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doxy_cycline 's review for:
Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
I just finished Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which was written in 1992 and describes a futuristic version of the continental United States that is sometimes weirdly prescient and sometimes ridiculous. The internet is described in a way that tracks with what it's become today (a space in every way except the physical where you can be admired for who you are or what you've done there, despite your real circumstances, personality, skills, occupation) but remains obsessed with the idea of physical space and the interaction of physical bodies and how time governs those interactions. My favorite part of reading this book was the worldbuilding. My least favorite part of reading this book was whenever it attempted to explain that worldbuilding instead of just observe it.
This book actually does a lot of explaining of the mechanisms of its main plot, attempts to give workable reasons for everything that happens, and I think that's the only place it really loses me. The plot of this book is insane. It's one of those things that, if you look too closely at it, instead of revealing its elementary pieces just stops making sense altogether. Like looking at muscle tissue under a microscope and finding out the cells are just ground up bits of wet newspaper. This book really lulled me with the prettiness of its muscle tissue on a x40 magnification. I wish we'd spent more time there and less time at x400. Every page at x400 felt many times as long as other pages and I don't think I got much in return for reading them.
The worldbuilding allows some really amazing things to be done with the writing. There are some unforgettable sentences in here detailing action that wouldn't be possible in another world. In this world, it happens every ten pages and each time it's sort of effortlessly badass, understated, relaxed. The two main characters are the same. I enjoyed them both. This was a long book and it felt like it, but I'm glad I read it and I hope to take something from how it was written.
This book actually does a lot of explaining of the mechanisms of its main plot, attempts to give workable reasons for everything that happens, and I think that's the only place it really loses me. The plot of this book is insane. It's one of those things that, if you look too closely at it, instead of revealing its elementary pieces just stops making sense altogether. Like looking at muscle tissue under a microscope and finding out the cells are just ground up bits of wet newspaper. This book really lulled me with the prettiness of its muscle tissue on a x40 magnification. I wish we'd spent more time there and less time at x400. Every page at x400 felt many times as long as other pages and I don't think I got much in return for reading them.
The worldbuilding allows some really amazing things to be done with the writing. There are some unforgettable sentences in here detailing action that wouldn't be possible in another world. In this world, it happens every ten pages and each time it's sort of effortlessly badass, understated, relaxed. The two main characters are the same. I enjoyed them both. This was a long book and it felt like it, but I'm glad I read it and I hope to take something from how it was written.