Snow Crash

TL;DR Really fun to read but don't expect too much suspension or a good plot

Well the heading basically says it all but I'm gonna elaborate further what I mean with it: Stephenson builds a magnificent dystopia of all encompassing capitalism and a total absence of real laws. This world and how the characters interact with it are eerily realistic but still so over the top that they stay funny. The plot however comes over far less realistically and feels very constructed. It feels like it is continually fed to you in little pieces of complicated and boring infodumping about ancient religions which was honestly nothing I'd expect from an otherwise futuristic novel. This does not make it boring though. Because of the great worldbuilding the novel still stays fun to read and is a reccomendation for anyone who wants to find out how fucked up it was of Zuck to rename his company after this capitalist shithole called "Metaverse".

TL;DR

This book interrogates a comical and whimsical representation of post-collapse neofeudalism. It's relevant in 2025, but there is not enough substance to be a suggested read.

Review

I wouldn't agree with bookwyrm.social/user/nixnull/review/3404846#anchor-3404846 review which says that it's "nearly perfect". The writing is quite pretentious, but it doesn't feel to me that this book was edited as it had some sentences where the words would repeat within them, ruining the smooth feel of reading some other bits.

The book is not serious at all. It's speculative humorous sci-fi. It has plot and smart twists that a careful reader will see from a mile away and then feel smart about it.

The world-building is very solid, but extremely postmodernist, thus devoid of real philosophy, just cute mental experiments of the author mashed together in an eclectic mash.

It's quotable but insensitive, written with implied white male privilege and contains a scene that no male should have written.

The book is too long, but at no point I felt like it's dragging too much. If you are as weird as me and would enjoy reading a three-page vignette about toilet paper dispensing in an office building, you won't mind either even though it's quite weird. Douglas Adams would have condensed these three pages into a single sentence because he had a true handle on the language and pace.

I give this 3.75 stars with the hope that Stephenson wasn't serious.

I will probably give him another chance to see if 7 years of learning how to write had a positive impact by the time he released his most impactful work, "Cryptonomicon".

Obligatory quote of the book:

The byproduct of the lifestyle is polluted rivers, greenhouse effect, spouse abuse, televangelists, and serial killers. But as long as you have that four-wheel-drive vehicle and can keep driving north, you can sustain it, keep moving just quickly enough to stay one step ahead of your own waste stream.

Not bad for 1992. It is so ironic that folks like jeffery bezos and other post-capitalism oligarchs decided that it's a blueprint for action rather than a warning. It's even more ironic that Mr. Stephenson decided that it's a great idea to work for bezos later in his life. I guess some people really want to live in neofeudalism, so aptly described in Snow Crash?..

Some details in the book were amusing and the story was ok, but the backstory of the virus was extremely forced and many details still make absolutely no sense.

The world setting was cool though. Dystopian (which I usually don't like), but quite coherent and not constantly depressing.

Être spécialiste d’un genre littéraire ne laisse pas à l’abri d’avoir de grosses lacunes. Ainsi depuis ma lecture de Neuromancien et de Mona Lisa s’éclate de William Gibson dès leurs sorties françaises en poche, peu de livres dans la catégorie cyberpunk m’avaient échappé. Sauf, et c’est plutôt surprenant, car j’ai lu de nombreux autres titres de l’auteur dont le récent Reamde, Le Samouraï virtuel (Snow Crash) de Neal Stephenson. Erreur réparée ce week-end en tombant totalement par hasard sur un exemplaire passablement abimé dans un vide-grenier. Et là, la critique n’est pas aisée. À la pointe de la modernité à l’époque de son écriture en 1992, le moins qu’on puisse dire est que techniquement, Le Samouraï virtuel a pris un sacré coup de vieux. Le Metavers s’est effondré ou éparpillé façon puzzle à la façon d’un Second Life ou autres mondes virtuels passés de mode depuis l’avènement des réseaux sociaux, eux-mêmes en pleine mutation permanente. (AJOUT D’AVRIL 2022 : même si certains réseaux sociaux et autres grandes corporations rêvent de ressusciter des métavers comme nouvel avatar de leur communication et du commerce. Sans pour l’instant, convaincre grand monde hormis des actionnaires et des « influenceurs »). Côté politique, capitalisme ou non, les différents franchulats et autres banlises présentés dans ce livre sont loin d’être similaires. Même si certaines comme la Nouvelle-Afrique du Sud ou l’importance du prosélytisme religieux ont une vraie résonance dans notre époque actuelle (étrangement en plus violent dans la réalité je trouve). Enfin, avouons-le : le tout nucléaire pour alimenter les principales nouveautés du moment (des chienchiens de garde à Raison en passant par des motos ou des poids lourds), est sacrément daté. Et a des vieux relents de nanars de SF des années 80. Côté récit, l’histoire est prenante et les deux protagonistes principaux ont un ton mordant et acide bien rafraichissant. Certaines scènes ou réflexions de personnages sont si grotesques que j’en éclatais de rire dans le métro. L’action progresse également très vite malgré quelques longueurs nécessaires pour expliquer tel postulat technique, biologique ou religieux. Et justement là est le cœur de l’intrigue. La Snow Crash elle-même, au départ à la fois virus informatique dans le monde virtuel et drogue IRL (In Real Life — dans la vie réelle), se révèle au fil du temps être une version moderne d’un virus antique élaboré biologiquement par des intellectuels sumériens. Vous êtes perdus ? C’est normal : mélanger linguistique et résultats biologiques est déjà assez complexe à suivre sans en plus y rajouter une surcouche binaire pour obtenir un hybride biocybernétique. Après tout, il y a bien des expériences en cours pour stocker des données dans de l’ADN. Pourquoi pas y stocker des applications informatiques ? Le pont entre la linguistique et une maladie contagieuse aussi rapide que celle dépeinte dans le livre me semble plus difficile à franchir pour ma crédulité. Au final, lu en 2017, Le Samouraï virtuel est un bon petit thriller qui fleure bon la nostalgie technologique avec une forte dose de sarcasme et de dérision très plaisante. Seul reproche, la couverture de l’édition de poche est à côté de la plaque. J’aime beaucoup le style de Manchu, mais son samouraï n’a quasi rien de commun avec Hiro Protagoniste (vous l’avez deviné le protagoniste de l’histoire) qui est un métis né d’une mère coréenne et d’un père noir américain. Identité tellement visible qu’à plusieurs moments dans le récit, elle se retourne contre lui.

