Rating: 
Summary: 4 1/2 stars, really
Review: I came to _Snow Crash_ on the recommendation of a few people who had read it (they called it "great!" and "hilarious!," and knowing that Neal Stephenson is sometimes listed as a "cyberpunk" writer along with William Gibson et al. I had liked William Gibson's books, so I gave _Snow Crash_ a try.
_Snow Crash_ is primarily about Hiro, a young man who delivers pizzas and collects information for the Central Intelligence Corporation (freelance), for a living. He lives in a storage unit with a cult-hero rockstar named Vitaly Chernobyl. He owns a futon, two awesome Japanese swords, and a laptop computer, where he stays "jacked in" to the "Metaverse" a lot of the time, where he is the world's greatest swordfighter.
Hiro witnesses a crime while interacting with others in the Metaverse. One of his friends is deliberately exposed to a dangerous block of text, which fries his brain (in the real world), and renders him a vegetable. Hiro and his friend Y.T. (15-year old skateboarding female, and knee-slappingly funny smartaleck) set off to find out why, and save the world in the process.
From the getgo this is a funny book. Sure, the vision of the near-future is dark, a little alarming, and at times depressing (there are NO general laws in _Snow Crash_, for example, and private corporations run everything, even the police, just as an example). That's what cyberpunk is like. But the HUMOR is one thing that sets Neal Stephenson aside. Hiro Protagonist? Come on, that's FUNNY, PEOPLE! One reviewer called it an 'odd' name. Yes, it's odd, and it's absurd, and it's funny! Did this author mean it is an unusual choice for a character name? I don't know. I hope not. It would be an odd choice for a character's name in a Jane Austen novel, sure. But this is cyberpunk, or something like it. Among this genre's leading inspirations are the works of Thomas Pynchon, and "Hiro Protagonist," as a character name, would fit in perfectly among his merry bands of misfits, especially in _V._ or _Gravity's Rainbow_.
Repeatedly reviewers are slamming Stephenson for his use of Sumerian myth, exploration of Sumerian culture, etc. in the book... calling it inaccurate, poorly connected to the rest of the story, and, (my personal least favorite), BORING. I tell you, besides the great sense of humor, the Sumerian-myth link is what sets this novel heads above so much other cyberpunk. I don't care if it's inaccurate (this is FICTION, see?). Stephenson "traces" computer/textual viruses and biological viruses quite nicely back to Sumerian times, and he links them to one another, biological virus to digital/informational virus (a debt to another pre-cyberpunk luminary, William Burroughs, who said "Word is Virus?")-- it's all very well connected to the metaverse/here-and-now portion of _Snow Crash_'s plot.
This is a funny, riproaring tale. I raced through this nearly 500-page paperback in half the time I read most books of this length. I enjoyed it beginning-to-end. My only complaint with the book was that, at times, it too much resembled a Hollywood action movie, what with all sorts of incredible stunts being performed, by boat drivers, skateboarders, swordsmen, etc.
I say, if you like William Gibson or Thomas Pynchon, or if any of this review makes _Snow Crash_ seem a bit appealing to you, give it a chance. I enjoyed it 10 times as much as I thought I would.
ken32
Rating:
Summary: Garvin and Blaise in metaspace
Review: I really enjoyed reading this fairy tale of a book. It is a sometimes funny tale of the future with heroes, love, Pizza Kourirs, skateboards, Aleutians, mobsters, modern days samurais, revenge and high adventure. It is a metaspace romp that will entertain many and agitate some.
It is a quick moving story where Hiro in many ways is the young Willy Garvin and the female hero is a even young version of Modesty Blaise. They are happily not limited to live only in reality, but can also exist in virtuality, where one can have a totale different and sometimes more significant role than in normal life.
