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samgillmusic 's review for:
Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
I think I must not like steampunk, because this didn’t do it for me. I couldn’t even finish Neuromancer, so this was at least an improvement on that.
Things I liked:
I liked the idea that Y.T. showing compassion for an ‘animal’ would prove to be a powerful and consequential force in a technologically-dominated world.
I liked the DFW-esque toilet paper bureaucracy section, and the interrogation scene with Y.T.‘s mum (although the consequence of that questioning seems to not be addressed?).
I liked the perfectionism of the Mafia’s pizza delivery regime (although this seemed to be a short world-building exercise with no significance).
The action scenes were really well written and exciting.
Things I didn’t like:
Despite my first point above about the rat-thing, the ending felt incredibly abrupt and underwhelming.
All of the characters felt one-dimensional and functional in advancing the plot, rather than fully-fleshed out people.
The sex scene. Just… why?
While the book is exploring some potentially interesting concepts, I felt their integration into a plot didn’t really work. There was way too much exposition required to contextualise how the ideas were informing the story; the narrative itself had to take a ‘detective’ approach that destroyed any mystery that the initial introduction of the snow crash virus brought to the story.
The multi-chapter exposition towards the end felt ridiculous. How was Hiro, who had no knowledge of Sumerian and all of the linguistic and religious concepts at the start of the book, able to rattle off an (apparently) coherent explanation of the conspiracy and its historical precedents so effectively at the end? And Mr Lee and Uncle Enzo apparently followed, understood as accepted what is really a totally insane plot by Rife?
The way it’s revealed that Hiro and Raven’s fathers were POW together. They seem to both be aware of it and tell each other they know at the same time… when did they both find out?? And why is this not more significant??
Why do we hear nothing of the fates of Reverend Wayne or D4v1d in the final chapters? Many other seemingly important characters have their stories end seemingly without any resolving of earlier plot points too.
Why didn’t Rife just destroy the nam-shub?
Things I liked:
I liked the idea that Y.T. showing compassion for an ‘animal’ would prove to be a powerful and consequential force in a technologically-dominated world.
I liked the DFW-esque toilet paper bureaucracy section, and the interrogation scene with Y.T.‘s mum (although the consequence of that questioning seems to not be addressed?).
I liked the perfectionism of the Mafia’s pizza delivery regime (although this seemed to be a short world-building exercise with no significance).
The action scenes were really well written and exciting.
Things I didn’t like:
Despite my first point above about the rat-thing, the ending felt incredibly abrupt and underwhelming.
All of the characters felt one-dimensional and functional in advancing the plot, rather than fully-fleshed out people.
The sex scene. Just… why?
While the book is exploring some potentially interesting concepts, I felt their integration into a plot didn’t really work. There was way too much exposition required to contextualise how the ideas were informing the story; the narrative itself had to take a ‘detective’ approach that destroyed any mystery that the initial introduction of the snow crash virus brought to the story.
The multi-chapter exposition towards the end felt ridiculous. How was Hiro, who had no knowledge of Sumerian and all of the linguistic and religious concepts at the start of the book, able to rattle off an (apparently) coherent explanation of the conspiracy and its historical precedents so effectively at the end? And Mr Lee and Uncle Enzo apparently followed, understood as accepted what is really a totally insane plot by Rife?
The way it’s revealed that Hiro and Raven’s fathers were POW together. They seem to both be aware of it and tell each other they know at the same time… when did they both find out?? And why is this not more significant??
Why do we hear nothing of the fates of Reverend Wayne or D4v1d in the final chapters? Many other seemingly important characters have their stories end seemingly without any resolving of earlier plot points too.
Why didn’t Rife just destroy the nam-shub?