Guilty Pleasures:Cryptonomicon
Shortly before my brother John left to serve in Iraq, I lent him my copy of Neal Stephenson’sCryptonomicon. He was about the fifth person I lent the book to.
No one, And I mean No one I’ve lent it to has wanted to finish it. I figured between downtime and subject matter, He’d be the first to finish it.
“Try it,” I say, “You like spy novels.” And I get it back Unread.
“Try it,” I give it to someone else, “It’s funny” And I get it back Unread.
“Please,” I say, ” It’s not really science fiction.” Nope. Nada. Nothing.
And it’s funny because I’ve read Neal Stephenson for a while. People I know Like Snow Crash ( How could you not? The Main Character’s name is Hiro Protagonist.) They’ll read The Diamond Age, which is just as dense and off the wall.
Neal Stephenson’sCryptonomicon is one of my favorite books. A mix of War novel, Spy, science fiction and farce, it’s an astonishing read that has gotten quite a cult following over the years. The book follows two groups of interconnected characters in two time periods. The earlier group are involved in making and breaking codes and developing modern computers during WWII. Their descendants, in the present, are trying to create a safe encrypted data haven and eventually get involved in a race for Yamashita’s lost gold.
The Same families, even the same Character’s later show up in Stephenson’s epic Baroque Cycle, set in the Early 1700′s.
Part of what turns people off I think is the “Put-on” factor. This is not a serious book. Stephenson plays with anachronisms and the two time periods often begin to overlap. Also, in a book about codes and ciphers, there are lots of typos, unusual spellings, odd graphs and other things that throw a reader out of the story. This is a challenging read and I was often tempted to have an encyclopedia nearby to check whether some plot point or trivia was real, or just another obscure joke.
My Brother got back from Iraq safely, and recently returned the book.
“I’m Sorry,” he said, “I just couldn’t get into it.”
Oh Well.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Funny.
This book is the reason I bought Snow Crash and then the first two books of the Baroque Cycle.
I was impressed that such a haphazardly written novel could get published.
I have yet to be able to get past the first few chapters of that Baroque thing though.
I Think Crypto was meant to be a jokenad wasn’t “well” written. That’s why I consider it a Guilty Pleasure- I’ll be the first to admit the seams show.
I still don’t get The Baroque Cycle though- “Quicksilver” had a self contained main plot and theme- Why add the frame and then carry it over for two (Or three paperback) volumes? Just to go from Belief to Reason to Enlightenment? I don’t think taking it up to the Steam Engine added anything more than just Newton’s story did.
Hadn’t ever heard of this but this is the 2nd mention I’ve seen this week so I guess I’ll have to give it a shot – or at the very least buy it and let it sit on my bookshelf…
thanks
SB
Thanks. It’s really a fun read, seams and all.