Belarius's Reviews > Cryptonomicon

There's little question that Cryptonomicon put Neal Stephenson on the map. Some of us had been reading his work since Snow Crash, but when this massive multicharacter epic hit the stands, the mainstream sat up and took notice. Cryptonomicon has been called Stephenson's best work, and with good reason.

The story's core narrative is slow to emerge, introducing us to three central protagonists: Randy Waterhouse (modern computer guru), Lawrence Waterhouse (Randy's mathematician grandfather) and Bobby Shaftoe (a WWII-era soldier). These stories are developed in parallel and initially seem related only by the most tenuous connections. As the plots unfold, however, the globe-spanning secrets tying them together begin to emerge, bringing with them great risk and great reward. Along the way, the story is peppered with memorable secondary characters, some of whom are allowed extended periods as protagonist.

As the title suggests, cryptography is an important part of the novel, as are the themes of information in warfare and mathematics. This description may seem intimidating to some readers, but Stephenson masterfully weaves the topics he needs the reader to understand into the story, letting his quirky characters entertain with their antics as they explain a whole host of ideas. Stephenson is at his best in Cryptonomicon in large part because he is able to spend the first third of the story educating the reader without sounding pedantic, laying the considerable groundwork necessary for events later in the story.

Cryptonomicon also has the dubious distinction of being one of the few works of fiction in US history to be subject to a number of military treaties. The story depends in one section on a form of low-tech but high-security encryption called "Solitaire" that can be achieved with a mere deck of cards, Included is an appendix that explains Solitaire in details, and this appendix constitutes one of the lowest-tech forms of hard encryption ever developed. As a result, US treaties regulating the export of technology with military technology apply to Cryptonomicon, which means carrying it with you into certain countries may actually be a crime! Stephenson's stated objective was to distribute an encryption methodology for use by people in the developing world, who lack the technology to use more common algorithms, making the novel quite literally a weapon against tyranny.

It would be difficult to say more about the plot without undermining the pleasure of seeing the characters (all very distinct but sharing a similar independent streak) navigate the plot twists. Stephenson's multi-character approach can be slightly disorienting, but works well here because it helps to ensure that the reader is never too far from "the action" of the novel. The result is nothing short of gripping.