Name: Snow crash
Rating: 3.899705014749263 (339 reviews)
ISBN: 9789731023021

Neal Stephenson

Ana-Veronica Mircea

Snow crash

里森

In twenty-first-century America, a teenaged computer hacker finds himself fighting a computer virus that battles virtual reality technology and a deadly drug that turns humans into zombies.

Snow Crash

Tim Pendry

‘Snow Crash’ is Neal Stephenson’s third novel (published in 1992), although there are times when it appears like a first. If that seems lacking in respect - after all, it has rightly been influential on cyberpunk in much the same way as Gibson’s ‘Neuromancer’ - it is not intended to be. There is no doubt of Stephenson’s creativity nor of his undoubted intelligence and, here, long stretches of factual presentation are pulled off (Sumerian religious practices included) but we see signs of his later didacticism and lengthy close detailing. Elsewhere in his work, it can feel like you are being (to use my daughter’s phrase) ‘speech-talked’ by a post-grad who wants to tell you about his research when all you want to do is chill over a beer. The fun is then replaced by earnestness. Perhaps the book, justifiably a classic in the sub-genre, is already about to flip over a line from being an exciting current read into being part of a canon, an item on a literature student’s reading list. What looked amazing and imaginative in 1992 and perhaps prescient and hip in 2002 looks a bit historical and past-it in 2012. Er ... VHS? The virtual world of Snow Crash looks far more Tron than Second Life. The references back to men who had fought in Vietnam now seem dated. Of course, all science fiction becomes the victim of a later reality – who now believes in the possibility of Gernsback-era rocket ships or that men might be shot into space by a giant gun Verne-style. So it is with cyber-space. Still, it’s an enjoyable romp that reads well. Hiro Protagonist is oddly likeable, the finely tuned slacker-hacker of all geeky fantasy selves. Raven, the psychopathic Aleut, has a plausible back story that almost has you rooting for him. But our skateboarding girl interest is as unreal as only nerd sci-fi writers can imagine young girls to be, even if she is engaging once you accept that she is a fantasy. The satire is also quite acute and very amusing at times. The grey doggedness of what remains of a bureaucratic yet privatised US under a cipher President is grimly presented. The idea of the Mafia, in alliance with a private security operation and the Hong Kong Chinese, being the good guys is carried off cynically and brilliantly. The technologies are imaginative – even if human flesh seems to have an absurd resilience and the lack of technological realism is often ridiculous. Let’s face it, we all laughed like crazy in ‘Independence Day’ when the laptop actually worked straight off in the alien ship! Read it now for fun now before it becomes as conceptually distant to us as Wells’ ‘War in the Air’ or start reading it in preparation for that essay on the historical importance of cyberpunk in the pre-internet era. Either way, Hiro Protagonist is probably now firmly in the science fiction canon. (GoodReads seems to have become a bit clunky about choosing the right edition but no matter – the text is the thing. For the record, I read the Penguin paperback reissue of 2011)

"This Snow Crash thing--is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?" Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference?" The only relief from the sea of logos is within the well-guarded borders of the Burbclaves. Is it any wonder that most sane folks have forsaken the real world and chosen to live in the computer-generated universe of virtual reality? In a major city, the size of a dozen Manhattans, is a domain of pleasures limited only by the imagination. But now a strange new computer virus called Snow Crash is striking down hackers everywhere, leaving an unlikely young pizza delivery man as humankind's last best hope. The perfect cyberpunk sci-fi read, Snow Crash is an equally worthy successor to William Gibson's Neuromancer and predecessor to Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. *** What readers are saying about Snow Crash: 'It's hard to believe Neal wrote his books when the published date claims. He's always so right about the future, and I keep on hoping he's so wrong' Goodreads Reader Review 'Snow Crash is to Books as The Matrix is to movies (with only the absolute BEST parts of Tron and Da Vinci Code thrown in)' Goodreads Reader Review 'Loved it! Can't recommend it highly enough. Everyone should read this book. Go do it. Do it now. It's just awesome. You won't regret it' Goodreads Reader Review 'It's hilarious and mind-blowing. From the first page to the last, I was amazed at just how much influence this book has had on TV, movies, etc.' Goodreads Reader Review

Erik Horton

Lindy

The good: This book reminded me of A Scanner Darkly.
The bad: It also reminded me of The Da Vinci Code.

