Subject: ZODIAC by Neal Stephenson

From: "Evelyn C Leeper" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Sep 1995 14:52:30 GMT

ZODIAC by Neal Stephenson
   Bantam Spectra, ISBN 0-553-57386-1, 1995 (1988c), 308pp, US$5.99
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1995 Evelyn C. Leeper

     Before THE DIAMOND AGE, before SNOWCRASH, there was ZODIAC.  Now, with
Neal Stephenson's popularity and critical acclaim, Bantam has re-issued his
earlier novel.  (His first novel, THE BIG U, will be released, Stephenson is
reported to said, "only over my dead body.")

     Unlike SNOWCRASH and THE DIAMOND AGE, ZODIAC is not about computers.
It is rather about the environment, and while the hero uses computers to
analyze toxic waste patterns and such, they are no more the center of
attention than the character's watch.  The hero is part of an environmental
activist organization, not quite as large as Greenpeace, but also tending
toward the dramatic (such as challenginga corporate president on television
to drink water from near the outlet pipes from his factory).

     There is the same manic style that attracted such attention in
SNOWCRASH, though not as developed.  Naturally the problem the hero is
trying to solve turns out to be bigger than originally thought, and at times
verges on the unbelievable.  (Not to mention that in the seven years since
this book was first written we seem to have taken a different direction and
Stephenson's then-near-future story now reads a bit like an alternate
history.)  But Stephenson's talent is not in writing a completely realistic
story--it's in his writing style.  And in that regard, this book delivers.
You won't get any major philosophical ideas, but you will get an enjoyable
read.

     Oh, and there is no Blue Kills, New Jersey, but there is a Route 88 off
the Garden State Parkway (page 38).  And there is a Chicopee, Massachusetts
(page 279).  I should know--I used to live there.

%T      Zodiac
%A      Neal Stephenson
%C      New York
%D      July 1995
%I      Bantam Spectra
%O      paperback, US$5.99 [1988]
%G      ISBN 0-553-57386-1
%P      308pp

Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked]
A good world needs knowledge, kindliness and courage; it does not need a
regretful hankering after the past, or a fettering of the free intelligence
by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men.  -- Bertrand Russell