Reviews with content warning for Racism - Snow Crash

I love this book when it comes to world- and character-building. It is a really good representation of what cyberpunk is, how people view the future based on real science we have. It shows a dystopic, future world we could live in.
It also has many funny moments. Sometimes they are just stupid, but also can be so absurd, that a reader don't know what to think anymore.

There is only one flaw for me in this book, that made me give it 4 stars instead of 5 (and I'm considering to degrade it more). The scene between Y.T. and Raven at the end of the book left me speechless, not in a good way. Neal clearly shows in the book flaws of the society like racism, classism and sexism, but when it comes to a sex scene between a 15 year old girl and an adult guy, I didn't notice any clear disagreement from the author. I don't know, what to think about this part of the book, I have mixed feelings and still can't decide on my point.
Another thing is that the ending was a huge disappointment for me. I expected more explanation of things that were happening, how it really ended for characters, etc.

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thayerbowen's review against another edition

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Ugggghhhh did not enjoy

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blackbird08's review against another edition

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Yellow flag: people delude themselves into free pizza as an unalienable right, analysts concluded this was human nature
Red flag: “undesirables can walk right in without being frisked or even harassed”

The time I have to read is too precious to waste on media that embraces a future America where racist policy has such a strong hold.

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erikwmj's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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strawberrypinch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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queergoth_reads's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

Prefacing this review with the face that I read this for a book club and would never have picked it myself.

I really dislike this. I know it was written in the 90s and there should be some leeway for things but this book aged very poorly. It feels like a self indulgent, self insert. The orientalism is very strong and it made me so uncomfortable. It felt like maybe it wanted to try and be satire but I didn't get that. It just felt racist, misogynistic and ableist.

There was absolutely no reason Y.T. needed to be 15 other than to fit some creepy fantasy.

I read somewhere that is was recommended reading a tech company and honestly when this is what people in stem have been hailing at the holy grail, it's no wonder there is so little empathy and diversity (I say this as someone in a stem career).

I will say some of the ideas we cool but the execution was all over the place.

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