A long time ago, a guy named Pascal wrote a letter, and in that letter he said: "I have made this [letter] longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter." In this at least I agree with the guy Pascal – when you read something that is very long, it usually is because not enough has been done to make it shorter.
My wife feigns exasperation at this point of view. Whenever I say: "I don't know if I'll read (insert name of book), it's 500 pages long." She says: "If it's a good book, you won't mind, because you'll be glad that it isn't over." My reply is usually something along the lines of: "If the book's that good, imagine how much better it would have been if someone had bothered to make it shorter."
Where does this leave us with Cryptonomicon, the latest novel from Neal Stephenson, writer of Snow Crash and The Diamond Age? After all, the book is 900 pages long, and there is some talk of a sequel. Surprisingly, I was seldom tempted to stop reading. It is long-winded sometimes; it does wander off its main path sometimes; it even descends into inanity sometimes – all the standard signs that a book is TOO LONG – but overall it is a good read.
The other thing that might prejudice a reader of science fiction against Cryptonomicon is the fact that the book is NOT science fiction. For once the blurb has it about right: "the first historical novel about cyberspace".
For there are real historical figures in it: Among them, the scientist and mathematician Alan Turing has a small but important role in the piece. Herman Goring, General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Yamamoto make brief appearances. Even Ronald Reagan appears, albeit in flashback.
In fact, I can recall only one point in the book where an obvious science fictional plot device is used. No point in telling you where: it's not a big thing, and it doesn't affect the story much.
But there's your warning. If you don't want to read anything that is not science fiction, leave Cryptonomicon alone. However, if your tastes run a little wider, and if you want to read an entertaining and genuinely original piece of work, and if you have the time to devote to 900 pages of small writing, then Cryptonomicon has something for you.
Well, what's it about? Here are a few of the subjects covered:
But what's it really about?
Well all of those things, but primarily it follows the separate stories of two people: Lawrence Pritchard Waterhouse, before and during the Second World War; and his grandson, Randy Waterhouse, in the immediate future (read: now).
Lawrence is a brilliant but eccentric mathematician caught up in the intrigue of code-breaking during WWII. We follow him through a wartime Grail quest that takes him – and various companions – from Pearl Harbour to the Philippines via England, Qwghlm (you'll have to read the book to find out), Italy, Norway, Sweden, and Australia – in pursuit of Enigma machines, U-boats, and other infernal devices.
Randy – in a parallel but not obviously related adventure – is a computer whiz and advance scout for the maybe-just-this-side-of-the-law Epiphyte Corporation. He is caught up in the creation of international data havens in the Philippines and the mythical island of Kinakuta. Somewhere along the way, he gets involved with international criminals, industrialists, politicians, and sunken and buried treasure.
Lawrence and Randy are, however, only part of the big picture in Cryptonomicon. There are literally scores of characters who pop up throughout the book, and have real relevance to the plot. I've only just mentioned Goto Dengo and Enoch Root, and haven't mentioned people like Bobby Shaftoe, Amy Shaftoe, Gunter Bischoff, Rudy von Hacklheber at all.
I'm not going to go into the story any further. What I am going to say is that this Stephenson man can write, and write well. I'll leave you with an excerpt from the book, where Stephenson describes how, in the madness of an air attack, Lawrence Waterhouse's musical instrument saves him from death at Pearl Harbour.