March Book of the Month: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

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Seventh

Golden Squire
892
15
How many more fucking chapters am I going to have to read of Hiro and the Librarian talking about fucking Sumerian religion and gods and language God fucking damn it.

Jesus Tittyfucking Christ I want to like this book but these huge intervals of technospiritual babble(LOL!!!) are a fucking slog.

He's on his motorcycle heading up to find Juanita so it FEELS like that should be done. I fuckin' hope so...
I'm right at the same part you are, and feel the same way. I didn't mind the history lesson the first time, but when it's a scene break and I'm greeted with 10 pages of ancient religion talk it gets old quick.

Decent book though, enjoying it overall.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
I just read the first YT mom chapter...

Every one of you who suggested this book: Suck my dick. That was the worst single chapter of any book I have ever read.

I am ~2/3rds of the way through and half of what I've read so far has varied from boring slog to tedious cockpunch. Fuck this book and fuck every one of you who loves it square in your stupid dickholes. It could close in a Malazan-esque hundred page orgy of awesome that ties everything together and I would still lament the time I wasted on most of it as time that would have been better spent meticulously shoving baby sea urchin up my urethra and nursing them to adulthood while embedded deep within my shaft.

Seriously, fuck you.

edit: I haven't flat out put a book down....ever. In 20+ years of reading there is not a book I did not finish. Half way through the toilet paper memo here I very seriously considered making this the first. No hyperbole, at that point I did not want to read any more of this book. Ever.
 

Mudcrush Durtfeet

Hungry Ogre
2,428
-758
I didn't mind the minutiae at all in Cryptonomicon. I'm sure it's a combination of my just enjoying that subject matter more than this plus him improving over time.

There's definitely people out there flipflopped on this, who hated the details in Crypto. I've seen people online fly in to fits of rage at the Captain Crunch part...
I like that Captain Crunch part. That was funny!
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,374
10,989
I just read the first YT mom chapter...

Every one of you who suggested this book: Suck my dick. That was the worst single chapter of any book I have ever read.

I am ~2/3rds of the way through and half of what I've read so far has varied from boring slog to tedious cockpunch. Fuck this book and fuck every one of you who loves it square in your stupid dickholes. It could close in a Malazan-esque hundred page orgy of awesome that ties everything together and I would still lament the time I wasted on most of it as time that would have been better spent meticulously shoving baby sea urchin up my urethra and nursing them to adulthood while embedded deep within my shaft.

Seriously, fuck you.

edit: I haven't flat out put a book down....ever. In 20+ years of reading there is not a book I did not finish. Half way through the toilet paper memo here I very seriously considered making this the first. No hyperbole, at that point I did not want to read any more of this book. Ever.
I haven't made it to that chapter yet, but I feel much the same way as you do. I was trying to rationalize that this just isn't my type of book (cyberpunk or whatever you want to call it), because everyone and their mother seems to think this is the greatest book they've ever read. But yeah...I'll finish it because I finished American Gods and The Daylight War prior to it, and those were perhaps worse because of their length, but this is right up there. I can see how all the Sumerian/Babel language crap is probably going to tie into computer viruses and Snow Crash, and perhaps be the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything...but I really don't care.

After those three books back to back to back (American Gods, Daylight War, Snow Crash), I am in serious need of something quick and easy and entertaining. The next King Henry/Foul Mouth would fit the bill perfectly, but that isn't out yet! Old Man's War has been the best of the "Book of the Month" selections by a long shot so far. In my opinion.
 

Il_Duce Lightning Lord Rule

Lightning Fast
<Charitable Administrator>
10,326
53,179
Dude, that government stupidity chapter was awesome, it's a satirical take on how bad government control could get. If you don't like stuff like that then I don't know what to tell you.
 

Kanglor

Silver Knight of the Realm
292
92
I finished reading last week and while I didn't hate it, the book definitely was a let down considering the reviews I had seen previously. Having a hard time pointing to what exactly caused me to dislike it, I'm not a big cyberpunk fan but the setting wasn't the problem. I'd say for one thing I just didn't give a shit about the main characters, seemed like they were just props to move the story along with no real depth that I could discern. Another problem could be that perhaps I don't enjoy the satirical foundation of the story/world, which is too bad because I really wanted to enjoy the book.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Dude, that government stupidity chapter was awesome, it's a satirical take on how bad government control could get. If you don't like stuff like that then I don't know what to tell you.
A well written bore is still a bore. It wasn't subtle, I didn't miss the point. It just dragged the fuck on and was hammered in to your head with all the subtlety of a gang rape. The entire chapter could have been condensed in to about a page and a half leading up to the polygraph.
 

