Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
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Book Reviews of Cryptonomicon
Book Review: Biased Reviewer Loves This
Summary: 5 Stars
Two notes before you read this review:1) I simply don't give out 5 star reviews often. If you look at my history, you'll see that. I feel that far too many Amazon.com reviewers give out 5 star reviews all the time, and once a book is awash in laudatory reviews, it's almost impossible to tell if it's really good, or simply draws a lot of fans to tappity-tap in gushing reviews. If you see what I mean.
2) I love Neal Stephenson. I would read pretty much anything by him. I acknowledge that he's put out some stinkers ("The Big U," anyone?), but I love his stuff. If he put out another stinker, I wouldn't be blind to it's stinkiness, but this ain't a stinker.
If you're still reading, here's the deal: this is a wonderful book. I don't know that I'd stack it on the top of a pile of "Great 20th Century Literature," but I'd sure as hell read it again rather than plow through, say, Faulkner. Some have compared this to "Gravity's Rainbow," and while I understand the comparison--Pynchon and Stephenson both have a tendency to "riff;" sort of the authorial equivalent of Robin Williams going off on a comedy tangent--Stephenson's prose is for me far more accessible. Perhaps it's an age thing; Stephenson and I are of an age (born rather than coming of age in the 60s). As some say, perhaps you have to be of that age and a nerd. I dunno. But I love his stuff.
There's almost too much in this book to discuss, but in short, there are two intertwined stories: one set in WWII, and involving a literal ship-load of gold; and one set in the 1999 present, and involving a virtual ship-load of gold. The inter-relationship of the characters is nicely done, if perhaps a bit forced. The inter-twining of the stories is pretty jarring at first, but one becomes accustomed to it. And the settings (corporate geekdome during the heyday of the internet boom; various WWII locales) are for me fascinating. But then I'm a geek who lived through the internet boom, and I'm rivited by WWII. If you aren't, you should probably give it a pass.
Finally, to me the language is a delight. Does it slow the story down considerably to read a 3 page dissertation on eating Cap'n Crunch? Or an encounter between a Marine and a bunch of Japanese soldiers in a sushi bar just prior to Pearl Harbor? Or a comparison on the relative skill and courage required to either pull seriously impacted wisdom teeth vs. take a major relationship risk? Or read about the formulae required to fairly divide up Granny's valuable antique furniture so as to take into account both its monetary and emotional value? Hell yes. But it's damn wonderful all the same. Not to mention hilarious.
If any of this sounds funny, or interesting, or potentially entertaining to you, give it a go; you won't be dissapointed. If it doesn't, heck, give it a miss; there's plenty of good books out there. Few as good as this one *for me*, but you're not me, so judge for yourself.
Book Review: Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
Cryptonomicon is one of those novels that wouldn't be out of place on a bookshelf next to classic epic stories like the Odyssey or the Iliad. Its grand, sweeping plots encompassing two time periods coupled with its realistic yet slightly superheroic characters create a unique experience that many of today's so-called "epics" lack. The hero journeys of the follow-orders-at-all-costs Bobby Shaftoe, the scary-brilliant Lawrence Waterhouse, and the forward-thinking entrepreneurs Avi and Randy twist and weave across the ages with precision and guile. Along the way, these heroes encounter other larger-than-life characters -- a conflicted Japanese soldier/digger, a pontificating immortal, General MacArthur -- further fleshing out the already three-dimensional story. And interspersed throughout everything is gold, glorious gold. Truly epic!
Is it for everyone, though? No. The sheer size of the novel alone will present a daunting challenge to even the hardiest of readers. Throw into the mix heavy doses of (sometimes subtle) sarcasm and pages-long ramblings on subjects seemingly unrelated to any aspect of the story, and some readers may find themselves throwing the book across the room. If you don't care about why men grow beards, or the extraction of some obscenely impacted wisdom teeth, or why Athena was really the goddess of technology, you may find yourself with some dented walls. But if you can stomach the following: "The uppers were so deep in his skull that the roots were twined around the parts of his brain responsible for perceiving the color blue (on one side) and being able to suspend one's disbelief in bad movies (on the other) and between these teeth and actual air, light and saliva lay many strata of skin, meat, cartilage, major nerve-cables, brain-feeding arteries, bulging caches of lymph nodes, girders and trusses of bone, rich marrow that was working just fine thank you, a few glands whose function were unsettlingly poorly understood, and many of the other things that made Randy Randy, all of these definitely falling into the category of sleeping dogs," you'll be just fine.
