I’ve just finished Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and I’m wondering if I’ve picked a poor entry point to his work.
I’d intended to buy Snow Crash, but the shop didn’t have a copy of that, so I thought I’d give a different one of his a go.
The book’s stilted rhythm really ruined it for me though. By that I mean way he introduces a new concept mid-action or mid-conversation, then breaks away to explain the history, etymology, and utility of that concept over the course of multiple pages before returning to the action/conversation.
In the end it feels less like a novel and more like a series of Wikipedia articles interrupted by snippets of narrative.
I’m hoping this is just another case of a successful writer putting out a bloated book because they now have the power to override their editor. Which would mean that earlier stuff like *Snow Crash* could still be worth reading.
Is that hope in vain, or is early Stephenson still worth a look?
by Zealousideal_Pool_65
5 Comments
I posted this on another thread but I find Neal Stephenson to be all over the place as an author. Snow Crash is a defining cyberpunk novel and one of my top ten books of all time. I DNF a lot of his other work.
I loved Seveneves. I get what you are saying, but in a weird way it made it feel like a strange POV of an actual event. I would like to know more about his other works as well.
Neal is all about info dumps.. that’s just part of their style.
You’ll get to a point in a story and then you as the reader learn everything about ‘glossolalia’ because that’s what the character is doing.
Sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn’t.
I enjoyed The Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon. Still haven’t got around to reading Snow Crash but it is on my list.
I loved Cryptonomicon, enjoyed Snow Crash, and gave up on Seveneves after a couple false starts.