2023/034: The Anomaly — Hervé Le Tellier (translated by Adriana Hunter)

‘We’ll give you a list of scientists in thirty minutes,’ Tina Brewster-Wang adds. ‘Two or three philosophers as well.’
‘Really? Why?’ Silveria asks.
‘Why should scientists always be the only people woken in the night?’ [loc. 1836]

I bought this expecting ... well, an airport thriller, I suppose: a solidly-plotted novel with an exciting plot, an upbeat ending, a large cast and adequate prose. This is not what I got. The Anomaly's prose, albeit translated from the French, is excellent (and has some stylistic flourishes that are familiar from my days of proofreading French non-fiction); the cast is indeed large, but each character has a distinct voice and a unique plot arc; and the plot is solid but unpredictable. The premise feels vaguely familiar from TV and film: an aeroplane flies through a tremendous storm and is somehow duplicated, with one version landing three months after the other. Instead of focussing on the cause, Le Tellier concentrates on the effects of duplication on the passengers, in a philosophical exploration of alternate realities and, perhaps, the nature of 'reality' itself.

I enjoyed this immensely, though it's hard to talk about specifics without either minimising the impact of each doubled character's arc, or reducing the stories Le Tellier tells to mundanity. There is a hitman; a couple on the verge of separation; an angst-ridden author (who, of course, writes a book called The Anomaly), a man diagnosed with an aggressive cancer; an abused child; a gay Nigerian musician; a Black lawyer; and a pair of rather sweet scientists. Some of their stories end happily, others ... not so much.

And now I want to reread and see just how much of what transpires is signalled in the earliest chapters, before we know what has befallen the characters.

‘There are more than two hundred of us who’ve had to look at the things our “doubles” did between March and June, perhaps regretting they didn’t take another route. Some may want to do things differently, or better, or do something else altogether. [loc. 3871]

Great article on Le Tellier and translation: here