Zodiac

Lord Nagafen Raider
1,200
14
After those three books back to back to back (American Gods, Daylight War, Snow Crash), I am in serious need of something quick and easy and entertaining. The next King Henry/Foul Mouth would fit the bill perfectly, but that isn't out yet! Old Man's War has been the best of the "Book of the Month" selections by a long shot so far. In my opinion.
Maybe young adult novels would be more your style...
 

Il_Duce Lightning Lord Rule

Lightning Fast
<Charitable Administrator>
10,326
53,179
Ah well, to each his own I suppose. I thought the same thing about large sections of "The Way of Kings" which is another book that was highly regarded on this forum. I skipped over almost all of Kaladin's flashbacks, and a large chunk of the early bridge crew stuff... SO fucking tedious, much more so than anything in Snow Crash IMO.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Ah well, to each his own I suppose.
Yup. Like I said, enjoyed Cryptonomicon cover to cover and it's got many of the same types of issues. But man, I just can not get in to this fucking thing. Even when something starts to get interesting there's just some really jarring chapter break to something unrelated and often obnoxious.

Also I want more YT/Ng together.
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,374
10,989
Maybe young adult novels would be more your style...
I realize you're being snarky, but more than just me have complained about all 3 of those books I listed so it isn't like I'm totally out of left field and trying to offend your sensibilities here. I've enjoyed tons of "real" books in my lifetime, but it just so happens that the last 3 I've read have felt like trudging through drying cement for me, so is it really that surprising that I want something that doesn't feel like work for my next book?
 
2,122
3
I always thought this book was rated way to highly be most people. Glad to see that I'm not alone. Usually saying you Don't like Snow Crash around sci-fi/Cyberpunk nerds is like bathing yourself in barbecue sauce and jumping in to the lions den.
 

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
9,374
10,989
I've started Altered Carbon about 4 different times and never got very far, so yeah, you're probably right.
 

a_skeleton_03

<Banned>
29,948
29,762
I've started Altered Carbon about 4 different times and never got very far, so yeah, you're probably right.
I don't blame you, there are only a few books I haven't finished so I try to power through anything and I had to put some effort into Altered Carbon and every book just dumps you somewhere and you have to hit the ground running.

I have thrown away every Stephen King book I tried because he is a terrible writer.

I threw Clive Barker's book Gallilee into a fire while camping because he was such a terrible writer.

Those are the only ones I haven't finished.
 

Grimmlokk

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
12,190
132
Read and enjoyed Neuromancer and Altered Carbon both.

It's not the content, it's the long rambling overly detailed parts.

Just plowed through a huge chunk of book last night, Hiro at sea, YT with Raven. It flows, it's interesting, there's good dialogue. Then I got to Hiro's meeting with Enzo/Ng/Lee. It is, literally, about 10-15 pages of Hiro giving every single detail of the language/virus/religion shit he's learned. Just rambling on and on. It's like Stephenson did all this research and backstory writing and God damn it, he's gonna forcefeed it to you. There's a way to dole these (mostly) important story details THROUGH the story rather than in this huge dry encyclopedic chunks. TY with Ng gave lots of backstory and world details, but it didn't devolve in to someone just TELLING you shit for page after page.

Breaking it down neutrally it's probably like 10% of the actual book or less that does this. It just feels like so much more because the rest of the book is such an easy and enjoyable read. But then it's broken up by these fucking reading assignments....
 

Seventh

Golden Squire
892
15
I don't think you guys would be able to handle Gibson or Altered Carbon then.
Altered Carbon shits all over this book.

I don't hate this, but agree with most of what Grim said. I'm just about finished (90% according to the kindle). I'm sure 8% of the remainder is pointless religion/language babble. I'll finish it tonight but I wouldn't recommend it.

Also:

YT is 15, right? I think we could have done without the sex scene with her and Raven. wtf?