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chickadee21 's review for:
Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
I had high hopes for this book. It involved two of my favorite things - WWII and codebreaking - and had been recommended to me by a number of people. Alas, it did not live up to my expectations.
I knew this was going to be a very long, dense, technical book. I was prepared for that. I was okay with the technical discussions. I do think it could have been shorter, but that wasn't the issue. If I'm going to spend the time and energy to read a really long book (in my definition, 700+ pages), it had better be damn good, i.e. [b:The Luminaries|17333230|The Luminaries|Eleanor Catton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410524246s/17333230.jpg|24064531], [b:Shōgun|402093|Shōgun (Asian Saga, #3)|James Clavell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397228842s/402093.jpg|1755568], [b:The Pillars of the Earth|5043|The Pillars of the Earth (The Pillars of the Earth, #1)|Ken Follett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388193707s/5043.jpg|3359698], etc.
Here are my problems with the book. I really did enjoy the beginning, or first 300-400 pages. The parts where Lawrence Waterhouse and Bobby Shaftoe are trying to convince the Nazis and the Japanese that they haven't broken all their codes are fascinating and brilliantly done. Unfortunately, about midway through the book, that plot line suddenly disappears. Apparently the Allies no longer care whether the Axis know that they've broken the codes (um, why??? not explained), and the plot shifts - to gold. A big sunken and buried treasure. And that is where the book lost me.
So I get that the gold is supposed to be a metaphor or something. But I just couldn't care less about it. The gold part of the book was waaaaaaay too long. It also made the modern day part about Epiphyte, cables, The Dentist, etc. basically unimportant. Okay, so Stephenson is talking about internet money ahead of time. Great idea. But way too long and drawn out, and just really, really boring. If the book had just stayed more focused on the actual war effort, I would have found it a lot more compelling.
I also found the villains of the book dumb and unexplored. I did find the Waterhouse and Shaftoe boys interesting. My favorite character was Goto Dengo - I loved his sections. I do not think Stephenson writes women well. His only main female character, Amy, comes off as pretty crazy. Glory was a cool character but we barely saw her. I would have liked more balanced female characters.
This book gets 3 stars because I did find some parts enjoyable. But I would not recommend that my friends pick up this 900 page book. It just has too many shortcomings. Nor will I be likely to read any more of Stephenson's work. There is much better WWII historical fiction out there.
I knew this was going to be a very long, dense, technical book. I was prepared for that. I was okay with the technical discussions. I do think it could have been shorter, but that wasn't the issue. If I'm going to spend the time and energy to read a really long book (in my definition, 700+ pages), it had better be damn good, i.e. [b:The Luminaries|17333230|The Luminaries|Eleanor Catton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410524246s/17333230.jpg|24064531], [b:Shōgun|402093|Shōgun (Asian Saga, #3)|James Clavell|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1397228842s/402093.jpg|1755568], [b:The Pillars of the Earth|5043|The Pillars of the Earth (The Pillars of the Earth, #1)|Ken Follett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388193707s/5043.jpg|3359698], etc.
Here are my problems with the book. I really did enjoy the beginning, or first 300-400 pages. The parts where Lawrence Waterhouse and Bobby Shaftoe are trying to convince the Nazis and the Japanese that they haven't broken all their codes are fascinating and brilliantly done. Unfortunately, about midway through the book, that plot line suddenly disappears. Apparently the Allies no longer care whether the Axis know that they've broken the codes (um, why??? not explained), and the plot shifts - to gold. A big sunken and buried treasure. And that is where the book lost me.
So I get that the gold is supposed to be a metaphor or something. But I just couldn't care less about it. The gold part of the book was waaaaaaay too long. It also made the modern day part about Epiphyte, cables, The Dentist, etc. basically unimportant. Okay, so Stephenson is talking about internet money ahead of time. Great idea. But way too long and drawn out, and just really, really boring. If the book had just stayed more focused on the actual war effort, I would have found it a lot more compelling.
I also found the villains of the book dumb and unexplored.
Spoiler
You never really find out what's up with The Dentist. Meanwhile, Andrew Loeb shows up at the end shooting arrows and getting blown up by mines?? What the actual fuck? We've never even met Andrew in the book - all we know is what characters tell us. I would have liked more villain character development.This book gets 3 stars because I did find some parts enjoyable. But I would not recommend that my friends pick up this 900 page book. It just has too many shortcomings. Nor will I be likely to read any more of Stephenson's work. There is much better WWII historical fiction out there.