Rating: 
Summary: Not worth buying
Review: I've read and loved all of Neal Stephenson's prior novels, appreciating his storytelling, his ability to visualize the future and craft fascinating extrapolations of where technology might take us. Even Zodiac, although not SF, was excellent.So be warned that Quicksilver is NOT the same sort of book. I found it to be a lame attempt to weave historical scientific figures into a fictional story. After 200 pages of trying to slog my way through, I'm giving up and moving on to other books by other authors. The story was too slow, too boring and just not worth my time. Go read William Gibson's "Pattern Recognition" or Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" instead.
Rating: 
Summary: should have used a pseudonym
Review: I think my biggest gripe against the book, apart from having spent $35 on it because I just HAD to have it when I spied it on the shelf in an airport bookstore, was that my expectations were set by Cryptonomicon, which had tons of action, interesting characters and plot, as well as a moral message, The Diamond Age, which was nothing if not wildly creative, and Snow Crash which blasted Stephenson onto the scene with his masterful use of language. I did not consider that this would be a totally different kind of book that reads like a history more than a work of fiction, attendant with two dimensional characters who don't really do anything. The worst part is that just when the plot or characters get interesting, they are dropped in favor of another scene describing the advent of the scientific method. Big deal. A quick fix to this problem would be for Stephenson to use a pseudonym, ala Ian Banks (Iain M. Banks) and Anne Rice (Ann Rampling). That would be like a huge neon billboard flashing, "Now for something completely different." I'll be checking some reviews before I buy the next installment.
Rating: 
Summary: Research Gone Mad-Love It !
Review: Give the man credit - I read this thing and took notes and looked up the historical references to check "accuracy".....My Lord, it took forever, so I stopped after the first section. How in the world could any human keep this much info straight? Fascinating. Look, the narrative breaks down, modern day slang and situations creep in, and clever tricks of memory explain narrow escapes. I still loved it. Eliza's "thingy" opened waaaay too many doors and Daniel's guilt solved too many puzzles, but I was still mesmerized. Neal is a developing writer with insane talents in need of an editor to understand what on earth he is trying to convey. Good luck editors! This is a wonderful read if you have the patience.
Rating:
Summary: Tragic Waste of Talent
Review: I have patiently watched Stephenson progress to be one of the best writers of our time. Cryptonomicon, I thought, was his arrival and we would be blessed with brilliant novels for years to come. I waited for his next book, bought it the first time I saw it (in hardcover which I never do), and took it home to relish the pages. I really tried. And then I realized I was getting lost in description. The characters all seemed of the same mind. Things wandered, got lost, got described, got lost. I am tragically dissapointed in Neal Stephenson. What a waste of our good time and his. To have expended this much effort and end up with the sloppy hodgepodge of a novel is a great loss. Where the heck is his editor? Why did he/she allow him to do this? He'll never live it down and it will take a real turn around to bring me back into the Stephenson Clan.
Rating: 
Summary: Ehh...
Review: I've adored Neal Stephenson's other works, particularly "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon". I find as a whole that his work is fresh, funny, energetic and filled with gripping characters, unexpected plot twists and wry, sly references. So I was practically salivating to get my hands on a copy of "Quicksilver".
And my reaction to the book, after getting about 600 pages into it, was to lay it down, close the cover and take it back to the library. I enjoyed the first bits, when I was connecting the characters to their descendants in "Cryptonomicon". And I enjoyed Stephenson's extensive research into and portrayal of Sir Isaac Newton, the great plague, etc.
But the characters and the story just never grabbed my attention. It seems that Stephenson's usual verve and wit have taken a holiday in this overstuffed oeuvre. I think he just never had a chance to breathe under all the historical weight he pulled down on himself while creating this tome. Yes, this is a magnificent historical novel. But unfortunately, it's not a fun read.
Rating:
Summary: It grows on you....
