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lomedae's review against another edition
4.5
Written by the originator of the term Cyberpunk this debut novel might be a bit rough on the edges but in a grim and dark genre this is a refreshing light-hearted romp through an alternative view on an internet and how to interface with it. Snowcrash with a wink.
mhjenny's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
luckypluto's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
My friend’s dad was an English professor who taught a freshmen seminar on science fiction, with a focus on cyberpunk literature. The summer after my eighth grade year, he loaned me Snow Crash, a novel on his reading list, and my life was never the same after that. I ended up reading almost his entire course syllabus, which included Headcrash. I’m sure the novel made me laugh, but at the time I’m not sure I realized it was satire and that it was lampooning the cyberpunk genre. I thought that Headcrashwas so cool; Snow Crash no doubt had an influence on me as a young writer, but having reread Headcrash, I can see how much it influenced by early science fiction writing as well (and perhaps my views on working and office life and the role of computers and technology in society). But now that my cynicism has been steeped by a decade of working in Silicon Valley, I can see more clearly what the novel was poking fun at (or mocking, as some might say).
But I also have to admit that the novel is not great. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s also really, really dumb at times; it’s hard to tell which parts are satire and which might just be earnest attempts at humor, but a lot of its humor gets a bit stale and repetitive over the course of the novel. And the ending is really, really dumb, maybe so dumb that my brain erased any memory of it.
Moreover, I have to wonder: why satirize cyberpunk? Was the genre ripe for satire by 1995? Perhaps cyberpunk had an outsized influence on the burgeoning personal computer industry, and Internet culture, but I can’t imagine it had much sway in any other literary circle; I can’t imagine anyone outside of computer nerds even reading cyberpunk, much less putting any stock into it. Lots of media, from Snow Crash to Headcrash to the movie Hackers, was satirizing cyberpunk in the mid-1990s, so maybe cyberpunk was bigger than I thought, or maybe the tech sector was drawing scrutiny even back then.
There is a great passage in Headcrash that (unintentionally) channels Naomi Klein’s No Logo to make fun of the commercialization of cyberpunk. If nothing else, this novel serves as a fun time capsule, especially in its sendup of corporate diversity programs, which were as earnest back in 1995 as they are now, and taken as seriously by the common worker in 1995 as they are now.
Unintentionally funny, too, was the novel’s depiction of technology. It’s set in or around 2005, and it features VR and even e-books, but it also talks with awe about OC1 and OC5 lines, references fax modems, and has characters exchanging CD-ROMs; I suppose all of those things were still around in 2005 but were definitely being phased out by then. An even bigger anachronism: the plot centers around novelist and his new book, as if anyone would care about books by 2005!
I give Headcrash a solid three stars: a fun romp, an interesting time capsule of pop culture, but maybe not as clever and savvy as the work of Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling.
But I also have to admit that the novel is not great. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s also really, really dumb at times; it’s hard to tell which parts are satire and which might just be earnest attempts at humor, but a lot of its humor gets a bit stale and repetitive over the course of the novel. And the ending is really, really dumb, maybe so dumb that my brain erased any memory of it.
Moreover, I have to wonder: why satirize cyberpunk? Was the genre ripe for satire by 1995? Perhaps cyberpunk had an outsized influence on the burgeoning personal computer industry, and Internet culture, but I can’t imagine it had much sway in any other literary circle; I can’t imagine anyone outside of computer nerds even reading cyberpunk, much less putting any stock into it. Lots of media, from Snow Crash to Headcrash to the movie Hackers, was satirizing cyberpunk in the mid-1990s, so maybe cyberpunk was bigger than I thought, or maybe the tech sector was drawing scrutiny even back then.
There is a great passage in Headcrash that (unintentionally) channels Naomi Klein’s No Logo to make fun of the commercialization of cyberpunk. If nothing else, this novel serves as a fun time capsule, especially in its sendup of corporate diversity programs, which were as earnest back in 1995 as they are now, and taken as seriously by the common worker in 1995 as they are now.
Unintentionally funny, too, was the novel’s depiction of technology. It’s set in or around 2005, and it features VR and even e-books, but it also talks with awe about OC1 and OC5 lines, references fax modems, and has characters exchanging CD-ROMs; I suppose all of those things were still around in 2005 but were definitely being phased out by then. An even bigger anachronism: the plot centers around novelist and his new book, as if anyone would care about books by 2005!
I give Headcrash a solid three stars: a fun romp, an interesting time capsule of pop culture, but maybe not as clever and savvy as the work of Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling.
fishsauce's review against another edition
1.0
So awful. Cyberpunk was certainly ripe for satire in '95, but this was not the way to do it. I'm wondering if Bethke had ever actually met a woman before he'd written this.
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