Straight up, I did not like this book.

It’s not quite worthy of the one star treatment, though, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because the actual construction of his sentences, the literal writing, is not bad. Second, because the underlying story remains one I think interesting to explore in book form. And third, because I truly believe that one star ratings should be reserved for books that really go beyond the pale in their awfulness, not just slapping that on there because I didn’t happen to like them.

I know Snow Crash belongs in this category, even though I do believe my criticisms of it are legitimate, because many, many of my friends (who are intelligent people with good taste) love this book. Sometimes books and readers just do not go together, for no explainable reason. The chemistry isn’t there*, and you can’t force it.

*What’s interesting about this is that sometimes you go back to a book you either loved or hated at one time, and the chemistry has changed, and so does your reaction to the book. Pride and Prejudice remains the single best example of this phenomenon for me. I hated that book the first three times I tried to read it. Found it utterly incomprehensible. Then I picked it back up years later for a class and fell instantly in love.

It also may be helpful to note that I read this book in audio form, and rather quickly came to the conclusion that the problems I had with it were aggravated by the process of listening. The story, which was coming across as disjointed and confusing, and which featured characters I did not connect with at all, felt even more distant and hard to connect to because I was listening to it rather than digesting the words with my eyeballs. (The narrator isn’t great, either, and the direction/sound production is super weird, with all these chimes and random vocalizations separating chapters and sections. The quality of the audio is pretty poor; it’s muddy and full of white noise. But the recording was made rather a long time ago, so I suppose that’s not really its fault.)

For me, though, this book lost me entirely in its execution. After the first three chapters, Stephenson had me hooked with interesting concepts and a world I felt he never fleshed out enough. I never cared about any of the characters or what was going on. Most of the book was dense in a not fun way, and confusing in a way that made me not care very much at all to try to unravel the webs it was spinning. Character relationships are weak and built on the thinnest of threads. Scenes end abruptly and there are almost no transitions. A large portion of the book relies on some super weird connections that Stephenson makes between ancient Sumerian languages, mythology, religion, computers, and viruses, and he doesn’t do a good enough job explaining it so that it becomes something plausible that might happen in the world he created. Believing the explanation of the main plot in this book as a reader felt to me like being asked to jump from street level to the top of a thirty story building. No fire escapes, no cars to jump from, no ladders or levers or those weird platforms painters and window cleaners use in the movies. And it was too much for me.

About twenty percent in to the book, I realized I wasn’t going to connect with it and just wanted it to be over already, but I pushed through, hoping things would change. And even if they didn’t, I don’t like not finishing books. So I sped up the speed of the audio to 1.5x, then 2x, then 2.5x, until the narrator was speaking chipmunk gibberish. Even doing this*, it still took me almost two months to finish.

*The human brain is amazing. I can’t believe I could listen to that book at 2.5x speed and still understand every word.

I have been told that other Neal Stephenson books are much better and more accessible than this one. I do eventually plan on picking up more of his stuff, and I hope it’s just a case of wrong book, wrong reader and not wrong author, wrong reader. That would be sad. I hate missing out on a party, especially if it's one full of nerds.

After 70 pages, I'm not getting along with this book, so off to the charity shop it goes. The prospect of reading 500 more pages is too much to bear.

I expected this to be bizarre. I was not disappointed!

In the past I have not had much luck with Cyberpunk. While I did enjoy this one more than my previous experiences, I still don’t think it will be a genre that I will generally go out of my way to read. It is just a little but too out there, to the point of being a chore to push through, from time to time.

This book goes from cinematic action to humor to religious philosophy to computer hacking to mafia violence with great abandon. In discussing this with my book club we had to clarify timelines and how one chapter might relate to another because of the fuzzy jumps in the plot. But, then I would find giant sections of great and extremely interesting clarity. It really did keep me on my toes!

