I'm writing this on January 5, 2001. Last reading: 1 day ago

First up, a super-simple summary: this novel is told from the point of view of a number of different characters; usually, it's the same few, but sometimes the point of view is from one person who shows up in only one "chapter" (each one being on the order of 20 pages). The most major characters: Lawrence Waterhouse, who is almost freakishly skilled in breaking codes during World War II. Bobby Shaftoe, a Marine Raider, who repeatedly goes through hellish situations, and ends up on seemingly insane missions designed to keep the Allies' knowledge of Enigma hidden. And Randy Waterhouse, grandson of Lawrence, in a near-future attempt to use computer networking technology (and encrypted data) to fill some societal needs.

I knew about Neal Stephenson from a reccomendation of a friend to read Snow Crash. For a long time, that was at the top of my list as far as computer-related/"cyberpunk" novels go. I think this one topped it.

Now, they're rather hard to compare with each other. Snow Crash was first dreamed up as a graphic novel, and it showed in the storytelling: it was highly visual in many respects, and had highly flamboyant characters doing terribly dramatic things. But it needed to be a full text novel due to the enjoyable intricacies in the weaving of the plot. Cryptonomicon, on the other hand, was much more ambitious and intricate all the way around; and while it does inculde some very light diversions, it has a seriousness that contrasts with the pure escapism of Snow Crash.

Some of the things that struck me as extraordinary: Stephenson has only written 3 other novels. Yet he dedicated himself to something with a surprisingly small audience: people willing to commit to a 918-page novel, who enjoy thinking about cryptology, who work with computers and have some experience with programming, and are fascinated by World War II. Having an interest in Greek mythology and being seriously interested in how societies evolve doesn't hurt either. Also, he shattered the old English-teacher favorite of "show, don't tell." His storytelling style drifts, sometimes showing vivid descriptions of countryside or full detail of conversations; other times he just goes on a tear and summarizes entire conversations in a single paragraph, or tells right out what is going on in a character's mind. He includes mathematical equations, graphs, and a computer program, within the text of the novel. He uses footnotes occasionally. It would be enough to make a good number of editors break down, I'm sure. Yet, somehow, his wonderful use of language and rhythm makes it all work.

Another thing which this novel does which I've never seen any other novel do successfully: involving the characters in plotlines that take many years to be completed. Yes, I have read other novels where there are two sets of characters in different times, where the actions of the "past" characters have a strong influence in the lives of the "future" characters. But usually, each set of characters lives out a matter of months in the novel. In this one, though, each set of characters lives out several years over the course of the novel. But it doesn't suffer the problem that most other novels have that attepmt to cover such long time periods: most times, there is a clear sense that extremely important events have happened that were never dealt with. Somehow, here, Stephenson manages to convey the feeling like you know the characters, and everything they've been through, without actually showing every minute of their lives. I don't know how he did it, but it worked extremely well.

Now, to what was less-than-perfect. The main one: the ending. It was fitting, it was appropriate, but I didn't get a perfect moment of "ka-chunk," everything falling into place. That's something that has "made" a lot of novels for me. This didn't have it. The ending was still good, but not great (which was a bit of a let-down, considering how great so much of the rest was). Part of that may have been due to something which I didn't notice until after reading the novel: on the first page, before getting to the "critical praise" quotes, it includes the following paragraph:

With the extraordinary first volume in what promises to be an epoch-making masterpiece, Stephenson hacks into the secret histories of nations and the private obsessions of men, decrypting with dazzling virtuosity the forces that shaped this century.