Shape Mismatch

A dystopian cyberpunk world, with strong elements of virtual reality, of programming concepts, a paragraph about the perks of Lisp, futuristic skateboards, a swarm of refugee rafts, the mafia, Sumerian Mythology, and an over the top rope usage of Linguistics. Oh and sword fighting. Stephenson went full retard with this book and cooked up a hodge-podge of the ingredients above. And it’s a joy to read. Although, with his storytelling skills, he could write a 400 page novel on the origin of white bread and that'd be interesting to read. 

On the back cover, one of the quoted reviewers called it a Pynchon novel but with no breaks, and that I think is the best description of this book.

Rohit Arondekar

I have mixed feelings about Snow Crash. I loved the core story of a linguistic virus and how the author has mixed history, linguistics, science, and religion. Unfortunately, the book read like something Dan Brown or Jeffrey Archer would write. Fast-paced, crazy action and very little character development. The ending wasn't satisfying and I had to rush past the last 30-60 pages just so I could finish it. I think there is a better book in this world of Snow Crash but this isn't it.

For an overall rating, I thought this book was kind of mid. The first half sets up the story and the world and seems really complex, the promise of a mystery virus (especially reading it so close to the Covid19 pandemic) was exciting and intriguing. I also really enjoyed the satirical, often silly, metaphors and descriptions throughout.

The thing that killed a 5 star, or even a 4 star, rating, is that the ending was just not satisfying. The 'final battle' sequence was just drawn out so long, and was often hard to follow along. I also found that most of the characters were just not relatable or realistic at all. Which may have been partly the point, but I feel like it really diminished the impact of the rest of the story. I empathized the most with the robot dog, Fido, because I understood his motivations. I did not feel like Hiro or Y.T. had any clear motivations throughout the book beyond 'being cool'.. 

Emma Lechner

For an overall rating, I thought this book was kind of mid. The first half sets up the story and the world and seems really complex, the promise of a mystery virus (especially reading it so close to the Covid19 pandemic) was exciting and intriguing. I also really enjoyed the satirical, often silly, metaphors and descriptions throughout.

The thing that killed a 5 star, or even a 4 star, rating, is that the ending was just not satisfying. The 'final battle' sequence was just drawn out so long, and was often hard to follow along. I also found that most of the characters were just not relatable or realistic at all. Which may have been partly the point, but I feel like it really diminished the impact of the rest of the story. I empathized the most with the robot dog, Fido, because I understood his motivations. I did not feel like Hiro or Y.T. had any clear motivations throughout the book beyond 'being cool'.. 

Gavin

Fun, highly dated in ways that I find charming rather than vitiating (e.g. he has to explain to us what a hard disk is). His depiction of software, that ineliminable agent of our present and our future, is still better than 95% of scifi and 99.9% of lit-fic.

The plot is so clunky and over-the-top that Stephenson needs to actually embody all the necessary exposition in the form of a scholar personal assistant (which I would give bags of cash to have).

I fail to see what's satirical about it; certainly I know Stephenson doesn't believe that Sumerian is a neurolinguistic virus - but author disbelief is not sufficient for satire. Is he satirising Julian Jaynes? Cyberpunk? Hacker supremacism? If so, he failed because Snow Crash is a vivid and sympathetic instance of these things.

