Blog by Sumana Harihareswara, Changeset founder
Skimmed Neal Stephenson's The Big U last night. Stephenson…
Hi, reader. I wrote this in 2002 and it's now more than five years old. So it may be very out of date; the world, and I, have changed a lot since I wrote it! I'm keeping this up for historical archive purposes, but the me of today may 100% disagree with what I said then. I rarely edit posts after publishing them, but if I do, I usually leave a note in italics to mark the edit and the reason. If this post is particularly offensive or breaches someone's privacy, please contact me.
Skimmed Neal Stephenson's The Big U last night. Stephenson didn't rerelease it for a long time, arguing that he didn't want people to read his inferior early work instead of reading worthwhile fiction by other people. Then The Big U got rereleased anyway.
He was right the first time.
The Big U's political satire reminds me of the heavy-handed, depressing parts of Wobegon Boy and other works by Garrison Keillor. And I just skipped the subplots about role-playing gamers and the cults and political groups. I just wanted some conversation among the main characters and the exciting fight scenes that were like the almost-last fight/chase scene in Snow Crash. And there's not enough of that.
So, yeah. Stephenson is right. Read something else. Two Tales of Crow and Sparrow, perhaps, which I still don't hate, even though I'm more than halfway through. In fact, it strikes a chord with me, because my mom always got on my case about using my right hand instead of my left (I was born left-handed, but they switched me!*) and various rituals and superstitions regarding cleanliness. Dundes reminds me of Lawrence Lessig, showing me things I've always known in a new light.
That reminds me, I really need to finish Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. Maybe during my upcoming unemployment.
*My father recently told me that he and my mother should not have retrained me to be right-handed, "because all left-handed people are geniuses." Thanks, Dad.
