Sorry for the
unexplained hiatus…
I’ve been working on Susanna
Clarke’s mammoth Hugo winner, applying for grad school, and spending time
having fun being a dad who is not as much worried about finishing this thing on
time. I think I’m back now, though posts
will probably continue to be sparse until I get through both Clarke’s and Vinge’s
leviathan novels. Anyway…let’s finish
off the damn 90’s! Woot!
Think you can guess what the “Mom Pick” will be?
********
Stats
The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
1996 Hugo
Award Winner
Got it
from: Public Library
455 Pages
The
Diamond Age is the age of the rampant proliferation of (seriously cool) nanotechnology, limited-to-no government, and a
social structure that is more or less organized around class/ethnic districts. While nanotechnology has revolutionized the production
of goods, the organization and policing of cities, and the consumption of
media, extremes in the distribution of wealth and power persist…
What I liked
I love
that The Diamond Age unfolds just
a bit at a time. In the case of the nanotech
achievements, this means a slowly telescoping view of daily-life, which now
boasts such wonderful toys as: matter compliers (they’re like microwaves…in
that they have buttons and doors anyway), microscopic (and biological)
surveillance, scary-smart media (both “paper” and video), and basically anything
can be made lighter-than-air.
Stephenson
lets us in on a whole world of tech practically one element at a time so that
we’re still learning how things work right up until the end. Each piece of tech seems to allude to another
entire novel’s worth of other
possibilities so much so that one gets the sense that there are two separate (and successful) endeavors at worldbuilding
taking place in the same book – the cultural and the nanotechnological.
Despite radical
mechanical and structural design, Stephenson conveys the smallest and every
detail in a way that is understandable, not
boring, and which maintains the pace and excitement of whatever is actually
happening. The logistics of how the Primer works might
have been the only instance when I might have wanted a mental reversal of fortune, but I figure that’s bound to happen at
some point whether it’s warranted or not when a book is so crammed full of
endless information.
People are telescopes too.
Stephenson
relies on dual narratives, which have been used in not a few of the Hugo winners thus far. At the same time, he introduces a false
protagonist, which has become one of my favorite tropes these days. The combination establishes the disparity of
economies and access across districts
but further amplifies the extent of Nell’s privation even in a district
composed almost solely of a terrifying mix of despondency and abuse – it places
her in a well at the bottom of a mine shaft, which was instantly endearing. I’m restraining myself from delving too
deeply here; Nell made me want to cry a lot.
But back
to the point, Stephenson only releases those details in small bites as a result
of the transitions between narratives, Nell’s ignorance, and the Primer’s
method of instruction. Somehow this
works out to make Nell’s life both easier and harder to cope with sometimes. The end result is a novel that seamlessly ranges
from bad-ass engineering and mechanical descriptions to heart-thumping
emotional distress.
What I didn’t like
The book
ended.
Recommendation
The Diamond Age is
an exciting example of where crossing subgenres can take us. I’ve personally always been pretty attuned to
more similarities than differences between steampunk and cyberpunk, so this
worked really well for me. I would
recommend this book to nearly anyone.
Just be prepared for a bipolar reading experience.
HEP SCORE
Universe 3/5
Social/Political
Climate 5/5
Dialogue 4/5
Scientific
Wonders 5/5
Characters
4/5
Overall
21/25
Ooh, time for a re-read, I think.
ReplyDeleteOoh, time for a re-read, I think.
ReplyDeleteSure, right after you finish the rest of Hugos right? ;-)
DeleteWas this consistent with your thoughts when you first read it?
Good luck with the grad school applications! I'm on the other end of that journey right now, trying to get graduated and employed :).
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed The Diamond Age, too. I said at the end of my review, "I had so much fun reading the book that I was mostly disappointed that it had ended at all," so I think we're on the same page with this one!
That's funny. Now I have to go read yours :)
DeleteThis is one of the few Stephensons I haven't read. And i've got a copy, which means I have no excuse.
ReplyDeleteNo excuse other than the thousands of other books also waiting to be read ;-)
Delete