Cons: rampant pedophilia, racism, casual homophobia, convoluted story, possibly the worst ending I've ever read

Half Yeti, All Man

Cons: rampant pedophilia, racism, casual homophobia, convoluted story, possibly the worst ending I've ever read

Pros: it ended

This could have been so good but I truly struggled to finish it. Stephenson had all the ingredients for an epic cyberpunk novel—rogue hacker and badass skater sidekick, post-apocalyptic corporate hellscape, weird ideas about linguistics, high-tech virtual reality, the list goes on.

But somehow, the finished product is absolutely soulless. (I see why the Zucc has taken inspiration from it.)

The pervasive racism in this book, especially in descriptions of side characters, really sucked.

Also, look how Neal Stephenson massacred my girl Juanita. It was such a letdown that after her introduction, Stephenson essentially forgets about her, reviving her only as a cheap, cardboard cutout love interest.

Madi

This could have been so good but I truly struggled to finish it. Stephenson had all the ingredients for an epic cyberpunk novel—rogue hacker and badass skater sidekick, post-apocalyptic corporate hellscape, weird ideas about linguistics, high-tech virtual reality, the list goes on.

But somehow, the finished product is absolutely soulless. (I see why the Zucc has taken inspiration from it.)

The pervasive racism in this book, especially in descriptions of side characters, really sucked.

Also, look how Neal Stephenson massacred my girl Juanita. It was such a letdown that after her introduction, Stephenson essentially forgets about her, reviving her only as a cheap, cardboard cutout love interest.

In twenty-first-century America, a teenaged computer hacker finds himself fighting a computer virus that battles virtual reality technology and a deadly drug that turns humans into zombies

Stefanie Viens

The writing style was a little too absurd for  me to fully enjoy, but the story world is well-developed.

Roman

Felipe Saldarriaga 

With this novel is born the concept of metaverse. it's a cliché Heroe's Journey story with great points as a distopy and critisims of us as society that are only moving the same problems to a different playground and all its implications

Ilse

Even though I tried my best, I just couldn’t finish this book. There’s so much info dumping that the whole story got bogged down with it, and the characters lacked the depth I needed to even remotely connect with them. This is such a pity as I love the concept 🤷‍♀️

Janice Hopper

Finished my re-listen just in time for my book club.

This was a wild ride. I HATED the society depicted, but holy cow, the idea that evil (and other ideas) are a virus? Seems scarily relevant in today's society.

And I hate that.

Collin Cannon

Ewan

Never judge a book by it's cover.

Well not the edition I had, yeah yeah yeah - metaverse, techno, cyber, woooh, action crazy.

Ignoring the major themes of language, linguistics, religion as a virus that carry the book to it's finale. 

Anyway, good book, bounded along at a good pace. Reading it now ( as opposed to when it came out) ads the beauty of hindsight. Stephenson managed to predict a lot, (essentially most of the internet) but still thought we would be using video tapes. Aaawwww bless.

If there was any downside it was the "ooooh hackers will become the most important people in the world" vibe that was very prevalent back when thsi book was written.

Todd Luallen

This book has a lot of cursing and a description of sex with a 15 year old girl. I would have put the book down if the sex scene hadn't been so near the end of the book. Stephenson has an apparent knack for taking actual history and using it as a plot device for his fiction. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the ride. There were (seemingly) endless chapters where the main character talks with a librarian about "history" - because who doesn't love a good librarian conversation?! It is painful to read. Perhaps it's more difficult if you happen to know something about the ancient near east cultures, because Snow Crash takes incredible creative liberty in re-imagining it to suit the devices of the story. I understand that it is fiction, but I think it would have been a drag to read even if it was somewhat accurate. The action scenes and the way that Stephenson envisions the world is pretty interesting and given the year it was published and it's popularity, Snow Crash probably had a lot to do with the Cyberpunk genre. But it wasn't enough to make the story enjoyable for me...especially the abrupt ending...not cool.

Kyle S

Literally the only book I've ever read that felt like I was reading an action movie.