Is Cryptonomicon perfect? Sadly, no. At times it feels as if the plot is getting away from Stephenson and he has to kick it back into place. Whole huge periods of time pass in narration, not action. An entire trek into the jungle to find a mysterious location is recounted by Randy in an email. And, of course, as has been expressed in other reviews here, the ending comes on way too quick. But fortunately these incidents are few and far between and do not cause great distractions from the already sprawling plot. Even the ending, upon reflection, feels appropriate in the context of the entire novel.
All in all, it takes a quirky personality to love Cryptonomicon. But if you're one of these unique individuals, be prepared for a wild ride.
Book Review: One of my all-time favorites
Summary: 5 Stars
+Had read little science fiction.
+Knew nothing about cryptography.
+Lost my math aptitude somewhere between trig & calculus.
+Was too late for baby booming and too early for on-line gaming.
+And my image of a "cyberpunk" was a bald-headed-by-choice, multiple tattooed, vampire-skinned, ninja-attituded computer super-genius who would laugh at my slow-brained, old-fashioned approach to the world.
But my father served in WWII ... and I was intrigued by code breaking. So when a friend recommended a book with a name so hard to pronounce I made her write it down and with pages of War & Peace like numbers, I decided it was worth a try. I'm still amazed I did.
And I am equally thankful as Cryptonomicon (a name that now rolls off my tongue) is in my top ten favorite books. I bought one copy as a gift, and gave my own cherished copy to a friend b/c I didn't want him to chance not getting around to buying it.
Though oft' overstated in reviews (yet before stated not at all by me) I find Cryptonomicon a modern piece of literature, essential especially for the male reader between the ages of 20 and 50. (No letters please - as indeed it was a woman who originally passed the book on to me). But past the testosterone -satisfying war story, the non-stop action thriller and the intellectual pleasure of learning about (and pretending to understand)the world of cyber technology, I found myself touched by this thought: had I been a contemporary of my teenage father during WWII ... or were my future son my contemporary today ... we would have been life-long friends.
It's not an easy read as the cyberpunk language is as difficult to follow as is understanding the genius of the "original" code makers and breakers of the 1930s & '40's. And the stores jump (pre-Da Vinci Code) back and forth between World War II and modern day. But I loved both trying to follow the math and yielding my respect to those who could. And as much as I hated leaving off one time period's story at chapter's end, one page later I would be reminded that it was THIS time period's tale I most enjoyed.
And so:
If you are a cyber punk, my apologies for past ignorance.
If you love a good adventure with intrigue, mystery, sex, math puzzles (understandable and not), codes (solvable and not), then you'll be trilled that this book lasts for as many pages as it does.
If you are a father or a son, this may touch you in ways that may surprise you.
And as for me, I no longer think in terms of generation gaps, for after reading Cryptonomicon I have decided that the only differences between Generations X or Y and with The Greatest Generation ... are smaller chips and a larger acceptance of respect for information.
Book Review: Approach Cryptonomicon armed with time and intelligence
Summary: 5 Stars
Let's rewrite Lord of the Rings cryptonomiconically:
When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announces that he will shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there is much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.
Immediately, there is some tension, because the author's narration is set in present tense. Now, continuous use of present tense is tedious and stressful, except for Silverberg's 150 - 200 pages nano novels. So, what would it feel like if it was 900 pages in small type? Probably like a poor reader's Iron Maiden, crushing his mind as he's crying out to God to help him move through this.
