TITLE: The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated PrimerAUTHOR: Neal Stephenson
STARTED: January 26, 2009
FINISHED: February 4, 2009
PAGES: 455
GENRE: Science Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: The bells of St. Mark's were ringing changes up on the mountain when Bud skated over to the mod parlor to upgrade his skull gun.
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] Stephenson's fourth solo novel, set primarily in a far-future Shanghai at a time when nations have been superseded by enclaves of common cultures ("claves''), abundantly justifies the hype that surrounded Snow Crash, his first foray into science fiction. Here, the author avoids the major structural problem of that book-a long lump of philosophical digression-by melding myriad perspectives and cogitations into his tale, which is simultaneously SF, fantasy and a masterful political thriller. Treating nanotechnology as he did virtual reality in Snow Crash-as a jumping-off point-Stephenson presents several engaging characters. John Percival Hackworth is an engineer living in a neo-Victorian clave, who is commissioned by one of the world's most powerful men to create a Primer that might enable the man's granddaughter to be educated in ways superior to the "straight and narrow.'' When Hackworth is mugged, an illegal copy of the Primer falls into the hands of a working-class girl named Nell, and a most deadly game's afoot. Stephenson weaves several plot threads at once, as the paths of Nell, Hackworth and other significant characters-notably Nell's brother Harv, Hackworth's daughter Fiona and an actress named Miranda-converge and diverge across continents and complications, most brought about by Hackworth's actions and Nell's development. Building steadily to a wholly earned and intriguing climax, this long novel, which presents its sometimes difficult technical concepts in accessible ways, should appeal to readers other than habitual SF users
THOUGHTS: This book wasn't bad. It really wasn't. In fact, there were many places where I was sad that I was falling asleep. I wanted Diamond Age to grip me. I wanted to lose myself in it. Instead, I kept yawning and found myself able to read only a few pages at a time. The book didn't move slowly. The writing was fine. I think this is just a case where I was not in the mood for science fiction.
Since I was not in the mood to read this type of book, I know that I did not give it my full attention - the type of attention this work deserved. As a result of that, my view of this text is rather scrambled. Concepts and huge chunks of plot went over my head. Normally I would go back and re-read pages that I had found myself daydreaming or skimming over. In this case, I just let it go.
The world Stephenson develops is truly fascinating. It's fully realized and, scarily, is not at all unbelievable. The characters are all interesting an play a vital role in the text. The themes of modernity, family, and education in Diamond Age are threaded fully into to the text. I could have learned a lot from this book. Instead, I just didn't have the presence of mind to stick with it.
I'm sure this is a truly fantastic book, but it just wasn't my time to read it.
RATING: 5/10 [Meh.]
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