Subject: SNOW CRASH by Neal Stephenson

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn Chimelis Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
Date: 21 Jul 93 22:15:42 GMT

SNOW CRASH by Neal Stephenson
                      A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
                       Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper

     Where was this at Hugo nomination time?

     I mean, I had heard some recommendations, but after reading the book, I
don't understand why I didn't hear more.  To paraphrase from THE LION IN
WINTER, why did no one say "Hugo" and think of SNOW CRASH?

     In SNOW CRASH our hero/protagonist, Hiro Protagonist (yes, it's that
sort of novel) starts out as a pizza deliverer for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra
Pizza.  That's because in the early 21st century, the United States leads
the world in four areas: music, movies, software, and high-speed delivery.
Forced by circumstances to accept the help of Y.T., a young woman who finds
excitement in high-speed skate-boarding as a courier, Hiro soon finds his
hacker expertise tested in the Metaverse (Stephenson's version of virtual
reality) to fight the "snow crash" virus--a virus that attacks not only
computers, but people as well.  And it's all connected with ancient Sumeria
and the Tower of Babel....

     Stephenson has certainly pulled together an unusual assortment of
disciplines in this novel.  His postulations regarding Sumer seem a bit weak
(Sumer may have been the major civilization of its time in the Middle East,
but it was not the only civilization, and there were many civilizations
isolated from Sumer), and the description of pre-Sumerian cultures and memes
does not sound accurate for a number of reasons.

     Stephenson avoids the path taken by many cyberpunk/virtual reality
authors.  He does not create a new language that the reader has to decipher
(which concept, by the way, ties into the novel's premise, emphasizing the
analogy of the relationship between reality and the novel to the
relationship between the novel's reality and its Metaverse). He does use
pop culture as a referent; for example, Hiro talks about Captain Kirk
beaming up.

     Stephenson starts off at a break-neck pace, and by page 40 I found
myself thinking, "If he keeps this up for 470 pages, I'm going to be
exhausted by the time I finish this book!"  Well, he does ease up a bit, but
not much.  SNOW CRASH is a roller coaster ride of virtual reality,
linguistic theory, the origin of religions, and the future of our culture.
I wish I had known about SNOW CRASH before Hugo nomination time.  I *highly*
recommend SNOW CRASH.

%T   Snow Crash
%A   Neal Stephenson
%C   New York
%D   May 1993
%I   Bantam Spectra
%O   paperback, US$5.99 [1992]
%G   ISBN 0-553-56261-4
%P   470pp

Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | [email-masked] / [email-masked]