Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
4 Stars
Snow Crash is the book that made Neal Stephenson a sci-fi superstar. I have read and enjoyed most of Neal Stephenson’s work and was looking forward to reading what is widely acknowledged as a Science Fiction classic.
You are transplanted to the not so far future, riding shotgun beside Hiro Protagonist – master hacker, concert promoter, freelance spy, and the greatest sword fighter in the world; currently employed as a pizza delivery driver. He is joined in the first chapter by Ms. YT (Yours Truly) – the precocious 15 year old skateboarder, escape artist and all around badass. We also find Raven, a giant Aleutian, with a vendetta against the United States, and a tactical nuclear device in the sidecar of his Harley Davidson. When a man has “Poor Impulse Control” tattooed across his forehead, you know that his appearance is not going to be good news.
In Snow Crash, the government has shrunk and the US is split into a number of corporation controlled “burbclaves”. Policing, infrastructure, intelligence gathering, and even religion have been outsourced to competing corporations. The world is lit by the ambient glow of advertising billboards, some of them advertising the Mafia’s guaranteed thirty minute pizza delivery. Yes, the Mafia is in the pizza delivery business (and is Hiro’s employer), and is run just like a corporation, with three ring binders filled with detailed descriptions on how each franchise should be run.
The dystopian near future USA is still a magnet for refugees from the third world. We find a huge flotilla called the Raft moving across the Pacific ocean and ready to disgorge hundreds of thousands of refugees onto the West coast. Against this backdrop, we find dead hackers and a mysterious virus that can jump from computer to human. After losing a friend, Hiro tries to get to the bottom of the mystery and with YT’s help, uncovers a nefarious plot by a powerful billionaire to take control of society. Hiro and YT encounter hackers speaking in tongues, Vietnam veterans with cybernetic enhancements, and adorable cyborg dogs.
Mr. Stephenson, however, also spends an inordinate amount of time talking about Sumerian and Hebrew myths, and trying to convince us that all of this has happened before. We get chapters which read like excerpts from an Encyclopedia or quoted verbatim from an academic paper. We know that Mr. Stephenson can write snappy, kinetic prose. So it is jarring to move from high speed skateboard chase sequences and fantastic sword fights to ten pages of description of the Sumerian political system and language. It is interesting, but feels out of place given the otherwise dynamic nature of the book.
Despite its flaws Snow Crash is a wonderful work of speculative fiction, and fully deserves its “Classic” status. It is engaging and thought provoking. The central premise of the book is that ideas are viruses and can be communicated. This is a clear allusion to advertising and how ubiquitous it is and the power it exerts. In a world that is dominated by corporations and capitalism, the corporation that has the most number of clients (voluntary or otherwise) is the most powerful. This is powerful stuff.
Like the best satire, it is a scathing critique of where our society was headed. I recommend it whole heartedly to any science fiction fan. It has all the meaty science, action and friendly cybernetic canines you could wish for.
April 2013.