Stephenson, N. (1992). Snow crash. New York: Bantam Books.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson:
This week i've sadly only made it about 35% (150 pgs or so) into this Dystopian 90s Sci-Fi epic.
"One of Time magazine's 100 all-time best English-language novels. Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparisons writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility to bring us the gigathriller dystopian epic of the information age. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he's a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that's striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous...you'll recognize it immediately." -some guy
How did this work make me feel?
So, I'm not going to lie to you guys, for some reason despite having a lower Lexile score than my most recently reviewed book, this story is harder to get into than the others. I believe this is due in part to a large amount of high-context dialogue between the multiple main characters and the extremely large alien future that it attempts to create for the reader. Eventually, this pays off, as the plot and characters progress and the world building can slow down as the story picks up.
It's kind of funny, because this book was written in 1992, it spends an ornate amount of time explaining the intricacies of how the internet works, which is humorous to a modern reader. This small fact could actually drive younger readers away, as they may grow bored or become lost in the antiquated details.
What was my favorite part of this text?
Ok, so the opening chapter(s?) are pretty insane. It's written very much like a hollywood blockbuster in that they immediately throw you in the middle of an intense, high-action chase scene, then panning out to explain the context. This book appears in my mind's eye much like a YA version of the movie Blade Runner (though sadly no Han Solo).
Overall Reader's Digest Version:
So, i'm not done with the book yet and I'm honestly really excited to keep reading. From what the internet tells me, it pairs very well with Ready Player One (my past review), which was the main reason I chose to follow it with this choice.
-There is a super badass female lead who is essentially a vigilante super hacker/crimefighter and it's kind of great having her act as more than a love interest for the main male, Hiro (whose last name is actually Protagonist if you needed some subtlety).
x/5.
As a huge fan of Ready Player One, myself, I am glad you decided to review this novel. I love the idea of having similarly-themed-but-varying-reading-leveled novels in my classroom library. I can see how the internet explanations frontloaded at the beginning of the novel might have been helpful for a mid-90's reader, but they would absolutely be a turn-off for a young reader today. Our students have never known a world without the Internet. It makes me wish they'd update the edition and have the editor or writer revise those portions to stay more up-to-date. I'll be interested in seeing more of what you think as you continue reading, and I am REALLY happy to see a strong female lead. As you mentioned in one of your comments on my post, feminist criticism is one of your go to's, and I think sci-fi is an excellent place to have those discussions. One of the aspects of Ender's Game that I always liked was the intelligence of Ender's sister, Valentine. I always appreciated how Card wrote a strong female character to act as the foil to Ender's cruel brother, Peter.
ReplyDeleteSo I have to comment on the prevalence of suprebadass females in dystopian lit--this novel may have been one of the first, helping to set the trend and access a new market. I wonder if she will be the love interest--later sic-fi have the males trailing the dystopian females--let me know how this turns out. Wonder if this book needs an update/edit? Novelists are doing this--same story but updating it to reach a new audience so we aren't annoyed by references to record or cassette players and the world wide web:) Let me know if I should add this to my holiday reading list--I like the idea of alternative universes--we all want to escape into alternate realities--
ReplyDeleteI agree that glasses are a great idea--as you (and Freire) say, we are helping students to read the world--to read the world, they have to SEE the world, but everyone sees the world differently. I can hear a bit of your frustration at the beginning of this DO and believe me, I understand it. I have been in this profession long enough to have lived through the swinging educational pendulum quite often--the best way to avoid the extremes in theories and methods, is to always teach students to THINK--that is why I asked Nicole to come--she will tell you that her ultimate goal with students is to teach them to think and to see the world--we can do this through picture books or canonical works--it doesn't matter--does process matter more than content? Or does the process become the content?
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