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Yes, it's vastly different than Snowcrash or Anathem. It develops slow and really consists of two storylines (hence the length needed to tell this wide ranging story) and is very long, so I can see that putting some people off, but I was totally draw into it myself. To me, this is Stephenson's best work. But it's also, in my mind, more thought out, with better character development and plot, than the also brilliant Snowcrash.
Then there's this bad guy who shows up in the middle of jungle in a suit and tie and no real reason to be there to wreak havoc and invent some real conflict in this slow moving waste of a book.SKIP THIS ONE. He regularly goes off on worthless tangents which provide nothing to the story. The story is choppy and piecemeal. At one point a character dies then magically reappears later in the story. I have read a lot of Stephenson. I expected a bit more from him on this one. The characters are not at all believable, nor consistent nor well supported by background detail.
It makes a really good story.The computer geeks are starting a company to do something and stumble onto scavenger treasure. The story in the book bounces around with several characters being important. This does get to be a bit of a complex story, and knowing that all the story lines come together, you read on to see where and how. He has what may be Asperbgers syndrome. You know that this stuff does happen, but authors do not generally bother to mention it. It gets to the point you can see all the story lines will meet.
It is most interesting that the author does introduce masturbation and sexual relief. This is a story of World War II and a story of computer geeks stumbling onto history.Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse is the main character. In college he meets Alan Turing and a German, they are all math wizs. The Japanese build a mountain of gold and bury it.
But it does get better, I promise. It's basically the uberstereotype of computer hackers seen in hollywood for the last dozen years. It reads like the fantasy of some fat talentless nerd that scores with one dimensional hot super chicks and reaches hacker stardom. :-)One last thing - the author, despite being knowledgeable about UNIX, is obviously unaware of the credo "less is more". I loved the crypto hacking especially.
I almost did not purchase this book after getting fed up with a metaphor that lasted roughly a page. It's stupid and unfortunate. This kept me reading the book, despite the absolutely crap modern day story line.The modern day storyline is vapid, pointless, and completely uninteresting. Cryptonomicon blends several storylines told from different character's perspectives, taking place during WWII and during modern-day 1999.The WWII story lines in this book absolutely rock. Oh, and it's also borderline sexist.
Can you detect my hate.
Obviously I did not find this flaw powerful enough to undermine my enjoyment of the novel, but I think in bears pointing out. Sure, war and computer geekdom (the book's two main stomping grounds) are real boys' clubs, so we're left with essentially only one female character who is actually characterized at all--America Shaftoe. Stephenson generally has a reputation for writing strong female characters. But she is such an absurd nerd's fantasy girl (she kicks ass and she's a virgin). But such great words.I'm a computer guy and also a former academic and I can say from my own experience that Stephenson is clearly deeply knowledgeable in both fields--so much so that I'm utterly convinced that he's also deeply knowledgeable about every other subject he explores in detail including--World War II, cryptology, mathematics, the history of the Philippines, and so on.
as to be almost a joke. I found that to decidedly not be the case in this book, to the point where I felt some of the book was borderline sexist. Cryptonomicon is full of long-winded diversions and digressions, and if that's not your cup of tea, then I suggest that you avoid this book. Yeah, it's a long book, and Stephenson seems to have as a personal moral code the idea that anything that can be said in ten words is probably better said in a thousand. However, if you really love that sort of thing when it's handled expertly, then Cryptonomicon is just what you've been looking for.I feel it necessary to add one additional comment.
Fine.
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