J.L. Sutton's Reviews > Snow Crash

“If you know how to catch a ride, you can go places.”

Super entertaining ride through dystopia and pizza delivery (as if there was any real difference in the two), ancient Sumerian mythology, computer and religious viruses, hacker groups and some very strange and creepily familiar communities in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash! And that really is just the beginning. Absolutely loved the inventiveness (and here is my caveat) until at least the first half or three quarters mark. While I plan to reread this book (because I’m sure I will get more out of a second or even a third reading), I lost sight of the plot. To be fair, I don’t believe this was ever meant to be a plot-driven novel. All the same, as I approached the end, it felt less like the book was coming to a conclusion and more like it was running out of energy.

Even though it has an edgier, science fiction feel to it, Snow Crash reminds me of one of my favorite novels, Thomas Pynchon’s V (as well as a Pynchon novella, The Crying of Lot 49). Ideas are spilled across every landscape and community Stephenson describes as well as every sentence he writes. Inventiveness applies to characters as well. The naming of his main character, Hiro Protagonist, master swordsman, hacker and pizza deliveryman, was perfect! There were other likeable characters like the young skate punk, Y.T. Despite some issues down the stretch with the plot, I really enjoyed Snow Crash! 4.5 stars.