The dates are a total guess; (side note: an annoyance I have on BookWyrm right now is that in order to list a book as read, you have to give exact read dates, which I don't track, especially for a book I read roughly 25 years ago). I enjoyed this a great deal; back at that time the techno-libertarian themes of the book appealed to me, 'Hiro Protagonist' was a cute joke, and there was useful social commentary. It was a fun way to explore things that have now come to be.

Read it ages ago, I think in 1995. The best thing is that the hero is named "Hiro Protagonist" and is a katana-wielding pizza delivery driver. This wasn't as cringe in the 90ies as it is now. Like most CyberPunk classics it has become too uncomfortably real. This book also coined the term "Metaverse" for an escapistic virtual reality. Apparently it is now required reading at Meta. The sumerian Spiel with Enki is quite boring TBH.

Wrote a whole long review about why I didn't like it, but got bored of my own opinion.

In short:

While clever, the linguistic virus, Sumerian, and religion lessons were long and dull
Characters unbelievable, and didn't really invest in them.
Sex with a minor scene - didn't want that

Did like:
the world
the technology
the prologue bit about pizza delivery. Loved that world building, really great opening! Then the main story wrecked it (for me).

I read this book years ago, but just finished reading it again. I really loved almost all of this book. The exposition about ancient Sumer really should have been left out. That would leave the technical premise of the book (the Macguffin, I won't spoil the story) looking a little weak. But I don't think the rest of the story would have suffered much. One of the real joys of the book comes from the characters, Hiro and YT. Even Raven and Uncle Enzo and Ng all add their own color to the story. The other fun part is the hyperbolic extrapolation of America's future, that part is immense fun to read. The premise itself (the virus) was actually fine, it's just the big chapters of exposition that should have been replaced with a three paragraph summary.

The book is great fun, I highly recommend it! When someone starts talking about the Sumerians and stuff like that, just skip forward to the next section, you're not missing anything important for understanding or enjoying the book.

Two problems: the dialog was riddled with stereotypes of people and cultures (couldn't tell if it was intended) and the "young people" talk was more like when grandpa tries to talk "hip". Second, characters tended to act extremely irrationally (probably intended) at times that distracted from story and flow.

Too long winded for me too really enjoy it. The best books leave you wanting more. This book just made me want less.

4.5 stars!

In the early 90s, I was a huge fan of the FASA game Shadowrun. I never managed to actually find a group to play it with, but I consumed sourcebooks and novels greedily. I loved the setting very much. Now that I have read Snow Crash, I am vividly reminded of it, and my love for cyberpunk. I think I will need to read Neuromancer next.

I was slightly taken aback in the beginning, because it's a very different style. Fast-paced, with its own lingo, dropping you right into this world where franchises rule the world, where the Mafia controls pizza deliveries, and where couriers work between the lines on their skateboards. Woven inbetween is the metaverse, the virtual reality that must have been the inspiration for Tad Williams' Otherlands VR.

I loved the characters, above all Y.T. They were all very interesting. It would be a full five stars if I hadn't been overwhelmed by the basic premise behind Snow Crash. I found the nam-shub stuff hard to follow. Fascinating, no doubt, but maybe a little bit over my head.

Definitely recommending this book whole-heartedly, it's one of the most entertaining books I have read this year. Now I have to see if I can get my hands on the old Shadowrun novels, especially 2XS. Loved that one. Aaaah, glorious cyberpunk.