I am not sure who I might recommend this to because I don’t think I know anyone that I would point at and say “yeah, this book is so you!” But, it is considered a modern classic, so it may come up in book discussions and it might be worth having it as a point of reference between you and your book buddies. But, be warned, I feel like the majority might find it to be a bit of a chore and lose interest quickly.

This was our book club read for February and I tried but didn't get very far into it. Right off the bat the writing style annoyed me. Why drop the first word off your sentences? This was just not what I was expecting and just not for me.

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince.

Not one person in the book club liked this book. I think we all may have just zeroed in on that opening line in the book's description and thought it sounded interesting. Personally I know I would rather the book had just stuck with the Pizza mafia theme - it sounded kind of kooky and fun. Instead the whole premise ended up being way too unbelievable even for a fantasy/sci-fi type book.

I ended up getting all the spoilers from my friend so I wouldn't have to finish the book. I have to add that I have an issue with the way a 15 year old girl is portrayed in the book. Needless to say, this was a disappointing read.

Review also posted at Writings of a Reader

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash is a science fiction novel by American writer Neal Stephenson, published in 1992.

Like many of Stephenson's novels, it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics and philosophy.

Hiro Protagonist is a hacker and pizza delivery driver for the Mafia.

He meets Y.T. (short for Yours Truly), a young skateboard Kourier (courier) who refers to herself in the third person, during a failed attempt to make a delivery on time.

Y.T. completes the delivery on his behalf and they strike up a partnership, gathering intel and selling it to the CIC, the for-profit organization that evolved from the CIA's merger with the Library of Congress.

Within the Metaverse, Hiro is offered a datafile named Snow Crash by a man named Raven who hints that it is a form of narcotic.

Hiro's friend and fellow hacker Da5id views a bitmap image contained in the file which causes his computer to crash and Da5id to suffer brain damage in the real world.

Hiro meets his ex-girlfriend Juanita Marquez, who gives him a database containing a large amount of research compiled by her associate, Lagos.

his research posits connections between the virus, ancient Sumerian culture, and the legend of the Tower of Babel. Juanita advises him to be careful and disappears. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش

عنوان: برفک؛ نویسنده: نیل استیونسون (استیونسن)؛ مترجم: پیمان اسماعیلیان؛ تهران؛ نشر باژ؛ 1399؛ در 534ص؛ شابک 9786222192570؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20م

رمان «برفک» در «سبک سایبرپانک (نوعی بازی)» است که ایده های خوشایندی درباره ی چگونگی کارکرد زبان، مغز انسان، و همانندی آن با زبانهای برنامه نویسی و دنیای کامپیوتر دارد؛ رمان سایبرپانک «برفک» داستانی از آمریکای سده ی بیست و یکم میلادی و هکری نوجوان که تئوری جهانی زبانی (زبان) چامسکی را واکاوی می‌کند، و آن را به تار و پود دنیای دیوانه و مجازی‌اش راه می‌دهد، تئوری‌ای که یکی از رکن‌های اصلی آن این است که ذهن انسان ساختاری فیزیکی و ذاتی برای تشخیص و یادگیری زبان دارد

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 16/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

3½ out of 5 stars

This is one of those books you should read with a group. There's a lot to dissect and you'll wish you had people to discuss it with. I read it for a book club and was amazed at people's reactions to all the different things thrown into the story. My little group had many interesting discussions and one that got us kicked out of a cafe. Not because of anything we said, more because of how loud we got. So perhaps this book isn't the best for public spaces.

The story opens with a high-octane pizza delivery chase scene that could very well give you whiplash. The whirlwind pace of the narration doesn't last though—fortunately or unfortunately? It slows down to a more manageable speed after establishing an adequate sense of the world, and then it moves on to expanding characters and plot lines.

The world of Snow Crash is set in a near-apocalyptic future that's entrenched in corruption and violence and controlled by technology. Much of the world is divided into segregated enclaves, many of them run by global corporations and interest groups—sounds familiar, yes? Everything is highly controlled and regulated, except for the groups in power doing all the controlling and regulating. Entering new enclaves without proper documentation can get a person shot on the spot.

