4 posts tagged “books”

Finally finished this, after starting like a month ago.  I'm a slow reader, and the book is almost 900 pages, but it is well worth the investment of time and effort.  As I think back to my experience of reading the story, it really seems to be several different styles combined into one long narrative.  It starts as a spec-fic cultural examination, with a bit of philosophical dialogue.  Then there's a section of grand adventure and survivalism.  Then a great turn into full-on scifi, with some more philosophy (which gets really thick around the 600s, but press on and don't give up).  The wrapping-up chapter (denouement if I remember my terminology) was not quite satisfactory to me, but after the actions and ideas that were explored in the previous pages, I can't think that any "ending" would suffice (plus, I knew what was coming -- maybe if I'd been surprised, I would have liked it more).

I really wish Neal Stephenson would write a blog.  I understand his reasons for not doing so, but I still wish it.

Next: The Amber Spyglass (Philip Pullman) or Artemis Fowl.  Or maybe A Canticle for Liebowitz.

An eco-warrior tries to keep Boston safe from corporate polluters in his zodiac speedboat.  Stephenson's storytelling does not make as much use of random tangents and diversions as he did in Cryptonomicon or the Baroque Cycle (what I've read of it) -- and I liked the tangents in those books, for the most part, although I'm sure other readers would view them only as a burden interrupting the true story.  The characters of Zodiac are not as memorable.  But it was a jaunty story nonetheless, with plenty of graphic descriptions of the science behind pollution and what happens when said pollution hits the body.  A little window maybe into what the supporters of GreenPeace or the Sierra Club might be tring to accomplish.  NOT based on true events as far as I know.