karl.tsakos.us/blog

No, I’m not talking about the current weather and it’s disastrous consequences. I’m talking about the book Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson.

This book takes place current day, but not in the world we know now. In this universe, the world economies have collapsed and so has the US government. Military, law enforcement and even the highway systems have been taken over by private enterprise. Functions of society have been taken over by franchises such as the pizza delivery service run by the Mafia. Computer technology is leaps and bounds ahead of our current technology. The Internet is replaced by a place called “the Street, ” which is a virtual world where people interact via their avatars.

As with Mr. Stephenson’s other books (of which I have read one, Cryptonomicon) the action takes place in parallel stories or timelines. In this case, the story is mostly linear but takes place between the real world and the metaverse (the Street).

The stories main characters are the professional computer hacker and aptly named Hiro Protagonist and, a fifteen year old, female skateboard courier named Y.T. After a chance meeting, they become partners collecting intelligence and selling it to the C.I.C. which evolved out of the C.I.A. The intelligence they wind up pursuing and which drives the story is about something called Snow Crash. Snow Crash derives it name from a catastrophic computer system crash that just leave static on the computer display. Snow Crash is a mysterious virtual drug in the metaverse and a drug being sold on the streets of the real world at the same time. I will not ruin the story by telling you any more about what SNow Crash is and it’s implications. Suffice it to say, depending on your mood, it is either a really wild idea or something with an enormous “yeah? right,” factor. If you go with the first option, you are in for a good ride.

You’ll especially enjoy this book if you are a tech head and interested in computer programing. That and history. It is fair to say the Mr. Stephenson tells a very complex story covering many topics and managing to make them relate to one another in unexpected ways. Very much in the way James Burke did with his television series Connections.

One theme that I have noticed caries through in Mr. Stephenson’s books (at least the two I’ve read) is a fascination with World War II. In this story, events from family member’s military experiences during the war help define and drive some of the characters. In Cryptonomicon two parallel stories run throughout the book. One taking place today and the other during the war.

Originally, I was going to compare Niel Stephenson’s writing to sex, starting slowly and building to a climax. But the comparison wouldn’t do justice to the lingering pleasure of sex. No, his story telling is more like an intelligent adult regressing to the mind of a six year old while telling a story. It starts slowly as he establishes the circumstances and creates a rich world for his story to take place. It even progresses well as the stories develop and intermingle. But then, the conclusion is like the six year old who is so excited to tell you the punchline to a joke he skips the whole middle section and blurts it out. And then the story is over.

To be fair, this story did not suffer from that effect as much as Cryptonomicon did. Cryptonomicon was nine hundred of the best pages I’ve ever read. That was followed by Mr. Stephenson’s realization that he could have kept writing forever if he wasn’t careful. The remaining eighteen pages were dissatisfying to say the least. Snow Crash doesn’t suffer that exact problem. In fact, aside from some exposition at times (sort of necessary to explain how the pieces fit together even if the circumstances are a little suspect) the story reaches a climax that makes sense and is in itself, satisfying. But again, it felt like there were loose ends even though every story line was concluded. Just, not concluded satisfactorily.

Perhaps it is that his stories are so complex and involving that they are difficult to concluded. Perhaps as the reader I don’t want them to end and any ending will therefore be a disappointment. I think the truth lies somewhere in between. Either way, I will definitely be reading more of Neil Staphenson’s work in the future and I suggest you do as well.