Scan barcode
A review by ryanberger
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
challenging
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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
5.0
Strong 4 to a light 5
I remain increasingly more and more suspicious about our current trajectory into "The Metaverse" becoming a bigger part of everyday life. I was born just late enough to be one of the very first generations to more or less "grow up" on social media, and while I know full well that it is mostly poison in anything other than infinismall doses--it doesn't on its face produce the same kind of staunch dug-in "absolutely the fuck not" reaction in me that you get when trying to teach a person over 70 how to navigate a streaming service.
I bumped this book all the way up to the front of my TBR one evening when it seemed like there were parts of the metaverse that I very well could be forced to participate in someday sooner than I would like. While this book does have some criticism and foreboding remarks about trying to live in dual worlds (the physical and the digital) by the end it appears borderline neutral towards the application and reliance on such technology and channels much more of its venom towards the plasticity of our minds and the power of ideas.
Let me drop a megaton bomb of positivity: What Stephenson was able to do in 1992 in the way of predicting the way the internet (even without the out-of-body-experiences we're sniffing around) would develop, how its culture would unite everyone and then smash it into fragmented communities forever-- all the way down to how he knew that smartasses are going to turn their heads into penises and try to break the damn thing is a borderline Huxley-esque feat of foresight and the work of a superior imagination (and obviously, a high level of expertise when it comes to computers, which Stephenson has in spades).
Technobabble is gonna turn a lot of reads off early and with prejudice. Just the way it goes. I don't have a strong opinion on the cyberpunk style of narration but I don't feel as though the early helping of noun-soup as readers juggle brand and organization names minus the context is anything you can't navigate if you just keep pace and enjoy the ride.
This is most impressive to me personally when we get into scenes that I imagine must be some of the most divisive in the book (well, one of two genres of scenes) when Hiro speaks with the Librarian and tries to map out these ancient connections and abstract ideas to play with. My initial reaction was thinking that these were going to axe murder the pace of the story to basically infodump. That doesn't ever really happen, and I think Stephenson taps into something really interesting when it comes to how people can be influenced by the elite via technology and the duty intellectuals have (a strong wind would send me tumbling to my death off of my high horse right now) to monitor that technology is a smart angle fairly well executed.
I don't particularly love the characters. Hiro is fine but fairly plane (I wish we got inside his head a little more often. The few personal observations and matters of taste we get are pretty great. I absolutely love when he makes fun of the Gargoyle at the concert only to pick up a similar setup and vibe with it). Y.T is fun to follow but not exactly rich and fully dimensional.
I'll mention briefly that I don't think Stephenson writes women very well in this book (Y.T, Juanita and Y.T's mom are more or less the only examples). I could be talked into some of the theories as to why it's important that Y.T is 15 and everything that happens to her at this age but overall I don't feel like it was super necessary to sexualize her the way it's done. Juanita is also more plot device than person by leaps and bounds and I don't buy the love interest with Hiro for a nanosecond.
Last bit of criticism I'll mention is the thematic elements all have a satisfying conclusion (really what's important for Sci-Fi that gives a damn about its ideas) but the action bits are all sorts of wonky in the final pages.
This is a smart book that at times tries to appear dumb (Hiro Protagonist. I mean come on) and I think left a really strong impression. Lots of bonus points for being jaw-droppingly accurate about the trajectory of our internet. A book that came out 30 years ago that feels like it came out 30 minutes ago.
I remain increasingly more and more suspicious about our current trajectory into "The Metaverse" becoming a bigger part of everyday life. I was born just late enough to be one of the very first generations to more or less "grow up" on social media, and while I know full well that it is mostly poison in anything other than infinismall doses--it doesn't on its face produce the same kind of staunch dug-in "absolutely the fuck not" reaction in me that you get when trying to teach a person over 70 how to navigate a streaming service.
I bumped this book all the way up to the front of my TBR one evening when it seemed like there were parts of the metaverse that I very well could be forced to participate in someday sooner than I would like. While this book does have some criticism and foreboding remarks about trying to live in dual worlds (the physical and the digital) by the end it appears borderline neutral towards the application and reliance on such technology and channels much more of its venom towards the plasticity of our minds and the power of ideas.
Let me drop a megaton bomb of positivity: What Stephenson was able to do in 1992 in the way of predicting the way the internet (even without the out-of-body-experiences we're sniffing around) would develop, how its culture would unite everyone and then smash it into fragmented communities forever-- all the way down to how he knew that smartasses are going to turn their heads into penises and try to break the damn thing is a borderline Huxley-esque feat of foresight and the work of a superior imagination (and obviously, a high level of expertise when it comes to computers, which Stephenson has in spades).
Technobabble is gonna turn a lot of reads off early and with prejudice. Just the way it goes. I don't have a strong opinion on the cyberpunk style of narration but I don't feel as though the early helping of noun-soup as readers juggle brand and organization names minus the context is anything you can't navigate if you just keep pace and enjoy the ride.
This is most impressive to me personally when we get into scenes that I imagine must be some of the most divisive in the book (well, one of two genres of scenes) when Hiro speaks with the Librarian and tries to map out these ancient connections and abstract ideas to play with. My initial reaction was thinking that these were going to axe murder the pace of the story to basically infodump. That doesn't ever really happen, and I think Stephenson taps into something really interesting when it comes to how people can be influenced by the elite via technology and the duty intellectuals have (a strong wind would send me tumbling to my death off of my high horse right now) to monitor that technology is a smart angle fairly well executed.
I don't particularly love the characters. Hiro is fine but fairly plane (I wish we got inside his head a little more often. The few personal observations and matters of taste we get are pretty great. I absolutely love when he makes fun of the Gargoyle at the concert only to pick up a similar setup and vibe with it). Y.T is fun to follow but not exactly rich and fully dimensional.
I'll mention briefly that I don't think Stephenson writes women very well in this book (Y.T, Juanita and Y.T's mom are more or less the only examples). I could be talked into some of the theories as to why it's important that Y.T is 15 and everything that happens to her at this age but overall I don't feel like it was super necessary to sexualize her the way it's done. Juanita is also more plot device than person by leaps and bounds and I don't buy the love interest with Hiro for a nanosecond.
Last bit of criticism I'll mention is the thematic elements all have a satisfying conclusion (really what's important for Sci-Fi that gives a damn about its ideas) but the action bits are all sorts of wonky in the final pages.
This is a smart book that at times tries to appear dumb (Hiro Protagonist. I mean come on) and I think left a really strong impression. Lots of bonus points for being jaw-droppingly accurate about the trajectory of our internet. A book that came out 30 years ago that feels like it came out 30 minutes ago.