Cryptonomicon

Stephenson holds something of a sacred position in geek circles. This novel is one of the reasons for that. Which is why I find myself a bit disappointed.

The scale is quite phenomenal telling one conspiracy over two generations from World War II to then present day (late 90s) while covering the cryptography and the invention of the digital computer at the same time.

But that's a large part of the problem. There are times when it just feels like the author is indulging in a lecture on a favorite subject rather than telling a story. For anyone who isn't fascinated in the details of cryptographic systems (or the exact relationships of the greek pantheon), this must be rather dull.

To add insult to injury, despite being an incredibly long book (the plot doesn't even really start connecting between the two eras until half way through) Stephenson still jumps over key segments choosing to tell us about what happened instead of showing us.

Things meander all over the place. Backwards and forwards in time. With the coincidences piling up well beyond the point of credibility, so you just have to sort of shrug and go with it. Really did neither Root or Goto Dengo have anything to say to Douglas Shaftoe? And what even was the point of the Andrew Loeb sub-plot at all?

We are presented with lots (and lots) of characters but many of them seem interchangeable. Women come off particularly badly. There are only a handful and they are all essentially dismissed as irrelevant to the plot and short of character.

All of which I can almost forgive because the cryptography and computer subject matter is so fascinating to me. I particularly liked the World War II segments. But even there I had trouble due to Stephenson's decision to so casually mix truth and fiction. I would rather he had stuck purely with fact really.

So in the end I have to call this overrated. There is some fascinating subject matter, but as a story it really doesn't hang together.