Snow Crash

Neal Stephenson is one author that I've been meaning to read more of since first reading "Cryptonomicon" back in 2000. That book was entertaining, complex, well-written and thought-provoking - a combination I like in a book. But for one reason or another I've never got around to picking up any of his other books until now. Then, the last time I visited the local library, I found a copy of "Snow Crash" on the shelves and decided this was the time.

I'm glad I did. It's not the easiest book to read that I've ever come across. The writing style varies between characters, each having their own unique way of appearing on the page. The plot jumps around quite a bit between characters, locations, ideas and action - not randomly, but it does take a bit of an effort to follow what's going on with the story. All that is obviously deliberate, and it kept me interested in reading on, to find out where it was all going.

The book draws on a whole range of ideas to create it's complex story line. There's references to ancient civilizations, language, religion, computers, medicine, politics, the environment, all drawn together to create a believable alternative world. Some of the ideas are pretty weak - the way the ancient Sumerian language is supposed to work, tied in with the computer virus that affects human brains are a stretch. But that's part of reading fiction - suspending disbelief long enough for the story to catch you. The book is written well enough so that I could get caught up in it without worrying about its use of ideas that I would normally find unbelievable. It made me think, in other words. And that's always a good thing in a book.

So - like I said, it's not the easiest read I've ever had. It took me longer to read than most books do. I will have to go out and read Stephensons other books - unfortunately I've lost my copy of Cryptonomicon somewhere along the way, so I'll be looking to replace it. Or maybe just buy his later ones...