This is one of the rare Stephenson novels that has not aged well. The book remains funny, energetic, and inventive. The characters are fantastic; the satire is sharp and many of the themes that would later appear in Stephenson's mature work are already visible.
The story takes place in a sprawling university that has become a self-contained society, complete with factions, bureaucracies, eccentric subcultures, and escalating absurdity. The novel skewers academia, intellectual fashions, student life, and institutional dysfunction with relentless enthusiasm. I particularly enjoyed the old computer technology, the role-playing game references, the mass driver, and the bursts of goofy science fiction.
The problem is not the craftsmanship but the tone. Much of the novel treats violence, wild sex, alcoholism, and other typical campus behaviors as funny. Today, many scenes land differently. I found it difficult to detach from the story and laugh at events involving murders, gun violence, gang rape, and other common activities of that era.
No comments:
Post a Comment