It's a very divisive book, people seem to love it or hate it. I'm a long time Stephenson fan, have read everything he wrote multiple times (excepting Seveneves for the moment), and Anathem is my most favourite of his works.
Maybe it was the monk aspect but it felt very much like Eco's In the Name of the Rose -- another book that everyone seems to love but that just didn't reach me for some reason.
