3 ms·

painful. put it down at page 100. already recycled. oh i know what you are thinking, i must be some sort of caveman who prefers michael crichton. nonsense. when

painful. put it down at page 100. already recycled. oh i know what you are thinking, i must be some sort of caveman who prefers michael crichton. nonsense. when i read fiction, i want to have some fun. this book just isn't fun. stephenson knows how to write fun books. snow crash was a literal page turner...why do you stay up all night turning pages? because the book is fun.

jamesbritt 18y ago
"... why do you stay up all night turning pages? because the book is fun." Well, sometimes, but "fun" is not how I'd describe the works of David Foster Wallace or Rick Moody, yet they (often, but not always) keep me engage with challenging use of language and structure. Basically, it's enjoyable to have new stuff to think about, and that can happen in a number of ways.
Zev 18y ago
I'm about 100 pages in as well, not about to stop though. Stephenson one of the few current authors that's not afraid to spend a hundred pages setting up the backstory for everything going on. Which accounts for the beginning of some of his books being exceptionally long and not the most interesting bits of writing that he's done. But the rest of the book - once you get into it - generally makes up for it.
agl 18y ago
I'm only half way in at the moment, but I must reply and say that I think this book is excellent. It may have helped that I did the first couple of hundred pages on a flight so was a captive audience (well, unless I wanted to watch "Son of Rambo"), but I don't remember feeling that it was a slog.
- omouse 18y ago
  Son of Rambow is a good movie. Really really good. A feel-good movie if you will. I can't believe you didn't want to watch it!
davidw 18y ago
I think to determine if your tastes are aligned with others' (me, for instance), you'd have to say whether you liked Cryptonimicon and the Baroque cycle. I loved the first, and enjoyed the second.
Prrometheus 18y ago
The lady at the book store said it was great but hard to get into. You do know that Stephenson's latest works have been nothing like "Snowcrash" or "The Diamond Age", right?
hugh 18y ago
snow crash was a literal page turner A literal page turner, as in you literally turned the pages? Seriously though, as I recall an awful lot of Snow Crash's exposition came from a series of interminable dialogues between Hiro and his AI librarian.
DanielBMarkham 18y ago
"caveman who prefers michael crichton" That's a damn-bigoted remark. I like chrichton. And what the hell is wrong with cavemen?

jamesbritt 18y ago

"... why do you stay up all night turning pages? because the book is fun." Well, sometimes, but "fun" is not how I'd describe the works of David Foster Wallace or Rick Moody, yet they (often, but not always) keep me engage with challenging use of language and structure. Basically, it's enjoyable to have new stuff to think about, and that can happen in a number of ways.

Zev 18y ago

I'm about 100 pages in as well, not about to stop though. Stephenson one of the few current authors that's not afraid to spend a hundred pages setting up the backstory for everything going on. Which accounts for the beginning of some of his books being exceptionally long and not the most interesting bits of writing that he's done. But the rest of the book - once you get into it - generally makes up for it.

agl 18y ago

I'm only half way in at the moment, but I must reply and say that I think this book is excellent. It may have helped that I did the first couple of hundred pages on a flight so was a captive audience (well, unless I wanted to watch "Son of Rambo"), but I don't remember feeling that it was a slog.

omouse 18y ago
Son of Rambow is a good movie. Really really good. A feel-good movie if you will. I can't believe you didn't want to watch it!

davidw 18y ago

I think to determine if your tastes are aligned with others' (me, for instance), you'd have to say whether you liked Cryptonimicon and the Baroque cycle. I loved the first, and enjoyed the second.

Prrometheus 18y ago

The lady at the book store said it was great but hard to get into. You do know that Stephenson's latest works have been nothing like "Snowcrash" or "The Diamond Age", right?

hugh 18y ago

snow crash was a literal page turner A literal page turner, as in you literally turned the pages? Seriously though, as I recall an awful lot of Snow Crash's exposition came from a series of interminable dialogues between Hiro and his AI librarian.

DanielBMarkham 18y ago

"caveman who prefers michael crichton" That's a damn-bigoted remark. I like chrichton. And what the hell is wrong with cavemen?