Cams Campbell

I finished this audiobook a couple of weeks ago after hearing several tech podcasters recommending it. It's a cyberpunk novel, whatever that might mean, set in the near future. The main character, Hiro Protagonist, starts out as a pizza delivery guy working for Uncle Enzo, head of the Mafia. The USA is broken up into corporate franchises and the mafia is now one such franchise.

Hiro is a hacker and was involved in programming The Black Sun, the geek hangout in the metaverse. The metaverse is an idea of the future of the internet, more sort of AI where users goggle in and wander round using avatars to represent themselves.

The book gets into religion and linguistics and, as a former linguist and a current geek, I found Stephenson's ideas intriguing. Some of the best parts of the novel are when Hiro is discussing science and linguistics with the librarian (a piece of software that has access to the digital info archives).

All in all I found it to be an enjoyable, well-written and well-researcehd novel and I liked it well enough to consider reading more of Stephenson's novels.

Dmitry Dudov

A better Neuromancer. Some say it’s a parody - possibly because of larger-than-life characters and, um, everything. I think another good explanation is that this was meant to be a graphic novel. When you read it like this, the sheer intensity of it seems almost natural.

Fraser Simons

** spoiler alert **
           Although well written I struggled to make it through this book. There is a lot of problematic content in regards to YT. And worse, a lot of it is usually defended because of the tone of the book. However people justify it in order to enjoy it, I couldn't. 

That being said, the story was enjoyable for me in so far as the overall plot about language being a virus traced back to ancient origins. That was pretty cool.

I'm a big fan of cyberpunk, but I prefer stories about the human condition so was left a bit unsatisfied. YT exists solely to support a divergent plot thread, it's a gonzo, balls to wall story that doesn't have a grander plot in mind. There's something to be said for reading a book that is just a thriller, but I was looking for more from it after all the praise. 

Still, not bad. Maybe a victim of hype and sensitivity to some content that made me uncomfortable.

Emmett

Has that cinematic expanse and inventive vividity that would make it do just as well on the screen and it already is on the page (say, a film visually similar to that of Tron: Legacy, or the recent Blade Runner). Loved the acknowledgments page; as a novel Snow Crash is teeming with ideas and it was nice to see Stephenson acknowledging his sources which gives this reader an idea of where and how he might've pulled everything together into a stunning plot blending Sumerian myth narratives, human and computer viruses and the Tower of Babel and futuristic technology, with an interesting cast of characters that benefited from the virtue of each being distinct and integral enough that none of them felt out of place or superfluous. I was very fond of Y.T.; she deserves especial mention as an example of a successful 'cool teenager' type of character that did not stretch the limits of credulity. Hiro Protagonist was naturally a tongue-in-cheek christening and puzzlingly some reviewers apparently did not grasp that. He was, I sense, intentionally crafted as a racial and cultural mosaic and himself emblematic of a world pieced together from, but also rendering slight criticism of, stereotypes, pop culture,, advertising and technological spinning (see also the character of Mr Lee, from Mr Lee's Greater Hong Kong), but he, like many characters here including Mr Lee and Uncle Enzo, was larger than the 'point' made, and more interesting for that.

ben wolfson

an essential work of science fiction. what a fun, wild ride.

Niiiiiiice.

The worldbuilding was the selling point of this novel. Stephenson has a really, really complicated and multilayered world going on, but the reader isn't confused for long.

Hiro Protagonist (ha ha ha) and YT were the selling characters, even though Hiro was a borderline Gary Stu (??? or was that the point as reflected by the name? Still deciding), but YT was kickass and an excellent main character.

Too bad it didn't past the Bechdel test and I'm still contemplating the rest of the novel. But it was very nice.

Sarah Escorsa

DNF.

What a disappointment! I enjoyed the beginning of the novel very much (granted, the whole virtual reality thing is a bit outdated, but the book was written in 1992) but the book pretty much comes to a halt after the first half. Stephenson gives a tedious lecture on Sumerian mythology, Hebrews, Pentecostals... It just got too boring for me and I just couldn't finish the book.

Snow crash

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