The plot revolves around a drug called Snow Crash which is available both in Virtual and Real reality. After one of his friends becomes infected by this 'drug', Hero and skate-boarding Y.T. must investigate who is behind the snow scheme and stop the onrushing Infopocalypse. Along the way they meet an assortment of characters: a psychotic Aleut who uses razor-sharp knives to fight with, a wonderful funny cybernetic dog that can run at Mach2 (and is worth reading the book for alone. Enjoy the wonderful dog - gooooood dog! Sit!!!!), a Mafia Pizza Mogul with a heart (but for whom and what ?). The settings range from the city-states of ancient Sumer to Virtual Reality libraries to a huge surplus aircraft carrier/floating city in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Why then does so many readers trash this story; Some do not believe in its bleak future (its science fiction!), some dont like that its the bleak future of USA (its science fiction!!), some dont like name of the main character ( its sc....well you know what I am going to say - ), some thought they were going to read an updated copycat Neuromancer story (ask for the money back if you dare), some just didnt like the story (but still got agitated enough so that they sat down and wrote a review), some didnt like the end (almost nothing is perfect in this world) - anyway I gave it a four and not a five!
If you think some of the list just above could agitate you, please stay away from this book. If you dont mind some minor glitches in a story and are not overcritical and love a fairytale with born again Modesty & co read it for fun.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm a victim...
Review: ...of someone who took a previous reviewer's advice to have another buy the book, then lend it and be forced to buy another copy when it doesn't return!
From the opening description of Hiro Protagonist (the main character--couldn't you tell?), I was caught by the irony, sarcasm, wit, and sheer fun with the English language that Neal Stephenson has in his repertoire. Snow Crash is gutsy, innovative, witty, and fun. It rewards anyone who churn out code for a living. Anyone who wonders what happens to our brains with all the advertising thrown at us. Anyone who is tired of the same old science fiction. Anyone who has wondered if the Tower of Babel story, combined with Sumerian mythos, would make a good computer-age read... the answer is yes.
It's almost impossible to review a cyberpunk book without comparing it to uberauthor William Gibson's works. I find Gibson to be cooly intellectual, reserved, methodical--a great read for a day when I'm ready to think hard. Stephenson is white-hot, down and dirty, in the trenches, while not losing touch with the thoughtfulness and underlying structure that makes Gibson satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi morphs into reality...
Review: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
A few pages into this book, I had to check the date of publication - 1992! Which meant it was imagined no later than 1991 - and much of the technology which was imagined is now a fact. Sadly, harpooning one's way down the LA freeways on skateboards has NOT happened.
Definitely a book for the younger crowd; in fact, it gave me some insights into teenagers. The heroine is a delightful 15 year old girl, but a girl who was imagined by a boy, that's for sure. There were a few scenes which rang delightfully true - when she is taken in by an elderly man's courtliness, for example. I suppose the hero is the main character, but I didn't find him nearly as appealing as the girl.
There are some interesting notes on class - p. 61 - "class is more than income, it has to do with knowing where you stand in a web of social relationships."
And a great quote - p. 121"Don't let evil into your operating system." Or p.223 "The social structure of any nation-state is ultimately determined by its security arrangements."
p.140 got me to thinking about "personalized attention" and how hungry we are for it.
p.147 made me think about what makes real real. It's a question raised by virtual reality, including the virtual classroom.
p. 217 raises the idea of the story as incantation, a self-fulling fiction. Just what does fiction do to us?
Unsatisfying : the parent/child relationships (p.226). Silence is the best stategm? I don't think so. This one posits the teenager who is silent as savior of her oh-so-out-of-it mother. Appealing perhaps, to teens, but not helpful.
The analysis of religion is dismissive of faith. Fun as this book was, I won't recommend it to the teens in my life. It's a nam-shub (p.217) for sure.
Rating:
Summary: Fun cyberpunk, seemingly an oxy moron...no more
Review: This is one of the most purely entertaining books I've ever read. It has a thousand and one concepts that seemingly would only work in a comic book, or movie, or oher visual medium, but every detail is pulled off with perfection. The world in this book is oddly plausible. Every major change simply reflects the direction America and society in general are always moving in. Above all, however, this book is fun to read. I recommend it without reservation to anyone at all. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: a little something for everyone
Review: I LOVED this book, and I usually hate reading. Snow Crash meshes cyber sci fi, mythology, and satire into one fun book. This book works on many levels. You can read it for the entertaining plot, analyze every aspect of it, or anything in between. Stephenson is a detailed writer, but he won't bore you. The only bad part about this book was its occasional explicitness.