Main events kick off with Hiro Protagonist—ha ha—on his way to deliver a pizza in record time or else. Like borders, pizza is also a serious business run by the mob in this world. Everything is serious business in this world, though very tongue in cheek. The pizza delivery sequence lasts about a couple of chapters and then the story moves online to the metaverse—live-action internet—and onto the mystery that is Snow Crash.

Snow Crash is a virus that renders systems, both virtual and physiological, incapacitated after an individual comes into direct contact with it. Someone, or a group of someones, has been sending this virus out, via decoys in the metaverse, to take out high-profile hackers.

There's a huge conspiracy simmering at the heart of this story because that's what happens in stories about impending apocalypse. I won't even attempt to sum up the rest of story, mostly because I'm not sure what to make of it.

The tone is very...there's certainly a late-80s/early-90s feel to it. If you recall blue chip technology and the early days of the internet with fond memories, you'll enjoy the early chapters. They bring back a certain "charm" I associate with that era.

Most of the fun of reading this book is in Stephenson's use of language, which gives rise to a romping narrating style. He made up most, if not all, of the metaverse lingo, and I think he even predicted how we'd speak of the internet, about the internet, in the internet, while on the internet. If the narration had kept the speed and rhythm of the pizza delivery scene going throughout the story, this easily would have been a 5-star rating. Easily. Because any book that can maintain such a pace for 470 pages while telling a somewhat coherent story deserves a standing ovation.

On the other hand, info dumps, info dumps everywhere. This book is essentially a series of info-dumps squeezed into a story about IT and inherent systems failure. Stephenson's version of a near-apocalyptic world is hilarious on the surface, but once you delve deeper into the story, you'll see he's raised a lot of fundamental issues to the surface. He doesn't specifically take a stand on anything, I don't think, and lets readers come to their own conclusions. I can't say what these issues/narratives are exactly because, from my book club experience (screaming matches and all), interpretations vary across readers and individual experiences. Everyone takes something away from the story, and we pick and choose the issues that stand out most to us. The linguistic hook was what reeled me in; everything else was just a bonus.

This story doesn't actually have an ending. It just cuts off abruptly. Just something to kept in mind. Made me think I bought a defective copy.

Flash and gimmicks aside, is this book worth reading? Yes, I think so. Highly recommended for when you're stuck at the airport or family functions, or stuck anywhere really, and you want the hours to fly by.

It's important to know an author's political standings/leanings/inklings/opinions/involvement before diving into a text. I would've liked to know where Stephenson stands on immigration because context, especially in light of a story such as this, is everything.

Also, there's no denying this book is a nerd power ballad.

Cross-posted over at
https://covers2covers.wordpress.com/2...

More like 4.5 since the story is always kind of secondary in Stephenson's books. Apart from that, every time I read something of his My brain feels like it has gotten a jolt of adrenaline and a triple cappuccino, waking it from the muddle of books that have tried and obviously succeeded in putting me in a slight coma....
I think many of us make the mistake of reading a genre of books that makes us feel good to such a degree, that we get "immune" to it, develop a tolerance and start missing the very things that make that genre so endearing to us. I remember a time in the early 90's when cyber-punk was almost the only thing I would read, and at one point everything started reading the same, putting me off of the field for a really long time. I have gone through similar periods with historical romance, erotica, bondage, fantasy, history, and as of late, urban fantasy.... I love examples of every one of those fields, but have found that if I am immersed in one of them, boredom with the same starts to creep in and I lose perspective. Thus, if I mix-in a totally different book, written in a different time and stile, it tends to remind me how much I love other things as well, making my return to the previous books once more enjoyable.
My 5 star rating could be attributed to the enjoyment of the differences this book gave me, but I rather think it has more to do with the ton of information one can always count on when reading Neal S. books. This always detracts form the story, but in a popular field overwhelmed by story and character driven entries, those which offer fact and logic "info-dumps" with outlandish theories and implausible plot-lines seem like the thorn bush in a vase of Dasie's! It is different, uncomfortable and utterly welcome:) Now I just have to be careful not to flood my brain with only thorn-bushes...

