pulling me out of the story. Then pushing me right back into it in the next chapter.

Authors have artistic license to do as they please. I support him giving his novel a certain voice, however I felt the author intrusion and preachiness in the epilogue, about how the rich have to give more to the poor, detracted from a story that I really liked. I'd been handed a novel that genuinely let me make up my own mind, and then suddenly I was being told what was wrong and right. To do it over again, I'd skip the epilogue.

Do you lean left, do you lean right? Are you a crazy liberal or a crazy conservative? Either way, I think you can enjoy this book. It's told in a very real style, which abandons most PC rules of today. Though I had minor gripes with it, what he tried to do succeeded. And I would recommend it to anyone, left or right, conservative or liberal. (American)

Narrators were both great. I listened to on 1.30 speed.

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14 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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This is a lot. A lot to unpack, to process, to endure.

I happen to share similar fears and viewpoints with the author and still I find I do not want to recommend this book. It’s violent and terrifying and vulgar and unpleasant and harrowing.

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1 person found this helpful