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A review by jane_henningsen
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
3.0
For a book written in 1992, Snow Crash predicts today’s society and technology with spooky accuracy. Society and social services (notably, prisons) are dominated by private companies and franchises. People who can afford to socialize and conduct business in the Metaverse by donning VR headsets. This book even predicts the gig economy- two of the main characters deliver pizza and packages as contract workers. Their employers use technology to keep a close eye on their whereabouts and track productivity. When this book was written, people were making mix tapes on cassette and if you were a fancy person you drove around with a “car phone” the size of a lunchbox. Amazing- 5 stars for this.
The story itself is… ok. My first impression was that this is what Pynchon would have written if he took a stab at sci fi. It’s stylized and dense, and the characters find themselves in all kinds of bizarre situations while chasing down information about a conspiracy. No character development to speak of - they exist so that a reader can experience the book’s world-building. The conspiracy they’re chasing is a little too convoluted. Like I said, it’s a sci-fi “the crying of lot 49”. 2 stars for plot and characters, though I definitely still enjoyed the book.
The story itself is… ok. My first impression was that this is what Pynchon would have written if he took a stab at sci fi. It’s stylized and dense, and the characters find themselves in all kinds of bizarre situations while chasing down information about a conspiracy. No character development to speak of - they exist so that a reader can experience the book’s world-building. The conspiracy they’re chasing is a little too convoluted. Like I said, it’s a sci-fi “the crying of lot 49”. 2 stars for plot and characters, though I definitely still enjoyed the book.