The Anomalies

by Joey Goebel

Book Overview

Joey Goebel's brilliant debut stirred fans with its comical look at mainstream American pop culture. Silas House called this story of five eccentric misfits who come together to make rock music and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 193156129X
• ISBN13: 9781931561297
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing
• Length: 205 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Like Chuck Norris on a tilt-a-whirl

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.

An involving, wonderfully written and somewhat quirky tale

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.

No superfluous topping needed!!!

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 memb

Punk Rock Literary Joy!

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!

Carver and O'Connor - in a blender - with special sauce

I mention Carver and O'Connor because they are the only writers I can draw any kind of parallel to when I read the way Joey Goebel crafts characters and their thoughts so masterfully, so completely -- and yet allows his dramatis personae to serve, in some capacity, as allegorical entities. Like O'Connor, this young writer also has the knack for being humorous and tragic at the same time, and he puts words together with the same deft skill.However, it is unfair to compare Joey Goebel to any writer, because he brings something new and different to the table. I've heard punk rock, but I don't know that, before The Anomoalies, I had ever read punk rock. Punk Rock with literary gravitas. Joey is railing against the closed minded, rural western Kentucky environment, against pre-judgement in general, and against the clicques and cretins who laugh at people for being different.Sometimes that difference is a sword that can cut the ties that bind an individual to the mundane existence we all muddle through. I think Joey Goebel has done that. I believe he soars with this novel, in which the overriding message is to chase the dream.I think readers will agree -- it is good that Mr. Goebel chased his, and that wise publisher gave him a chance.