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A review by willowbiblio
Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
"It's really only since wireless networks got fast enough to stream pictures to portable devices that everything changed," Enoch said, "and enabled each individual person to live twenty-four/seven in their own personalized hallucination stream."
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I really liked the premise of the book- when people die their consciousness is uploaded into a digital world and that becomes the de factor afterlife. The book really delved into the *how* of this, and at first it was enthralling. Unfortunately, it got so detailed and every single thing was documented that it became a bit of a slog. It took me like 12 days to read this which is uncharacteristically long for me.
I was intrigued by the whole concept of Ameristan- a future portion of America that has become so insanely radicalized by algorithmic disinformation/misinformation that they have become a state unto themselves and a lawless land predicated on religious fundamentalism and the downfall of liberal civilization. Very interesting way it was written and played out.
There was a whole incest plot that I found really unnecessary and sort of gross. There was also a major time shift that happened about 500 pages in, for the last 300 pages. This could have been cool except the society in Bitworld changed dramatically in the interim and so it was really hard to figure out what was even going on. Additionally, the final confrontation was lackluster at best. I found the religious themes to be difficult as it wasn't clear if they were intentionally obvious or trying to be tongue in cheek- they fell flat as a result.
There was one character who was seen as a sort of eccentric in the beginning, but as I got deeper into the development of Bitworld his statements about himself in the real world took on a more believable quality and ultimately led to a bit of "is reality even real" or "which reality is real" thoughts which was a cool trick. This character should have been more of the central drive in this.
In general this had so much promise but the execution was just sorely lacking clear drive and coherence.
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I really liked the premise of the book- when people die their consciousness is uploaded into a digital world and that becomes the de factor afterlife. The book really delved into the *how* of this, and at first it was enthralling. Unfortunately, it got so detailed and every single thing was documented that it became a bit of a slog. It took me like 12 days to read this which is uncharacteristically long for me.
I was intrigued by the whole concept of Ameristan- a future portion of America that has become so insanely radicalized by algorithmic disinformation/misinformation that they have become a state unto themselves and a lawless land predicated on religious fundamentalism and the downfall of liberal civilization. Very interesting way it was written and played out.
There was a whole incest plot that I found really unnecessary and sort of gross. There was also a major time shift that happened about 500 pages in, for the last 300 pages. This could have been cool except the society in Bitworld changed dramatically in the interim and so it was really hard to figure out what was even going on. Additionally, the final confrontation was lackluster at best. I found the religious themes to be difficult as it wasn't clear if they were intentionally obvious or trying to be tongue in cheek- they fell flat as a result.
There was one character who was seen as a sort of eccentric in the beginning, but as I got deeper into the development of Bitworld his statements about himself in the real world took on a more believable quality and ultimately led to a bit of "is reality even real" or "which reality is real" thoughts which was a cool trick. This character should have been more of the central drive in this.
In general this had so much promise but the execution was just sorely lacking clear drive and coherence.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Incest and Murder