And amazingly, this is what we have in Cryptonomicon. Prayers answered, God who comes in many shapes, has now arrived in the shape of Neal Stephenson, living and working in Seattle, where I am sure he can be seen from Mexico, scratching his divine beard at NEO sitting on his 80 kilometer swivel chair.
After a certain amount of pages (mote in God's eye: a rather large amount of pages), you'll stop worrying about the present tense and focus on the characters.
Now, the characters. Reviewers who get 400 out 400 useful remarks have already described them in length, pointing out the connection with the writer's baroque cycles etc. I only want to humbly add that I found I cared for all 4 of the main characters in this weird Stephenson tarot deck, the Cryptanalyst, the Soldier, the Engineer and the Nerd (well, yes, the Immortal as well). And as I passed more days with them, I found I cared more and more about them, something that happens less and less with more and more pages of lesser writers. I was also satisfied by the Athena/Mars underlying motive and the grayscale amount of the heroes, the good guys/bad guys' line blurred with craft seldom found elsewhere.
Mote in God's eye number 2: Too many similes in the first half of the novel. Apart from never reaching the "shall I compare you to a summer's day?" originality, all those attempts to say "X is like Z" feel more like insecure or inexperienced writers' ways to point out how smart and brilliant they are. The fact is, that we know this. Otherwise, an Amazon reader called Neal Stephenson would be commenting on Adman's latest novel. So, really, we don't need those "I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park" similes (which happens to be not from Cryptonomicon, but from the 3-d movie "Cars", so you know what I mean). However, at around page 300 Stephenson either realized the simile blunder or lifted to the godlike status described before and removed the mote.
Finally: not a book for everybody. You must approach Cryptonomicon armed with time, intelligence and perhaps a basic (but no more) understanding of computers and mathematics. 5 stars.
Book Review: Difficult Book to Review
Summary: 4 Stars
It would be hard for somebody who hasn't read this book to gain a decent understanding of it just by reading the reviews and summaries found here. If you want to understand what this book is about, read it. The scope of it is far too wide for anyone to generalize it. That being said, I'll give it my best shot.
Cryptonomicon is long and arduous. It's more of an epic than anything I've ever read, including the epic poem "The Odyssey." It takes more than a modicum of effort to finish AND understand it. I still don't believe I got everything out of it that Stephenson intended but I'm happy with the end result. If you're not a mathematician or computer whiz, there are substantial parts of the book that will at the least bore you, and at the most make you feel stupid. Stephenson delves into such areas like number theory, the Riemann Hypothesis, cryptography and Information Security for 20-30 pages at certain points. One can certainly understand the book without being knowledgable in these areas, but those that have studied them will be rewarded with some insightful discussion. The story itself is very unique and entertaining. There are, of course, some parts that are more interesting and exciting than others but each one contributes to the overall effect of the book. What the plot boils down to is this: Randy Waterhouse is a computer geek living in the present. He is part owner of a company called Epiphyte Corp. Randy's grandfather, Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, was a code-breaker for the Allies during WWII, working mainly on codes emanating from the Eastern part of the world. Bobby Shaftoe is part of a classified Army unit whose sole purpose is to hunt down Nazi U-boats and ships and sink them. Amy Shaftoe is the grand-daughter of Bobby Shaftoe and owner of a marine excavation company in the Phillipines. She joins forces with Randy Waterhouse to build a free "data haven" in the Phillipines that would revolutionize the way we use computers. Goto Dengo is a Japanese soldier with a skill for digging big holes. Enoch Root is an enigmatic priest with an obscure past and a unique relationship to every other character in the book. Eventually all of these peoples' stories merge in the Phillipines because of some Nazi gold that may or may not be there and the reader discovers why Stephenson went to such great lengths earlier in the book to describe certain details.
The only thing about this book that I have a problem with is the ending. It's not bad but I felt that the author could have rewarded the reader with a little more after the reader endured 1100+ pages to get to that point. It doesn't leave anything unanswered but it does leave a little to be desired. However, those may just be my feelings of despair after actually finishing the book.