The Anomalies

Rating:
Summary: good start but needs improvement
Review: A few comments about the author:
In my opinion, university English, Psychology and Sociology departments should begin implementing new curricula as soon as possible that offer entire courses on Joey Goebel and his writing. His insights, philosophies and means of expressing them are disturbingly profound, poignant and authentic. I liken him to a 21st century Shakespeare - a prophet with an astute command of so many facets of the language and what seems like a direct feed into the minds of the masses as well as the anomalous minority. As a long-standing devotee to J.D. Salinger, it comes heavy with the weight of praise that I say this young genius has written, in my opinion, the greatest novel since The Catcher in the Rye. But to simply list him along side Salinger is not nearly praise enough. Goebel has the spirit of Tom Robbins, only spicier and even more unsettling, wrapped in the puff pastry of Hunter S. Thompson's ingenious inventiveness all basted together with a better understanding of the human condition than John Steinbeck, Harper Lee, Toni Morrison or Alice Walker, and the uncanny ability to make it all so spoon-feedably delicious for the Coca-Cola canaille. In 22 years, he seems to have gleaned a knowledge of life that is centuries old.

A few comments about The Anomalies:
In simply naming the characters, Goebel writes more of a novel than many I have read. I pray the symbolism does not go unnoticed by his audience. Five distinctly separate voices tell the story of the simmering `power-pop new wave heavy metal punk rock band that rocks to the fifth power impossibly.' Aurora: the dawn, the light at daybreak and also the unfathomably beautiful Northern Lights - a multitude of electrically charged particles emanating form the sun, colliding with various particles in the air, creating the ever lovely, ever changing, ever elusive Aurora. Ember: a tiny glowing chunk of beauty, until you get too close, then you can feel the burn (or Ember venom), capable of and prone to starting new fires. Opal: the stone that shimmers with rainbow colors, never set in one specific pattern - amorphous, incandescent and translucent. Ray: emitted from a beacon far away, the light of the American dream -Ray, a red-blooded American name for an Iraqi ex-soldier more in love with Americans and the Red, White and Blue than any of us who were born here; allegiant to a country for letting him indulge in Frappuccinos and halter tops. And finally, Luster: the fifth sparkling symbol in the pentaband, representing the lustrous glow of all things shiny as well as an insatiable lust for a better life, a better way, a better venue for his music.

Aptly naming the characters was merely the flaky piecrust covering to the deeply cherry filling of The Anomalies. Goebel, being an anomaly in his own right has `just enough love to devote a damn to the stereotypical commoners collectively representing the antagonists' and, if the reader is paying attention, takes each of his audience members' hands and walks them down a `pig-tailed path' which he has beautifully lined on both sides with allegories, metaphors, wit, irony and personality. Bravo!

One final thought. Joey Goebel's ability to weave words and thoughts and ideas into and over and under and around one another is spectacular. From the first sentence to the last notion he manages to create an interconnectedness of every expression with every word with every locution with every phrase that ties the plot so completely in proper knots, there are no holes there to find. This weaving of words might mistakenly be perceived as foreshadowing by some, but I personally feel to call it that is like calling tuberculoses a little cough. I simply do not know what I would call it except prodigious or some other exclamatory adjective. Never in my years and years of voracious reading have I been privy to language so pregnant with color and cognizance, so crowded with the gorgeousness of anomalous behavior and so simply and utterly delicious. If there were ten stars to give, I'd find an eleventh.

There is something to learn from Joey Goebel in The Anomalies for everyone who lives and breathes. Read it. Really read it.

Rating:
Summary: Just like real punks, it starts out with so much promise.
Review: Goebel takes five somewhat interesting characters and the rarely-used stream of consciousness device (although I get the feeling he started this book after reading As I Lay Dying) and promises us, in true punk form, earth-shattering orginality and an overturning of the status quo. He fails to deliver.
Really, this book can be used as a crash course in the entire punk movement. it starts off strong, it picks up hard and fast, it holds your attention and leaves you unsure of the direction it's heading in. after the first 50 pages, the main characters cease to develop and become more and more trite, while the secondary monologues become so similarly cliched as to seem identical (which after a time ceases to be social commentary and just becomes poor writing). On top of the characters stagnating, he tries to prove to us that everyone except his band of rebels is an unoriginal "humanoid", selling out to The Man. How original, But could he have done it with less monotony? Sorry, but that's Punk for you. Right up to the point where their music magically changes all who listen--really listen, mind you--to it.

This is not to say the novel is without positive qualities. As I said, it showed extreme promise and had a strong beginning. Goebel manages to achieve aforementioned social commentary in 'Nightmare Day', the passages involving Luster and the joke about putting the beer in the truck. He had acheived his goals at that point, but then he severely overemphasised his point. Hopefully in his next work, he'll learn when to stop preaching, and when to keep writing.

