r/books discussion

Has anyone read any of Neal Stephenson's work? How have you found it?

I tried really hard to get through one of his books but I got bogged down in all of the technology. Are they all scientifically based? or am I just not smart enough?

I read Snow Crash a few months ago. After reading Ready Player One, I was looking for another book that had the same type of immersive online world in a dystopian setting. RPO was entertaining. Snow Crash seemed like a close enough correlation.

The writing was interesting at the beginning of the book. But I was quickly bogged down (as you put it) with unlikely plot lines and too many cases of deus ex machina. I wouldn't classify Stephenson as someone who isn't accessible to the average reader. It seems more likely that his intricate stories are not strongly held together by plausible circumstances and realistic character development.

Simply put: great ideas, poor execution.

I love Cryptonomicon, one of my favorite books of all time (although I'm definitely not smart enough to wade through the high-level equations and math...I just skimmed those). Also went through Reamde fairly quickly, although it isn't nearly as dense. But even though I also really enjoyed Quicksilver, it took me months to get through it (and I haven't attempted the other two books in the series - yet).

In my opinion, Stephenson has been bitten by the bug of success. Snow Crash, Diamond Age (esp.), Cryptonomicon (somewhat less-so) are easily recommended to any and all friends... but the Baroque Cycle? And any of the other insanely long books? Not going to recommend them unless that person is really close to me and I add the "just put it down if it gets old" comment.

I refused to force myself to wade through more of the baroque cycle, (stopped mid way book2) even though I'm a scientist by trade. Reamde is borderline boring at this stage (30% in), even though things are blowing up. In my opinion he may have gone the way of Tom Clancy after editors decided his work was holy. Baroque cycle in a single book? Might be worth reading. Cryptonomicon with half the pages? More enjoyable most likely. We'll see... I think Reamde is the last one I'll try for him depending on how I feel when it's done. And hence why I suggest that editors are unwilling to piss him off. I think forcing him into a novella or short-story for a while might make him rethink his writing strategy.

[This comes from someone who loves some of Umberto Eco's older works and also forces himself to wade through some of his new "holy" works.] So, maybe I should call it a love-hate relationship? Sad to say, because I've re-read Snow Crash and Diamond Age a number of times now. They're books I suggest to anyone I meet.