I found this book to be highly original in its ideas and it is frequently very humorous. I enjoyed the story and the main characters especially Hiro and Y.T. However I was totally lost by the endless chapters of information about linguistics and religion. The idea of presenting these info dumps as a conversation between Hiro and the librarian helped especially when there were occasional moments of humour. In fact the librarian is a great character! However there was far, far too much for me and I had to do some skimming. Quite a lot of skimming actually. So only three stars for me although I will certainly try another of this author's books.

This book is great, if you can bring yourself to ignore its central premise, which I won't spoil here.* And it's surprisingly easy to ignore, aside from a 20-or-so page infodump near the middle of the book, because there's so much other good stuff: a giant raft full of desperate refugees and religious fanatics; skateboards whose wheels have retractable spokes that make riding over obstacles and potholes easier (who hasn't wanted one of these?); TRON-style virtual motorcycle races; a Mafia boss named Uncle Enzo who's for some reason one of my favorite sci fi characters; swordfights, boat chases, and other unashamedly kickass action scenes; guard dogs' souls transported into supersonic attack robots; and, of course, the occasional nice turn of phrase.

When I read this type of book, I tend to focus on small details that seem eerily prescient, rather than big ones. Yes, Stephenson did come up with a reasonable guess at what the Internet may well one day resemble. But I'm less interested in that than I am in, say, the concept of Gargoyles. Gargoyles are agents - I think they can have any number of different jobs or tasks or goals - who go about in public, in the real world, attached umbilically to their computers. Thus, they can instantly access any number of different resources, like their Google Earth equivalent, or their Wikipedia equivalent. And do. Very similar to a person in our world who will whip out their smartphone at the slightest provocation, whether to settle a dispute, to text message someone not present, or, hell, to make a move in Scrabble, depending on how interesting present company is. This parallel isn't the clever part, though; anyone could have probably guessed that this would eventually happen. The clever part is that in Snow Crash, everyone thinks these Gargoyles are assholes. Just like in real life!

*Actually, fuck it: the gist is that ancient Sumerian was basically assembly language for humans, allowing them to be controlled by incantation, and Sumerian is making a comeback in the form of a religious cult. As lame as it is ridiculous. But don't let it stop you from reading the book.

Great read, and yet unfortunately not my kind of novel. I guess cyberpunk just isn't my thing, but hey, I had to give it a try to find out, right?

And ultimately, I'm glad I did. After finishing Snow Crash, I totally understand why this book is considered Stephenson's greatest classic. Awesome characters, awesome world, and especially awesome concepts/philosophies. I just wish I had a little more interest in some of the latter, but I could still grasp and recognize their merits and appreciate them for that alone.

For obvious reasons it was hard for me to become fully immersed in the novel, but between bouts of ambivalence there were definitely some high points which had me riveted. If nothing else, I found this book fascinating and fun.

The Reviewerator (A review of Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson)

The Reviewerator doesn't deal in "likes". Likes were a currency of a pre-hypernet economy that had critically undervalued reviews of cyberpunk novels, pizza delivery, and a US president who could argue tax policy with eight golf balls in his mouth. (The candidate who tried nine died swiftly during the debate. His death was one of honor in this new hypernet world.)

No, the Reviewerator does not need your "likes", your "comments", nor your approval. He does, however, need the small aerosol pistol taped to the bottom of his laptop. It sprays potpourri, which for some strange reason, those who are not hip to the hypernet economy are fatally allergic to.

The Reviewerator types this review faster than the top speed of the new Mercedes sonic cars. It's said that one of these new sonic cars can make from New York to Seatle in three "seconds". A "second" as a measurement is also a relic of the pre-hypernet economy. The Reviewerator knows that this review can travel back in time, to a time when the "internet" was still considered revolutionary and that virus that was (anti)social media, i.e. pre-hyper tribalism, was still trying to be understood by small pre-genetically enhanced human brains.