Rating:
Summary: This book rocked me like a hurricane!
Review: I sat down and read this book cover to cover. I am a resident of Henderson Kentucky and the book is hilarious. The other reviews accurately describe the plot and characters in depth so I will spare you more details. The bottom line is that you must read this book!!! Great book Joey. I treasure my birthday present. *wink*

Rating:
Summary: Like Chuck Norris on a tilt-a-whirl
Review: Joey Goebel's first novel, "The Anomalies", has an energy and intelligence that is rarely seen in debut fiction. Each unique character created by Goebel has their own interesting traits and are just plain fun to read about, while a social critique also winds its way through the pages. It is no easy task to create memorable and fun characters while tackling social issues, but Goebel pulls it off almost seamlessly.
I am looking forward to his next novel, "Torture the Artist", where I am certain he has honed his craft even more.

Rating:
Summary: I Punch The Clock
Review: Take the 1980's away from Bret Easton Ellis, add a bit of Joey Goebel, a smooth layer of punk rock, and you get the rather delicious, Anomalies.
I do not know much about the midwest. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, but what I gather from Mr. Goebel's insight is that it is nothing like I had imagined. This book completely changed my sterotypes (cornfields and hillbillies). Goebel makes the characters so interesting I hope to find the time and money to travel to the state of Kentucky.
If ever there is a chance to talk cops with Luster, be a pyro with Ember, go through "phases" with Aurora, be old and young with Opal, or observe men in their bathing trunks with Ray...you can count me in. These characters are written in just that fashion, you can't help but to want to meet and be intrigued by all of them. They do not pass through your mind, instead they continue their earsplitting band practice inside your head even after you put the book down...and this is not a bad thing.

The author was a former member of the punk band The Mullets. Somehow, by word of mouth I suppose, I had heard of this band. I wonder if they ever made it this far north? If so, I can only slap myself in the nostrils over and over and over again for not going to hear the fine words of this author. This fresh, loud, memorable author, Joey Goebel.

Rating:
Summary: An involving, wonderfully written and somewhat quirky tale
Review: The Anomalies by Joey Goebel is a catchy novel about five odd nonconformists who come together to make rock music in a humdrum, conformity-driven nook of the Midwest. A ghetto dweller with dreams of stardom, a sex-crazed eighty-year-old, an eight-year-old who hates the entire world, an Iraqi who loves Americans even though he fought them in the Gulf War, and a high-minded Satan-worshiping young woman, form a bizarre yet tensile bond that takes them on a quest to tour the world, sharing both their dreams and their music. The Anomalies is recommended as an original, involving, wonderfully written and somewhat quirky tale.

Rating:
Summary: Punk Rock Literary Joy!
Review: This book is fantastic. Joey Goebel may have just created a new type of literary genre-Punk Rock Literary. The characters in this novel are so bizarre you might pass on the novel at the description, but I beg you to go forth and read!

The story involves the most insane group of rock band members one could ever conceive (a party maniac who happens to be a senior citizen and a nymphomiac? A Middle Eastern fem? An eight year old nihilist?). C'mon - just the characters alone are worth the read.

I found the novel easy to read and enjoyed every moment. This is great writing from an up and coming author. For those of you who thought Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club was a book that couldn't be matched, read The Anomalies! Buy this baby!

Rating:
Summary: A riff for the disenfranchised
Review: This novel is an interesting exercise on two levels: first, because the author, himself quite a young man, has tackled a topic that requires extraordinary skill, observing the antics of a multi-generational group of characters; the second, the very diverse personalities themselves, who make up the meat of the novel.

Goebel introduces an unusual gathering of friends who have come together as a rock band, determined that their music be heard and appreciated. They figure such a strange configuration of band mates should at least get them in the door. The group consists of an eight-year old girl and her babysitter, who happens to be a sprightly octogenarian, a young black musician with an explosive imagination and a vocabulary to match, a beautiful, wheel chair-bound Satanist and an Iraqi immigrant recently arrived in this country to enjoy the wonders of American life and to find an American soldier he wounded in the Gulf War. The burgeoning rock band is their blunt statement to the world.

The world may not be ready for their message, but the musicians do have a small following as their sound improves with practice. Most important is their message: diversity is the future of America. Certainly the very identity of the group is an advertisement that cultural and racial differences can successfully coexist, even flourish. Like most ideas before their time, this band becomes a target for some misanthropic diversions, reminding us that the fickle finger of fate scribbles randomly, and then moves on, indifferent to the chaos left in its wake. Whether Goebel's characters can recover from their debut is the question. Luan Gaines/2004.


Rating:
Summary: Rock might still save the world
Review: Webster's defines an anomaly as "deviation from the common rule," and so "The Anomalies" becomes a multifaceted title. The entire, physical book lives up to its title before the reader can crack the cover, considering the bewildered, suspicious, somewhat scared young man on the cover is the author.
The story is about five small-town misfits who have the guts to attempt forging some path out, or at least agitate the status quo with their music long enough, or big enough,to be remembered. Within the group young are old, old are young and foreign are indeginous.
Continuing the anomalous flavor, Goebel tells the story from the first person POV of each character, including incidental characters, and, yes, it works. Combined with memorable one-liners, Goebel builds the action to an absurdly satisfying end (the rejection letter from God, towards the end, is not to be missed).