good
but I know neal stephenson for being long winded, thats not true here.
which I think is fine as we have gained a good pace here and there is a good amount of action and fluff that was cut out for the better. Just great use of not covering the obvious no matter how exciting it is.
IDK how to explain that but so many books would include generic scenes for the sake of continuity but here its cut for the better.

BUT

there are about 3 instances that could have used more
1 - the tech could have used the deep dive I have expected from this author
2 - more explanation of a character relation or two
3 - the simplicity of the conspiracy could have used a deeper dive

A quite long book that had an inconsistency of pace. Pretty sure I could pick the sections when Mr Stephenson was on a roll, despite it being dual authored. A nice finish, clever central plot idea. A chilling foretaste very near the end, of grounded aircraft, of things to come for real in 2001...

The other collaboration between these two authors, Cobweb, was a thriller with a message: the US government doesn't work anymore. "Ordinary" folks are the only people who get things done, usually despite the government.

Interface is also a thriller with a message: Elections don't work anymore, either. This is because of television. It takes a similar technical and stylistic approach; "ordinary" folks turn out to be really important, humour that people will recognise from Stephenson's solo novels, though less extreme or outlandish, perhaps. Unfortunately it also shares some of the weaknesses of those giant later works, e.g. too many characters, lack of urgency or narrative drive and, crucially, not much tension until exceedingly near the end. This is disappointing, since Cobweb evades most of these problems and delivers a tense final act. Even more disappointing, in that Zodiac demonstrates that at one time Stephenson could write taught, exciting fiction as well as make a point, without help from anybody else - but we're not likely to see another book from him that is less than 400p long, are we? And I just can't be bothered with another of his 1000p tomes.

Reading this book is a healthy reminder of how such manipulation is conducted, on a practical level but readers are not offered much by way of a solution to the problems of media manipulation of/by politicians in this book. I offer one idea as a way of mitigating the problem to some limited extent: don't watch TV news, ever. Listen to talk radio news, instead - by which I mean the BBC or (second best) NPR.

Boy, has this book aged badly.

Its premise, "a group of shadowy rich men decide to run a third-party candidate to take over the US to ensure it pays its debt" is just so needlessly complex, when the reality of US history was that "a group of shadowy rich men bought themselves all of the Republican party and most of the Democratic party". It also ignores the immense power of tribalism and first-past-the-post electoral system combined with the electoral college (a "US presidential elections" book that ignores the Electoral College seems just plain naive in the 21st century).

As a cherry on the top it makes a throwaway reference to "post-greenhouse effect Illinois" being much warmer than in the childhood of one of the main characters, but the rest of the world remains unchanged by climate catastrophe.

(When I read it for the first time more than a decade ago I liked it so much more)

Classic weird Neal Stephenson book that goes into an absurd amount of detail in the middle but is overall pretty good. Got off to a slow start, slapped by the end. Definitely some characters that I had no idea how they would connect that all managed to connect by the end, like those Otto and Othis people living in the middle of Oklahoma. Definitely slapped by the end. Wild ending, shoutout to Eleanor Richmond for having some great monologues. Better than the Big U, worse than Seveneves (but only by a little bit)

First up: this does not read just like a Stephenson novel, the influence of George is really clear, which gives a different type of cadence to the story.
Still, a very gripping read. As far as the scifi part goes, the "written in 1994" sticker checks out. Rapid construction, brain interfaces, all good. Some part of the political checks out too: intrigue, big money, shadowy influences, looking fine.

But how it all unfolds? That's... eerily contemporary. Usurping an election with a private army made up of offensive linebackers? Uhm, who's the good guys here again?

This was very well written and had some interesting ideas about the brain, but it was mostly a story about politics and shadowy groups controlling the country. But it was way, way too long, and meandered way off track way too often. With a good editor, this would have been a really good book.

This is an enjoyable political thriller with an SF slant but I think it's a bit longer than it needs to be.
I felt it took too long to get going and with some judicious editing it could have been shortened without losing anything.
The story is set in present day (90s) America but the plot is dependent on a very interesting technological concept, which is what gives it the science fiction edge. An unfortunate result of the author's desire to write a technology led story is that the real life technological references really stand out and date the story: faxes; car phones and plasma screens are some of the tech that is commodified for effect and that have really aged since the book was written. This is obviously something that's very hard to avoid but in this instance the effect was exaggerated.
Some things which haven't dated are the concepts around political campaigning. I'm not sure how accurate the election in the story is but the I felt the ideas around how the election campaigns identify target demographics was enormously prescient. With all the scandals of dark ads on facebook and other social media using user data to identify and target specific types of people this novel really does touch on something relevant today; even though the mechanics of how it's done in the novel are completely different.
The technology at the heart of the story, which I won't describe, is something which could be used for so much good but what we see is a mysterious elite taking it and perverting it for their own gain.
Out of a number of interesting people I thought the most interesting was Vishniak. He presents two sets of contrasting characteristics which feel like they don't belong in the same person but, in fact, they work very well to create a confused and troubled antagonist. Firstly, he is an unintelligent, unemployed loser; but he then demonstrates some real insight into the mechanics of the election. Secondly, later in the novel, he is clearly insane and yet his 'paranoiac' suspicions are correct. It's like he's driven mad by what he knows; the decisions he makes are definitely crazy and yet there's still a clear logic to them and that logic is based around a delusion which is actually 'fact'. Very clever dynamics in the way that is written and a concept which is very close to my heart.
One aspect of the novel which didn't ring quite so true for me was a number of characters who seem to do too much on their own. The father and son who seem to manage trillions in investments on their own is the best example of this. They're a good couple of quirky characters to create an interesting sub-plot but the way they operate lacks credibility; maybe partly because they're still working from paper ticker-tapes! Eleanor Richmond is another character whose character arc shouldn't ring true but maybe Stephenson was on to something with her too: We see all to often people become hugely famous in a very short space of time in this internet age. Who knows how far that will take someone one day.
So, long read but not overly taxing. Starts slowly but speeds up and it examines a number of very relevant concepts. You don't need to be into science fiction to enjoy this novel.

One of my favorites.

Turning politics into funny sci-fi

As improbable as it looks like, reading about the American electoral process to choosing the next President was anything but boring. On the contrary, as the reader advances through the pages, the story unfolds into a riveting thriller, a page turner that will take the less disciplined among the readers into the wee hours of morning as they seek to reach the outcome of the story which, by the way, reserves a never ending stream of unexpected surprises, the one more mind blowing than the previous, a most gratifying and enjoyable experience indeed if fun reading is your goal.

Enjoyable, but more of a political- rather than a techno-thriller. Also, were fax machines ever that cool?

William Cozzano is a popular governor, who following a stroke become the perfect presidential candidate because after surgery installing two biochips in his head to help him regain use of the areas damaged by the stroke, he is, unbeknownst to him adn most people, being fed the mood of the electorate so he knows what to say, do and act. Basically he's been controlled by people working for a group who ensures their candidates win elections, but this time with new technology. There are a number of characters to root for, and a number to hate.

Written in the 1990s, and sort of set somewhere in there, this is a political, scifi thriller. I really didn't expect to like it, particularly in presidential election year, but I did. It's 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.