The Reviewerator DGAF what the consequences of this breach of the Non-Time Travel Through Book Review Accords (the NTTTBRA for short) does to his credit score. What he GAF about is that his review rocks like the clone of Tim Curry singing "Sweet Tranvestite" with background music from the hybridized clones of Megadeth and Black Sabbath, sonic waves so rad that the President's head explodes throwing eight golf balls at the various ambassadors to the Hyper-Supertribalized United Nations of the world.

The Reviewerator speeds toward the end of this review without stopping ask "how" are "why" questions -- the illogical stop signs of a pre-hyperdigitized age.

The Reviewerator reviews books. Period.

Thanks, Neal Stephenson.

Моє знайомство з кіберпанком почалося з одночасного читання  Нейроманта, Снігопаду та  Спалити Хром. Першою я завершив збірку оповідань Ґібсона Спалити Хром, але далі вольовим зусиллям вирішив дочитати спершу Стівенсона, щоб зосередитися на трилогії Ґібсона.

І отримав дуже змішані враження. З одного боку, чітко видно кіберпанковість "Снігопаду". Неолібералізм настільки розійшовся, що й держав не існує, а те, що залишилося від США - це ще одна корпорація. Бо світом керують франшизи, які активно ворогують. І, ясна річ, є сумішшю легального та нелегального. Взагалі, тканина соціального дуже розірвалася - і нема не те, що держав, навіть міст: вони розпалися на окремі квартали - з власною охороною та громадянством. Стівенсон називає їх міськлавами. І, звісно ж, всі ці франшизи міцно переплетені з криміналом, а тому - наркотиками. І до цього треба додати кіберпростір, тобто інтернет.

З іншого боку, Стівенсон пише пародію на кіберпанк. Всі наведені вище деталі в нього перебільшені, доведені ледь не до абсурду. І деколи вони просто не тримаються цілісності. Якщо нема держав, то хто випускає валюту? Хто забезпечує її купівельну спроможність? Як взагалі можливий вільний інтернет, де франшизи відсутні? Адже якраз тут вони і мали б розгулятися. Власне, ця пародійність проривається і в тому, що Стівенсон раптом ототожнює людський мозок та процесор комп'ютера. Як можна хакнути комп'ютер, так само можна хакнути і людську нервову систему.

Власне, цим роман Стівенсона гарно ілюструє показує злет і падіння / велич і злидні самого жанру кіберпанку. Якщо  Нейромант позначає його початок, то виданий через 8 років Снігопад - це вже вичерпання. Для Стівенсона кіберпанк - це просто декорації. Декорації, в яких можна розповісти свою історію. І головне, що ця історія жодним чином не стосується реальності. Натомість Ґібсонівський кіберпанк - дуже реальний / футурологічний. В його центрі питання: як людина має вживатися з новими технологіями, якщо вони є підсилювачами того, чим ми є - як окремі індивіди, так і суспільство? Тому його текст як засторога щодо того, куди може рушити світ. Стівенсон ж сприймає кіберпанк як інтелектуальну гру. Мовляв, що можна розповісти, використовуючи такий жанр? Що в межах цієї літературної традиції можна написати цікавенького?

Тому його роман з одного боку захоплює, затягує, його цікаво читати і неможливо відірватися. З іншого боку, відчувається його певна штучність, награність, пародійність. Якщо коротко, то роман - це іронія і кепкування з кліше, тропів і стереотипів. І захоплююче закручений сюжет.

П.С. Що цікаво, попри динамічність, тут немає кліше з бійками героїв з антигероями. Взагалі, всі екнш-сцени написано скупо. Динамічно, але автор їх не смакує, не додає їм нереальної тривалості, не нагнітає напруги- як в голівудських фільмах. За це можна тільки зняти капелюха.

П.П.С. А от що сталося з атомною бомбою, так і не відомо :)