Reamde, Neal Stephenson (2011)
Oct. 30th, 2011 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerOne of the odd side-effects of reading a Neal Stephenson novel whilst on the plane to Istanbul to take part in a conference on cloud computing is that you find yourself - at least, if you're me - feeling as if you're a character in a Neal Stephenson novel. At least, my inner narrative seems to fix on to Stephenson's sardonic-detached-observer writing style and adopt it for itself.
Reamde (the titular computer virus is indeed a misspelling of README) certainly passes a long trip. At 1050 pages, most of which are continuous action, even though I found it a compulsive page-turner it still took four flights, several departure lounges and a couple of hours on the sofa at home to get through it. It's fun and engaging, but is it thought-provoking in the same way that, say, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon or Anathem were? On reflection, I'd say not: it' a postmodern and rather cerebral thriller, much more in the vein of Interface and The Cobweb, the novels he jointly authored in the 1990s with an uncle under the name Stephen Bury.
I also, despite enjoying Reamde very much, have some Issues with it.
Someone - I'm pretty sure it was![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
autopope - once referred to "the patent Neal Stephenson '...and then weird shit happens which has nothing to do with the rest of the plot' ending". Well, here Stephenson manages this about a third of the way in. Can you have a Deus ex Machina with seven hundred pages to go? I wondered if there would be a deeper explanation forthcoming about why the Troll was in the apartment below Jones than 'they were both after the same sort of place for their nefarious purposes' but it seems that it really is meant to be one monumental coincidence. For that matter, much of the last section of the book involves Stephenson very blatantly setting all his characters up to collide at Uncle Jake's cabin. Even more blatantly, he has to have some of them pick up varying sizes of Stupid Ball to explain why they do so without most of Idaho's SWAT teams in tow.
On a more minor note, the epilogue makes it clear that Sokolov has ended up with Olivia, whilst implying that she's now working as an intelligence analyst. She may well be, but not for MI6 any more, and not with anything very sensitive; there's no way her DV would survive hooking up with a Russian, let alone a former Spetznaz commando.
Oh, and although I emitted a squeak of joy when Olivia and Sokolov drive along Stevens Pass - right past the access road to the mountain cabin wheredarth_hamster and I stayed last year - I infer that Stephenson has not done the trip himself. Because if he had, he'd have have driven through Leavenworth, and we'd have had a ten-page detour exploring the sheer batshit mock-Bavarian insanity of the place.
Verdict: recommended, but be prepared to go '...hang on a minute' after you've recovered from the exuberance of the ride.
Reamde (the titular computer virus is indeed a misspelling of README) certainly passes a long trip. At 1050 pages, most of which are continuous action, even though I found it a compulsive page-turner it still took four flights, several departure lounges and a couple of hours on the sofa at home to get through it. It's fun and engaging, but is it thought-provoking in the same way that, say, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon or Anathem were? On reflection, I'd say not: it' a postmodern and rather cerebral thriller, much more in the vein of Interface and The Cobweb, the novels he jointly authored in the 1990s with an uncle under the name Stephen Bury.
I also, despite enjoying Reamde very much, have some Issues with it.
Someone - I'm pretty sure it was
autopope - once referred to "the patent Neal Stephenson '...and then weird shit happens which has nothing to do with the rest of the plot' ending". Well, here Stephenson manages this about a third of the way in. Can you have a Deus ex Machina with seven hundred pages to go? I wondered if there would be a deeper explanation forthcoming about why the Troll was in the apartment below Jones than 'they were both after the same sort of place for their nefarious purposes' but it seems that it really is meant to be one monumental coincidence. For that matter, much of the last section of the book involves Stephenson very blatantly setting all his characters up to collide at Uncle Jake's cabin. Even more blatantly, he has to have some of them pick up varying sizes of Stupid Ball to explain why they do so without most of Idaho's SWAT teams in tow. On a more minor note, the epilogue makes it clear that Sokolov has ended up with Olivia, whilst implying that she's now working as an intelligence analyst. She may well be, but not for MI6 any more, and not with anything very sensitive; there's no way her DV would survive hooking up with a Russian, let alone a former Spetznaz commando.
Oh, and although I emitted a squeak of joy when Olivia and Sokolov drive along Stevens Pass - right past the access road to the mountain cabin where
darth_hamster and I stayed last year - I infer that Stephenson has not done the trip himself. Because if he had, he'd have have driven through Leavenworth, and we'd have had a ten-page detour exploring the sheer batshit mock-Bavarian insanity of the place.Verdict: recommended, but be prepared to go '...hang on a minute' after you've recovered from the exuberance of the ride.
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Date: 2011-10-30 12:03 pm (UTC)Which cloud conf? My you're getting around the circuit!