James Michener for Geeks

[quasigeostrophy]

Finished Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon tonight.

It's a bit exhausting at first, but quite captivating, especially for someone like me, with as many (and as varied) interests as I have. Stephenson bounces back and forth between the World War II era and roughly present day, tying together different generations of several families in a very intricate story. At 910 pages, it's a hefty read, as Stephenson takes several diversions. Among the more amusing ones to me were a four-page description of one of the main character's method of preparing and eating a bowl of Cap'n Crunch cereal, and a multi-page mathematical analysis of the relationship between mental clarity and horniness. The latter comes from my favourite character's way of looking at the world. Lawrence Waterhouse is a WWII mathermatician/cryptanalyst who is almost an idiot savant in many ways. I saw a lot of my own habits, exaggerated (I hope!) in both Lawrence and his grandson Randy. I also liked the mysterious (and unexplained) Enoch Root. Is he an archetype of the Wandering Jew? Perhaps we'll learn more in Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle. A couple of things I'm confused about: 1) What is the message Rudy goes back to write up before he burns himself in the V-Million at the end, and 2) What is encoded on his gold cards?

Could Stephenson have used an editor to cut the book's length? Possibly? Does the story suffer under its own weight? Not IMHO. Being quite the geek in several senses of the word myself, I was amused and not distracted by all of Stephenson's details. I didn't think he meandered much after I started getting into the story (although, I do agree with (I think it was) geekchick who mentioned this to me a while back, that it took a number of pages before I felt like something was actually happening). I found myself laughing throughout and actually getting interested in some of the concepts described, that I don't know much about already, such as the Pontifex codec (for which, fortunately, my copy includes an appendix).

I look forward to The Baroque Cycle. Quicksilver is already on the to-read shelf. For now, though, something light like Pratchett or Rankin is next.

Comments

[gasslight.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed Cryptonomicon. Aside from the stuff that we discussed earlier, I also love how Mary doesn't really believe that cars need all the stuff that men do to them, but indulges them by letting them. (I think my mother-in-law feels similarly...I get the oil changed and make sure it is taken care of. Or I get my husband to.)

It took me forever to read Quicksilver. FYI, there's a lot of political maneuvering in it. It took me a while to really get into the subtleties.

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

If I'd been Stephensons editor for Cryptonimicon, I would have made him expand on the minor char who appears for only a few pages in the middle of the book, and yet plays a major role at the end. (deliberate obscurity to prevent a spoiler)

In Quicksilver there is a fairly mysterious char also named Enoch Root. Presumably the ancestor of the char of the same name in Cryptonimicon. (He appears in the first chapter so this is no spoiler)

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[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

BTW, I actually know how to spell "cryptonomicon". :)

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[gasslight.livejournal.com]

I suspect he's a "magical" character and that he's the same character. This is not spoiling, merely speculation.

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[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

You could be right. Or maybe a time traveler. I doubt we'll find out for sure until a few more novels have been published. If you google on "Enoch Root" this is the first hit. Lot's of interesting comments, most made before the release of Quicksilver.

http://www.cafeaulait.org/cryptonomicon.html

Minor correction to my earlier post: The QS char in question is named Enoch the Red.

Thank You

[gasslight.livejournal.com]

Very illuminating. And fun to see what careful readers and insiders have to say...I do think the key is to remember that Stephenson writes SF. (as opposed to some other genre.)

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[datagoddess.livejournal.com]

He's the Black Adder of Cryptonomicon!!

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[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

White font to prevent spoilage: Are you referring to Bischoff, by chance? I thought it was interesting we aren't given confirmed evidence of whether or not he survived.