Review: Like many others out there, I got this book hoping for something along the lines of Cryptonomicon. If this is what you are hoping for, prepare to have your hopes dashed. It is about as different from that novel as can be. This is really a straight historical fiction tale set in the 1600-1700's. Stephenson chooses to write this by adopting some of the cadence and terminology of the time period. This is a bit stilted and streched at first, but with a little patience and time, you start to get used to it. On occasion, the wit, humor, and fascinating digressions that Stephenson displayed in Cryptonomicon peak through, but it was not often enough for my taste. The first 'book' in this novel is really quite slow and dry, which is an unfortunate first impression. On several occasions, I was on the verge of putting it down altogether. Patience is rewarded in the second book, which offers more of an active story line and lively characters. If you are in the throes of the first book and reading reviews to see what others thought, stick with it. On the whole, this was a solid Stephenson book. Though written in a slightly off-putting style, the book is a worth-while read.
Rating:
Summary: Stephenson loses his style
Review: As a huge fan of nearly everything by Stephenson, and someone who enjoyed reading even those books of his I wouldn't recommend to others, I was shocked by how devoid of life this novel was. What I considered the "trademark" of Stephenson was his fast pacing and verve...no matter what the subject, in a Stephenson novel, things _move_. His writing was a bit like a white water raft trip--you might have been getting drowned in information, but you were having a great time doing it at breakneck pace. This novel has lost that style, so the flood of information is simply rising inexorably toward boredom. Even a move from Waterhouse to Shaftoe, while it helped, did not bring back that sense of spark that is Stephenson. This is a competent work from any other novelist, but it's a disappointment to find that one of our most talented writers spent so much effort on something dozens of other people could have written equally well.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the Inane
Review: I have long been a fan of Stephenson's work. Although I still hold Cryptonomicon to be his magnum opus, this tome is something spectacular in its own right. It is challenging to the reader, something that I appreciate. This is not a book I could turn off my brain to read on autopilot. Instead, I had to pay attention and reread passages. That's a good thing; the more I re-read, the better it got. A strong, gutsy historical novel from one of America's finest writers--this is not to be missed if you have the IQ to handle it.
Rating:
Summary: Get out of the house. Just. Get. Out. Of. The. House.
Review: .
If "Paradise Lost" was, as Johnson said, a book which no one wished was longer, I wonder how the Doctor would feel about this. Quicksilver is a 900 page part one of a trilogy, and if you do the math, you have to make sure you're enjoying this as you go along. This is a long trek, and if you're not enjoying it, put it down. That's what I'm doing, after 150 pages. I don't like the characters, their development, the plot, or the style. Mind you, I'm not put off by the erudition (as friends have asked me), because I can enjoy Gaddis and Pynchon; it's more that the erudition seems gratuitous. The characters observe, and think, but I'm seeing very little emotion here, and reading it is laborious as a result. I imagine others will disagree with me, and if your tastes run to novels of ideas like Harry Mulisch's "The Discovery of Heaven," then maybe you will enjoy this. But I am not, and so I am just leaving the house.
Rating:
Summary: An awfully fun beginning -- but is it a novel?
Review: Incredible as it may seem, this massive tome is not really a complete story at all. It performs the function of the first scene in a very long novel: introduces characters, sets the location and time, acclimates you to the mood, and puts a few people in motion. So yes, there is a plot...but you only see the tip of it. Furthermore, as you read Quicksilver you can easily imagine Mr. Stephenson's brain stuffed to overflowing with his historical research, because you can spot the points at which he decides, "And here I will insert some very specific information about firearms of the period because I have a book on the subject in front of me." Many of the conversations in the book sound stilted and unnatural, and the characters are fairly flat. All that being said...this novel is still a rollicking good time. He is still Neal Stephenson, and he can still make you laugh and think and admire his turns of phrase. While Quicksilver is, alas, not as fun and fast as Cryptonomicon, it is still a good time for Stephenson fans. If you haven't read Cryptonomicon, please, read that first before judging him on the basis of Quicksilver. I fear the research bogged him down, but let's all hope that things really get rolling in the next one.
|
